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margin: 0 0 0.5em 0.5em; text-align:left; border: 1px solid #A05A2C; width:175px;"> <tbody><tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center; color:White; background-color:#A05A2C"><b>Fiction over fact</b><br /><a href="/wiki/Pseudohistory" title="Pseudohistory"><font size="4" color="White"><b>Pseudohistory</b></font></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="background-color:#DEAA87;" align="center"><a href="/wiki/Category:Pseudohistory" title="Category:Pseudohistory"><img alt="Icon ancient aliens.svg" src="/w/images/thumb/2/25/Icon_ancient_aliens.svg/100px-Icon_ancient_aliens.svg.png" decoding="async" width="100" height="100" srcset="/w/images/thumb/2/25/Icon_ancient_aliens.svg/150px-Icon_ancient_aliens.svg.png 1.5x, /w/images/thumb/2/25/Icon_ancient_aliens.svg/200px-Icon_ancient_aliens.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="200" /></a> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; color:White; background-color:#A05A2C; text-align:center;"><b><a href="/wiki/Category:Pseudohistory" title="Category:Pseudohistory"><font color="white">How it didn't happen</font></a></b> </td></tr> <tr> <td style="font-size: 95%; background-color:#DEAA87;"> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Atlantis" title="Atlantis">Atlantis</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Fluffbunny" title="Fluffbunny">Fluffbunny</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Reactionary" title="Reactionary">Reactionary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/WallBuilders" title="WallBuilders">WallBuilders</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Pre-Columbian_contact_hypotheses" title="Pre-Columbian contact hypotheses">Pre-Columbian contact hypotheses</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Golden_age" title="Golden age">Golden age</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Ten_Lost_Tribes" title="Ten Lost Tribes">Ten Lost Tribes</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Schlockumentary" title="Schlockumentary">Schlockumentary</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Juan_M%C3%B3ricz" title="Juan Móricz">Juan Móricz</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/RMS_Titanic" title="RMS Titanic">RMS Titanic</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Liberal_Democratic_Party_(Japan)" title="Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)">Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Gamergate" title="Gamergate">Gamergate</a></li></ul> <div class="vte plainlinks" style="font-size:smaller; text-align:center;"><a href="/wiki/Template:Pseudohistorynav" title="Template:Pseudohistorynav">v</a> - <a href="/wiki/Template_talk:Pseudohistorynav" title="Template talk:Pseudohistorynav">t</a> - <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Pseudohistorynav&action=edit">e</a></div> </td></tr></tbody></table> <p><b>Historical forgery</b> denotes one of two types of forgeries: </p> <ul><li>A <i>genuine item</i> — however mundane — from the relevant time period, which has been <i>tampered with</i> long afterwards.</li> <li>An item from the <i>wrong</i> time period (ranging all the way up to having been made from scratch just recently) that is <i>presented as</i> a genuine original dating from a <i>certain</i> time period.</li></ul> <p>Historical forgeries are typically used either to back up otherwise outlandish <a href="/wiki/Fringe" title="Fringe">fringe</a> theories, or to turn a fast buck being sold as authentic to museums or collectors. In both cases, the confidence men behind the forgeries are leading the public (and sometimes academia) astray in exchange for ill-gotten fame and/or fortune. </p> <div id="toc" class="toc" role="navigation" aria-labelledby="mw-toc-heading"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="display:none" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr"><h2 id="mw-toc-heading">Contents</h2><span class="toctogglespan"><label class="toctogglelabel" for="toctogglecheckbox"></label></span></div> <ul> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="#Forgery_as_propaganda"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Forgery as propaganda</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="#Examples"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Examples</span></a> <ul> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="#The_laws_of_Numa_Pompilius"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">The laws of Numa Pompilius</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="#Sibylline_Oracles"><span class="tocnumber">2.2</span> <span class="toctext">Sibylline Oracles</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="#Shroud_of_Turin"><span class="tocnumber">2.3</span> <span class="toctext">Shroud of Turin</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="#Pauline_letters"><span class="tocnumber">2.4</span> <span class="toctext">Pauline letters</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="#Fake_Bible_books"><span class="tocnumber">2.5</span> <span class="toctext">Fake Bible books</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="#Prester_John.27s_letter"><span class="tocnumber">2.6</span> <span class="toctext">Prester John's letter</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="#Ossuary_of_James"><span