National myths in Renaissance France

"It was the seventh-century Chronicle of Fredegar which first gave the Franks a Trojan ancestry, and the lineage stuck. This fascinating new study shows how, even as late as the sixteenth century, historians and poets found the lure of the eponymic hero Francus, the Glorious Druids and the Great Celtic Past irresistible. It describes how, obsessed with the origins of their country and the prevailing nationalism of the age, early sixteenth-century writers were largely uncritical of their highly spurious sources - even acknowledged forgeries such as those of Annius of Viterbo. However, a desire to replace fiction with fact gradually took hold as the Renaissance progressed, and National Myths examines the reasons for this change of mood and discusses the emotional satisfaction afforded by a belief in the Trojan and Gallic legends." "With its topical themes of nationalism and the politicisation of history, this book sheds new light on Renaissance historiography and on the history of ideas in general."--BOOK JACKET.