This paper asks whether early modern fabulists believed their fabulous claims. Focusing on histories of the German people–many of which combine in almost equal measure something alluring, like a good story and philological acumen, and something absurd, like the least literal reading of the story of Genesis one might imagine–the paper documents how these histories entered the scholarly world as important and oft cited sources for the credulous and incredulous alike. If, as many historians now believe, the extensive empiricism in sixteenth-century historical practice is an outgrowth of confronting the fakes, this paper explains the methodologies employed by authors who believed their own fabulous claims and the readers who recognized fully credible evidence was an ideal rather than a common reality.

1. 1.

   Becanus1569.

2. 2.

   For Goropius in this context, see Grafton1990b, 29–31, and Baker2019, 1326–61.

3. 3.

   For Verstegan, see Parry1995, 49–69; Hamilton1999, 1–38; Highley2002, 183–97; Arblaster2004; and Crawforth2007, 93–115.

4. 4.

   Verstegan1605, 190. For this episode, see Arblaster2004, 91.

5. 5.

   For Ortelius in this context (i.e. not predominantly cartographical) see Meganck2017.

6. 6.

   There is an enormous literature on the role of histories in early modern Europe; see among major works, Pocock1987 [1957]; Kelley1970; Grafton2007.

7. 7.

   Feingold2011; Popper (2011), 375–400.

8. 8.

   For early modern German and imperial historiography, see Strauss1959; Borchardt1971; and Tanner1993. For other analogs, see Kendrick1950; Dubois1972,1977; Cochrane1981; and Asher1993. The most recent similar work has focused more locally; see for example Harris2007; Olds2015.

9. 9.

   Cicero,De Oratore, II.ix.36

10. 10.

    For an adjacent case of scholars emphasizing instrumental political readings of histories at the expense of other possibilities, see Feingold2016, 855–74, with copious references to studies of the early modern usages of Tacitus. For works stressing the political value of histories, see for example Kagan2009; Ianziti2012; Ezquerra and Montcher2014, 15–33.

11. 11.

    Ducci1604, 9: “Tuetur quidem ab oblivione res gestas Historia, & iis, qui legunt laudandi, vel vituperandi materiam praebet, ita ut vere sit, quemadmodum Cicero ait testis temporum, vel potius actionum, verum ut testes rem tantum exponunt, sententiam Iudici permittunt, ita actiones Historia narrat, iudicium earum cum laude, vel accusatione legentibus relinquit.” Similarly, see Dresserus1598, 607: “Itaque quaerere oportuit adminicula memoriae, repertaeque sunt posteritatis causa literae, ut subsidio oblivioni esse possent, quemadmodum ait Cicero pro Sylla.”

12. 12.

    As one example amongst many, Francouis Baudouin praised histories in precisely this term in his groundbreaking study of law and history: see Baudouin, “De Historia universa, & eius cum Iurisprudentia coniunctione,” in Wolf1569, 647: “Nam etsi maxima facta sit bonorum librorum veterumque monumentorum iactura, tamen eae tanquam ex naufragio superstites tabulae sunt, quibus si innitamur, in tam vasto oceano navigationem conficere, atque etiam ad portum appellere poterimus.” The origins of this metaphor – which would be adopted by Bacon, Camden, and many others – was an episode of marine archaeological exploration involving Leon Battista Alberti and Flavio Biondo; see Grafton2009, 137–139.

13. 13.

    For a related account of the sense of loss as driving early modern research programs, see Keller2012, 223–45.

14. 14.

    Livy,The History of Rome, preface.

15. 15.

    For such histories, see Borchardt1971; Tanner 2004; and Reimitz2015. For similar practices in natural histories, see Popper2016, 464–90.

16. 16.

    For Annius, see many works by Walter Stephens, esp. Stephens1979 and1989; Ligota1987, 44–56; Grafton1990a and1990b; Rowland2004; and Clark2020, esp. chap. 5.

17. 17.

    Lynche1601, c.iii.v, roughly summarizing Annius of Viterbo1498. For Annius’ Noah, see Stephens2004, s201–s223.

18. 18.