class="tocnumber">2.7</span> <span class="toctext">Ossuary of James</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="#Hitler_diaries"><span class="tocnumber">2.8</span> <span class="toctext">Hitler diaries</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11"><a href="#Michigan_relics"><span class="tocnumber">2.9</span> <span class="toctext">Michigan relics</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12"><a href="#The_History_of_Crowland"><span class="tocnumber">2.10</span> <span class="toctext">The History of Crowland</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13"><a href="#The_Kinderhook_Plates"><span class="tocnumber">2.11</span> <span class="toctext">The Kinderhook Plates</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14"><a href="#Oera_Linda_Book"><span class="tocnumber">2.12</span> <span class="toctext">Oera Linda Book</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-15"><a href="#Privilegium_Maius"><span class="tocnumber">2.13</span> <span class="toctext"><i>Privilegium Maius</i></span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16"><a href="#The_Situation_of_Britain"><span class="tocnumber">2.14</span> <span class="toctext"><i>The Situation of Britain</i></span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17"><a href="#Vestiarium_Scoticum"><span class="tocnumber">2.15</span> <span class="toctext"><i>Vestiarium Scoticum</i></span></a></li> </ul> </li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-18"><a href="#See_also"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">See also</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19"><a href="#External_links"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">External links</span></a></li> <li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-20"><a href="#References"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">References</span></a></li> </ul> </div> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Forgery_as_propaganda">Forgery as propaganda</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=1" title="Edit section: Forgery as propaganda">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <p>Even after the development of the printing press in the West (c. 1440), forgeries were relatively easy to pull off, as the ability to cross check information was difficult. </p><p>In ancient times, it was even easier, as even at the best of times, overall literacy was well below 50%.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3">[3]</a></sup> </p><p>The best way to make something "important" is to say some famous (or infamous) figure said it... preferably after anyone who could contradict you was dead and gone. We see this with George Washington's vision and a "quote" by Abraham Lincoln. In ancient Egypt, they took the practice to the next level, totally eliminating leaders they felt were an "embarrassment" from official public records (for example, Akhenaten, Hatshepsut, Smenkhkare, Tutankhamen, and Ay are not listed in the Abydos King List) and crediting more suitable rulers with their contributions. </p><p>Since records of that time were hand-written, they were limited both in the number of copies and in circulation, making forgery even easier, as the means to determine a forgery was extremely limited. For instance, it wasn't until the time of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desiderius_Erasmus" class="extiw" title="wp:Desiderius Erasmus" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Desiderius Erasmus">Desiderius Erasmus</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> (1466-1536), a Renaissance scholar, that the material that showed the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donation_of_Constantine" class="extiw" title="wp:Donation of Constantine" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Donation of Constantine">Donation of Constantine</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> was a crude forgery was able to be consolidated and checked (based on the mangled <a href="/wiki/Latin" title="Latin">Latin</a> in the document that nobody even remotely close to Constantine's court would have written, but that a semi-literate medieval forger would have). </p><p>Of course, this lends itself to its own woo, with <i>ad hoc</i> claims such as the notion that none of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_epistles" class="extiw" title="wp:Pauline epistles" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Pauline epistles">Pauline epistles</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> were composed before 180 C.E.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-4">[4]</a></sup> In reality, we can't say that the <i>whole</i> Pauline corpus is a forgery, only parts of it. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="Examples">Examples</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=2" title="Edit section: Examples">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="The_laws_of_Numa_Pompilius">The laws of Numa Pompilius</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=3" title="Edit section: The laws of Numa Pompilius">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>The <a href="/wiki/Roman" class="mw-redirect" title="Roman">Roman</a> author Livy recounted that, on the land of public clerk Lucius Petilius, when farmers (quote):<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-5">[5]</a></sup> </p> <blockquote class="letter" style="width:auto; background:#f8f8ff; border:1px solid #C9C9CF;"> <p>...were digging up the ground to a greater depth than usual, two stone chests were found, each about eight feet long and four broad, with the lids fastened with lead. </p><p>Each chest had an inscription, in Latin and Greek letters: one to the effect that Numa Pompilius, the son of Pompo, king of the Romans, was buried there, the other, that the books of Numa Pompilius were inside. [...] The books were shown to other people and the fact became public. </p><p>Praetor Q. Petilius, who was friends with L. Petilius, requested them, found them very dangerous to religion and told Lucius he would have them burnt. </p> </blockquote> <p>Somehow, the Romans were skeptical about the archeological finding because the double-ancient Romans knew a thing or two about quality (the book looked brand new) and because the opinions of the dead king were kind of close to those of the Pythagoreans.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-6">[6]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Sibylline_Oracles">Sibylline Oracles</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=4" title="Edit section: Sibylline Oracles">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>The so-called <i>Sibylline Oracles</i> are a collection of Greek verses attributed to the Sibyl of Cumæ. According to tradition, the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, was offered a set of nine books containing <a href="/wiki/Prophecy" title="Prophecy">prophecies</a> of the future of Rome by the Sibyl at Cumæ. The Sibyl first offered to Tarquinius nine books of these prophecies. The king declined to purchase them, owing to the exorbitant price she demanded. So she burned three and offered the remaining six to Tarquinius at the same stiff price, which he again refused, whereupon she burned three more and repeated her offer. Tarquinius then relented and purchased the last three at the full original price.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-7">[7]</a></sup> </p><p>The extant <i>Sibylline Books</i> or Oracles are not these costly oracular texts. They are, instead, a hodgepodge of Jewish and Hellenistic <a href="/wiki/Apocalypse" class="mw-redirect" title="Apocalypse">apocalypses</a>, with thinly veiled references to historical figures such as Alexander the Great and Cleopatra. They are generally accepted to be a Christian imposture of the sixth century CE. They were, however, occasionally referenced by Christian writers of the early middle ages, and were acknowledged by Thomas of Celano in his poem <i><a href="/wiki/Judgment_day" class="mw-redirect" title="Judgment day">Dies irae</a></i>.<sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-8">[8]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-9">[9]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Shroud_of_Turin">Shroud of Turin</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=5" title="Edit section: Shroud of Turin">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <div role="note" class="hatnote">See the main article on this topic: <a href="/wiki/Shroud_of_Turin" title="Shroud of Turin">Shroud of Turin</a></div> <p>The first undoubted attestation of the existence of the Shroud of Turin was in 1390 CE when Bishop Pierre d'Arcis wrote to <a href="/wiki/Antipope" title="Antipope">Antipope</a> Clement VII, stating that the shroud was a forgery and that the artist had confessed.<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-10">[10]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-11" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-11">[11]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Pauline_letters">Pauline letters</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=6" title="Edit section: Pauline letters">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p><a href="/wiki/Paul_of_Tarsus" title="Paul of Tarsus">Paul</a>, one of the inventors of <a href="/wiki/Christianity" title="Christianity">Christianity</a>, who people used to say wrote half of the <a href="/wiki/New_Testament" title="New Testament">New Testament</a>, actually wrote about a fourth of it. The rest? Forgeries — aka pseudepigrapha (nice word, don't you think?).<sup id="cite_ref-12" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-12">[12]</a></sup> </p><p>Paul himself warned the reader that there was a veritable cottage industry of people who wrote stuff in his name. <a href="/wiki/Ironically" class="mw-redirect" title="Ironically">Ironically</a>, these warnings appear both in the letters believed to be written by him and by forgers. </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Fake_Bible_books">Fake Bible books</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=7" title="Edit section: Fake Bible books">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>Various people have attempted to justify their interpretations of Christianity by coming up with additional books of the Bible that they supposedly just found lying around, or obtained from mysterious sources. This includes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Ilive" class="extiw" title="wp:Jacob