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nydus/Introduction to the Study of HistoryPublic
Page 380 of 400
Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HISTORY

  1. [159] Sometimes the form of the phrase tells its own tale, when, in the midst of a detailed narrative, obviously of legendary origin, we come across a curt, dry entry in annalistic style, obviously copied from a written document. That is what we find in Livy (see Nitzsch, Die römische Annalistik, Leipzig, 1873, 8vo), and in Gregory of Tours (see Loebell, Gregor von Tours, Leipzig, 1868, 8vo).
  2. [160] The events which strike the popular imagination and are transmitted by legend are not generally those which seem to us the most important. The heroes of the chansons de gestes are hardly known historically. The Breton epic songs relate, not to the great historical events, as Villemarqué's collection led people to believe, but to obscure local episodes. The same holds of the Scandinavian sagas; for the most part they relate to quarrels among the villagers of Iceland or the Orkneys.
  3. [161] The theory of legend is one of the most advanced parts of criticism. Bernheim (in his Lehrbuch, pp. 380-90) gives a good summary and a bibliography of it.
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