    Annius of Viterbo1498; I have used Annius of Viterbo1552, 81: “Addit autem Berosus quod ipse dictus est a Scythis lingua eorum Ianus: quia primus in Armenia invenit vinum. Aramea enim & Hebrea lingua Iain vinum dicitur a quo Ianus vinifer derivatur. Ergo Aramee Ianus dicitur & Grece Enotrius & latine vinifer.”

19. 19.

    Rhenanus had subscribed to Annian evidence in 1519, but by 1531, he had changed his mind (Borchardt1971). For Rhenanus, see D’Amico1988; and Hirstein1995.

20. 20.

    Rhenanus 1531. “Sed omnium ineptissimus est Annius quidam in Berosum, autoris fabulosi fabulosior interpres.”

21. 21.

    Rhenanus 1531, 39. “Is legerat apud Tacitum, Germanos dicere Herculem apud se fuisse, quare quum forte deesset nomen regis, ascripsit, apud Tuyscones regnat Hercules Alemannus, & hunc Teutanis filium facit. Annius nugis negas cumulans Hebraicam etymologiam, si diis placet, affert ex Talmutistarum arcanis literis, לאו enim alveum significare, & Mannum est Rhenum. Proinde dictos Alemannos, quod ad Rhenum habitent. O somnia. Novum est Alemannorum nomen, & multo recentius quam Germanorum. Auditum autem est primum, ut suspicor, sub Prob[us] Aug[ustus] Fl[avius] Vopiscus in vita Proculi.” It is no small irony that Rhenanus almost certainly knew that this Flavius Vopiscus was himself a forger.

22. 22.

    He wrote, “The ancient Germans lived in the highest liberty, although we should not think that this liberty degenerated into anarchy, for the people elevated kings on account of their nobility and dukes for their virtue, as Tacitus wrote. Nor was there an infinite or unconstrained power in kings, and their dukes ruled more by example than byimperium.” Rhenanus 1531, 3. “Populi Germaniae veteris in summa libertate vixerunt. Ne tamen putes libertatem in anarchiam exisse, reges ex nobilitate quaeque natio, duces ex virtue sumebant, ut scribit Tacitus. Nec regibus infinita aut libera potestas. Duces exemplo magis quam imperio praeerant, non vi sed dexteritate suis commendati.” Rhenanus continued to lavish praise on the ancient Germans as a noble, bellicose, and pious, if not Christian, people; his Tacitean past differed from Annius’ less in its hues than in its lack of historical detail. Moreover, it is worth re-stating that theGermania had only been rediscovered in 1455.

23. 23.

    Saint-Julien 1581, 5: “Reste encores l’opinion de frere Iean Annius de Viterbe, homme de si rare scavoir, & personnaige si excellent en la cognoissance, & interpretation des choses plus anciennes, que mon advis est, que si Beatus Rhenanus eust daigné prendre la peine de lire les labeurs de ce simple bon homme, sans transport d’affection, & excuser qu’en ce temps là, la purité de la diction Latine n’estoit telle, ny si elegante, que depuis elle est devenue par la restauration de bonnes lettres il eust pensé trois fois, avant que d’attaquer si outrageusement (ou plustost furieusement) la memoire de ce bon vieillard, qui (malgré les tenebres d’ignorance, que la malice du temps d’adoncq avit produit) s’est trouvé instruict en tant de langues, que celà ne semble mancquer de miracle. Moins eust il aussi vomi sa cholere contre Berose, autheur tant recommendé par diversité de tesmoings, que si ceux, qui ès siecles pieca passez, se sont aydez de son authorité, & ceux qui depuis (voire de nostre aage), ont receu non seulement fruicts inestimables de la succincte briefueté de son dire, mais aussi esclaircissement incroiable (pour le regard des mors, & affaires desia demy obliez, à cause de leur vieillesse, & antiquité) se rencontroient en une assemblee, oú Rhenanus voullust soustenir ce qu’en courroux il a disgorge; il est certain s’il y avoit aucune prudence en luy, voyant une si nombreuse, & de toutes oars venerable compaignie, contraire à ses cuydances, il se trouveroit se estonné de la maiesté, & multitude de tant d’illustres personnaiges, aggreants ce qu’il rabroüe: qu’il ne penseroit plus estre celle souveraine puissance, qui peut prouver & improuver ce que bon luy semble, & en iuger comme en dernier ressort.”

24. 24.

    This philology of discovery underlay their work -- with the exception of the Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, they did not assume the medieval conceit of claiming to recover lost sources; see Grafton2009, 56–78.