Ilive" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Jacob Ilive">Jacob Ilive</span></a>,<sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> who faked the "lost" Biblical text the <a href="/wiki/Book_of_Jasher" class="mw-redirect" title="Book of Jasher">Book of Jasher</a> in the mid 18th century to justify his own eccentric religious beliefs. Early in the Church's history, it seems someone faked or "reassembled" the lost <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Laodiceans" class="extiw" title="wp:Epistle to the Laodiceans" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Epistle to the Laodiceans">Epistle to the Laodiceans</span></a>,<sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> although this seems to have been a sincere attempt to recreate something known from fragments, rather than a forgery intended to distort church doctrine. It's probably safer to copy <a href="/wiki/Joseph_Smith" title="Joseph Smith">Joseph Smith</a> and have your lost books mysteriously disappear after you "translated" them, so nobody can analyse the actual document. </p> <h3><span id="Prester_John's_letter"></span><span class="mw-headline" id="Prester_John.27s_letter">Prester John's letter</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=8" title="Edit section: Prester John's letter">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>A missive from mythical Christian monarch <a href="/wiki/Prester_John" title="Prester John">Prester John</a> appeared in the 12<sup>th</sup> century to give legitimacy and support to the <a href="/wiki/Crusades" title="Crusades">Crusades</a>. Full of fantastical tales and promises of victory against the <a href="/wiki/Islam" title="Islam">Infidel</a>, it was enormously popular as literature, such that most people believed it until around the 17<sup>th</sup> century when it became very clear that Prester John had never existed. It is now believed to be a forgery by a mid-12<sup>th</sup> century west European (possibly an Italian) with some experience of the Crusader lands.<sup id="cite_ref-13" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-13">[13]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Ossuary_of_James">Ossuary of James</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=9" title="Edit section: Ossuary of James">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <div role="note" class="hatnote">See the main article on this topic: <a href="/wiki/Ossuary_of_James" title="Ossuary of James">Ossuary of James</a></div> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Hitler_diaries">Hitler diaries</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=10" title="Edit section: Hitler diaries">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p><a href="/wiki/Adolf_Hitler" title="Adolf Hitler">Adolf Hitler</a>'s diaries were notoriously faked in the 1980s by Konrad Kujau, a seller of <a href="/wiki/Nazi" class="mw-redirect" title="Nazi">Nazi</a> memorabilia who had run out of genuine things to sell; Hitler never kept diaries.<sup id="cite_ref-14" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-14">[14]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Michigan_relics">Michigan relics</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=11" title="Edit section: Michigan relics">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michigan_relics" class="extiw" title="wp:Michigan relics" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Michigan relics">Michigan relics</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> are supposedly evidence of ancient near-eastern people visiting <a href="/wiki/Michigan" class="mw-redirect" title="Michigan">Michigan</a>. Even <a href="/wiki/Mormon" class="mw-redirect" title="Mormon">Mormon</a> scientist James E. Talmage concluded they were fake.<sup id="cite_ref-15" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-15">[15]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="The_History_of_Crowland">The History of Crowland</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=12" title="Edit section: The History of Crowland">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>A fake historical document created by the <a href="/wiki/Monk" class="mw-redirect" title="Monk">monks</a> of Crowland Abbey in England to bolster a land claim, and accepted for hundreds of years as a legitimate historical record.<sup id="cite_ref-16" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-16">[16]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="The_Kinderhook_Plates">The Kinderhook Plates</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=13" title="Edit section: The Kinderhook Plates">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>Brass plates with mysterious inscriptions that were apparently created to scam <a href="/wiki/Joseph_Smith" title="Joseph Smith">Joseph Smith</a>, who had prior history with <a href="/wiki/Book_of_Mormon" title="Book of Mormon">ancient plates</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-17" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-17">[17]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-18" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-18">[18]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Oera_Linda_Book">Oera Linda Book</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=14" title="Edit