CHAPTER VI.

ORIGIN OF HISTORY, AND STATE OF HISTORICAL LITERATURE DURING THE MIDDLE AGES.

Conclusions arrived at by the preceding investigations 288

An inquiry into the changes in historical researches will throw light on the changes in society 289-290

The earliest histories are ballads 291-295

One cause of error in history was the invention of writing 296-300

A change of religion in any country also tends to corrupt its early history 300-307

But the most active cause of all was the influence of the clergy 307-308

Absurdities which were consequently believed 309-317

Illustration of this from the history of Charlemagne by Turpin 318-321

And from the history of the Britons by Geoffrey 321-325

The first improvement in writing history began in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries 325

But credulity was still prevalent, as is seen in Comines 327-328

And in the predictions of St[oe]ffler respecting the Deluge 330

Also in the work of Dr. Horst on the Golden Tooth 331-332