25. 25.

    Carion1581, 27.

26. 26.

    For the best account of his debunking, see Stephens2019, 147–169.

27. 27.

    David Chytraeus, “De recte instituenda Historiae lectione,” in Wolf1569, 476. “Etsi autem de Beroso, iudicium Ludovici Vivis & Beati Renani non ignoro: nec satis asseverare ausim, quinque antiquitatum libros, qui cum Anni Viterbiensis commentariis circumferentur, illius Berosi, qui Alexandri tempore vixit, opus esse, cuius Babylonica Athenaeus lib 14 & Iosephus lib 1 contra Apionem citant, & cuius statuam inaurata lingua Athenis positam esse, Plinius libro 7 refert: tamen libellum illum antiquitatum Berosi & Anni, lectu non inutilem aut insuavem esse, & multis Bibliorum, & Diodori Siculi, & Dionysii Halicarnassaei, & aliorum scriptorum locis, lucem singularem afferre, manifestum est.”

28. 28.

    Reineck1587, 18v. “Berosus, qui tamen maxima ex parte fabulosus est.”

29. 29.

    Reineck1587, 39v: “Et ut semel dicam, plane novus Berosus ille videtur, & sunt ita paucis veris falsa plurima immista, ut cum probare omnia nequeas, reiicere tamen penitus vix audeas.”

30. 30.

    Chytraeus “De recte instituenda Historiae lectione,” in Wolf1569, 520. “Nec audiantur qui fabulosam esse scriptorem Herodotum inepte fingunt. Etsi enim quasdam narrationes ab illis sumptas recitat, fabulis non absimiles: tamen totum Historiae corpus singulari fide & diligenti veritatis studio coagmentatum est. De aliis vero narrationibus, plerumque praefatur ipse, se eas, non quod veras esse existimet, sed ut ab aliis acceperit, recitare.”

31. 31.

    The strength of such pyrrhonism is central to Arnaldo Momigliano’s influential argument that the modern discipline of history was crafted in the late seventeenth century by adopting antiquarian and philological practices in response to its challenges (Momigliano1950, 285–315). As should be clear, that historians had their version of skepticism and, as has often been noted, began to integrate such practices at least a century prior suggests the merits in reconsidering Momigliano’s narrative, as many scholars have done in recent years. Nonetheless, it would certainly be a mistake to declare the birth of the modern historical method amongst the subjects of this chapter.

32. 32.

    Beuther1593, 2r. “Si historia temporum est testis, si vetustatis nuncio, si splendor veritatis, si denique memoriae vita ac vitae magistra, ut Cicero ait: omnium maxime falluntur, qui quamcunque licentiam Historiarum Scriptoribus, non concedere tantum, sed vendicare etiam haud quaquam dubitant: & illi decipiuntur, qui nescio qua mente, cuncta pro veris arripiunt, ac quaeque ut scripta sunt, ita credunt, absque discrimine: peccatur utrinque.”

33. 33.

    Rosa1604.

34. 34.

    Dresserus1598, 629. “Nihil est autem, quod tam erudire nos per aliena exempla possit, quam historia, utpote quae speculum est variorum consiliorum, actionum, & eventuum in vita: unde qui effectus ex quibus antegressis causis & actibus secuti sint, clare conspicitur.”

35. 35.

    Johann Wulf’s dedicatory letter opening his 1579Artis historicae penus repeatedly invoked this metaphor, attributing it to Polybius, as did numerous authors within.

36. 36.

    Chytraeus, “De recte instituenda Historiae lectione,” in Wolf1569, 458–59. “Rerum, quae in hoc mundi theatro a Deo & hominibis illius incolis, animadversione & memoria digna ab initio ad nostram usque aetatem, actae & gestae sunt, seriem continuam in Historia mundi conseravit: in qua, velut in tabula pictum, aut veluti in excelsa specula collocati oculis nostris subiectum cernamus, & contemplemur, quicquid in orbe terrarum, inde usque a prima creatione, memorabile gestum est.

37. 37.