section: Oera Linda Book">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>Purportedly a document giving the history of northern Europe from 2194 BCE to 803 CE, written at various times from 2194 BCE to 1256 CE in the Old Frisian language and revealed to the world in 1867 by Cornelis Over de Linden who claimed it was a family heirloom. It gives the supposed history of a <a href="/wiki/Goddess_movement" title="Goddess movement">matriarchal society</a> worshiping the Germanic goddess Frya, which managed to invent the <a href="/wiki/Alphabet" title="Alphabet">alphabet</a> well before anyone in the Middle East, and it describes the destruction of an <a href="/wiki/Atlantis" title="Atlantis">Atlantis</a>-like civilization called Atland in something like the Noachian <a href="/wiki/Great_Flood" class="mw-redirect" title="Great Flood">Great Flood</a>. Most legitimate linguists and historians consider it a hoax, but it has been influential in <a href="/wiki/Nazi_occultism" title="Nazi occultism">Nazi occultism</a> and a variety of eccentric theories about <a href="/wiki/Hyperborea" title="Hyperborea">a far-northern utopia</a>; historian and <a href="/wiki/NSDAP" class="mw-redirect" title="NSDAP">NSDAP</a> member Herman Wirth called it the "Nordic Bible".<sup id="cite_ref-19" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-19">[19]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Privilegium_Maius"><i>Privilegium Maius</i></span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=15" title="Edit section: Privilegium Maius">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>Rudolf IV, Hapsburg Duke of <a href="/wiki/Austria" title="Austria">Austria</a> 1358–1365, used a collection of forged documents collectively known as <i>Privilegium Maius</i> to enhance the power and influence of his family and his lands and make the Duchy an Archduchy and its ruler an elector of the <a href="/wiki/Holy_Roman_Empire" title="Holy Roman Empire">Holy Roman Empire</a>. The forgeries included decrees supposedly from <a href="/wiki/Julius_Caesar" class="mw-redirect" title="Julius Caesar">Julius Caesar</a> and <a href="/wiki/Nero" class="mw-redirect" title="Nero">Nero</a> granting autonomy to Noricum (the Roman province approximately covering Austria). The poet Petrarch, working as an advisor for the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, recognised they were forgeries, but many people were unwilling to challenge Rudolf; the Hapsburgs had to do a lot of wheeling and dealing and bribery, but eventually their claims were generally accepted.<sup id="cite_ref-20" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-20">[20]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-21" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-21">[21]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="The_Situation_of_Britain"><i>The Situation of Britain</i></span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=16" title="Edit section: The Situation of Britain">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <p>Or <i>The Description of Britain</i> or <i>De Situ Britanniae</i>, a fake history of <a href="/wiki/Roman_Empire" title="Roman Empire">Roman</a> Britain supposedly written in the 15th century by Richard of Westminster (and later attributed to the better-known <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_of_Cirencester" class="extiw" title="wp:Richard of Cirencester" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Richard of Cirencester">Richard of Cirencester</span></a><sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup>) but actually by an 18th century teacher and antiquarian, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bertram" class="extiw" title="wp:Charles Bertram" rel="nofollow"><span style="color:#477979 !important;" title="Wikipedia: Charles Bertram">Charles Bertram</span></a>.<sup><img alt="" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/12px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png" decoding="async" width="12" height="12" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/18px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Wikipedia%27s_W.svg/24px-Wikipedia%27s_W.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="128" data-file-height="128" /></sup> It was popularised and translated by William Stukeley, an eccentric pioneer of <a href="/wiki/Archaeology" title="Archaeology">archaeology</a> who studied <a href="/wiki/Stonehenge" title="Stonehenge">Stonehenge</a> and believed the <a href="/wiki/Neopaganism#Druids" title="Neopaganism">druids</a> followed an early form of Christianity (the trilithons symbolize the <a href="/wiki/Trinity" title="Trinity">Trinity</a>, of course). Bertram's forgery influenced Edward Gibbon and other reputable historians. Through the 19th century, doubts increased, with John Hodgson in the 1820s pointing out the improbable handwriting and strange Latin style, and Karl Wex in 1846 finding it included erroneous passages copied from mistakes made by Venetian printers after Richard's time. Yet some falsehoods were still propagated in the 20th century.