Butterfield criticizes the process of focusing on indivuals, using Martin Luther's involvement during the Reformation ro intepret the role of the historian. Butterfield feels that the controversy emerges from the constant foucs on Martin Luther. If the attention remained solely on the historical era, than the questions would be solved. Tey places the emphasis on Richard III, showing that history often forgets its creators. Through Tey, history becomes precisely what Butterfield mocks, the contemporizing of the past.
History is much more than an account of ancient facts and figures.
It has a lifeblood, the people that create and write history. It is impossible to remove personal bias from the intrepretive process. Reflections and conclusions of the historian remain important because they seek to say something about the time in which the historian lived. History is an active science, and must be treated as such. Humanity and history mesh naturally, without one another, neither could survive.