    Chytraeus, “De recte instituenda Historiae lectione,” in Wolf1569, 542: “Historia sapienter scripta…perpetuus thesarus exemplorum: & pictura ac theatrum totius vitae humane, ad omnia mundi tempora congruens: in quo, ut natura hominum eadem remanet: sic ingenia, mores, negocia, occasiones, consilia, eventus, errata etiam & flagitia ac scelera eadem perpetuo durant.”

38. 38.

    Dresserus1598, sig.? 3r: “Cuius quidem vim & usum ut complecti animis possimus, statuere oportet, mundum hunc esse theatrum, in quo fabula perpetua agitur. Semper enim eadem fabula in mundo agitur, mutatis duntaxat personis.”

39. 39.

    Dresserus1598, sig. 3v, 4r. “Eadem fabula series atque succesione continue hodie etiam in mundo agitur. Quod enim olim patribus in ecclesia, oeconomia, & Politia accidit, idem nobis in hac aetate ultima usu venit. Nostra iam res agitur, nos in theatrum producti sumus, in iisdem operibus dies & noctes urgemur, quibus ante nos omnibus aetatibus maiores nostri occupati sunt.”

40. 40.

    Dresserus1598, 65–67. “Hoc tanto tempore quas cogitationes, quae opera Noami fuisse putabimus? Profecto difficile est in tantis versari fluctib. sub coelo obscuro & pluvioso, carere Solis, Lunae, & reliquorum luminum aspectu, ferre eiulatum & ploratum mulierum, moerorem filiorum, tristiam coniugis, strepitum, clamorem, & garritum bestiarum & avium…Quoties in mentem venit? En tibi promissa est salus, vita & incolumitas, pereuntibus caeteris in diluvii aquis. An haec est promissa illa Dei gratia? An haec est sperata immunitas? Nonne mori satius esset, quam tot incommoda perpeti, tot difficultatibus conflictari, & tam diu quidem, ut non finem ullum prospiciam?”

41. 41.

    Recent scholarship has begun to demonstrate the powerful influence ecclesiastical history exerted on European historical culture in the wake of the Reformation, a point largely absent from earlier studies. See Liere, et al2012; Grafton2019, 12–38; Hardy and Levitin2019; and Bauer2021)

42. 42.

    Dresserus1598, 94–95. “Ex hic insano conatu nata est fabula de Gigantomachia”; “Gigantomachia a Poetis conficta & expressa ex insano conatu Nimrodi in extruenda turri coelum attingente.”

43. 43.

    For example, his short entry for “Germania” in his 1578 geographical dictionarySynonomia Geographica relied on the testimony of Flavius Vopiscus, Josephus, Goropius, and others to chart the names given to the place and its inhabitants by ancient and modern Hebrews, Greeks, Turks, other Europeans, and the inhabitants themselves (Ortelius1578, 150).

44. 44.

    Emmius1606, 11. “Nam de Sicambria ac Troiana progenie, aliaque similia, quae nonnulli, velut poetae, in historia commentantur, nugae sunt.”

45. 45.

    Emmius1606, 4v: “Veritatis studium mihi summum fuit, quae anima Historiae est. Quae si absit, fabula est id, quod sub historiae nomine hominibus obtruditur, non historia.”

46. 46.

    Ortelius’ shifts and Verstegan’s amazement hint at a slackening in scholars’ faith in the past to illuminate solutions to Christendom’s disintegration at the turn of the seventeenth century, which would lead scholars like Francis Bacon and Johann Heinrich Alsted in the succeeding generation to turn to the natural world as the preeminent source for divine meaning.

47. 47.

    Verstegan1605, 12–13.

48. 48.

    Verstegan1605, 90.

49. 49.

    Dresserus1598, 85. I thank Giovanna Cesarani for impressing this point about Emmius on me.

50. 50.

    Note that the argument presented here also supplies context for the influential arguments in Serjeantson1999, 195–236.

51. 51.

    Grafton1999, 241–67. The late seventeenth century was marked by reconsiderations of how to address the memorial and compilatory foundations of many fields of inquiry; see Popper2016.

52. 52.

    On the question of how to make use of unreliable evidence, see Serjeantson1999 and Popper2011.

Authors and Affiliations

1. Harrison Ruffin Tyler Department of History, William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA, USA

   Nicholas S. Popper

Corresponding author

Correspondence toNicholas S. Popper.

Editors and Affiliations

1. University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK

   Anna Marie Roos

2. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA

   Gideon Manning

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