<sup id="cite_ref-22" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-22">[22]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-23" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-23">[23]</a></sup> </p> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Vestiarium_Scoticum"><i>Vestiarium Scoticum</i></span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=17" title="Edit section: Vestiarium Scoticum">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h3> <div role="note" class="hatnote">See the main article on this topic: <a href="/wiki/Scotland#Tartan_myths" title="Scotland">Scotland § Tartan myths</a></div> <p>A fake history of Scottish tartan by John Sobieski Stuart, who also claimed to be related to the Jacobite <a href="/wiki/Monarchy#Pretenders" title="Monarchy">pretenders</a> to the throne of Britain. Its made-up claims are still used today to sell kilts to gullible tourists. </p> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=18" title="Edit section: See also">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Hoax" title="Hoax">Hoax</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Out-of-place_fossils" title="Out-of-place fossils">Out-of-place fossils</a></li> <li><a href="/wiki/Jean_Hardouin" title="Jean Hardouin">Jean Hardouin</a></li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="External_links">External links</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=19" title="Edit section: External links">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <ul><li>See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeological_forgery" class="extiw" title="wp:Archaeological forgery" rel="nofollow">Archaeological forgery</a>.</li> <li>See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake%27s_Plate_of_Brass" class="extiw" title="wp:Drake's Plate of Brass" rel="nofollow">Drake's Plate of Brass</a>.</li></ul> <h2><span class="mw-headline" id="References">References</span><span class="mw-editsection"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">[</span><a href="/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&action=edit&section=20" title="Edit section: References">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket">]</span></span></h2> <div class="references-small" style="-moz-column-count:2; -webkit-column-count:2; column-count:2; font-size:80%;"> <div class="mw-references-wrap mw-references-columns"><ol class="references"> <li id="cite_note-1"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-1">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://faculty.ithaca.edu/direnzo/docs/scholarship/mastersvoice.pdf">Di Renzo, A (2000) "His master's voice: Tiro and the rise of the Roman secretarial class", Journal of technical writing and communication, vol. 30, (2) 155-168</a></span> </li> <li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-2">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Dupont, Florence. (1989) Daily Life in Ancient Rome Tr. Christopher Woodall. Oxford: Blackwell; pg 223</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-3">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Millard, Alan (2003) Literacy in the Time of Jesus - Could His Words Have Been Recorded in His Lifetime? <i>Biblical Archaeology Review</i> 29:04, Jul/Aug 2003.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-4"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-4">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rationalskepticism.org/christianity/the-entire-pauline-corpus-is-a-forgery-t42221.html">The Entire Pauline Corpus is a forgery: The Pauline Corpus was composed AFTER c 180 CE</a> Oct 26, 2013 3:15 pm, RationalSkepticism.org.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-5"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-5">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0167%3Abook%3D40%3Achapter%3D29">Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 40, Ch 29</a>, Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-6"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-6">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/2935663">Literary Frauds among the Romans</a>, Alfred Gudeman, <i>Transactions of the American Philological Association</i> (1869-1896), Vol. 25 (1894), 140-164, via JSTOR, pages 141-142</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-7"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-7">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">Lactantius, <i><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/07011.htm">Institutiones Divinae</a></i> (I: 6)</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-8"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-8">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/sib/">The Sibylline Oracles</a>, sacred-texts.com</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-9"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-9">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies_Irae" class="extiw" title="wp:Dies Irae" rel="nofollow">Dies Irae</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-10"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-10">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/J.RHE.3.215">Les sources de l'histoire du linceul de Turin. Revue critique</a> by Poulle, Emmanuel (December 2009). <i>Revue d'Histoire Ecclésiastique</i> 104(3-4):747–782. doi:10.1484/J.RHE.3.215.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-11"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-11">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><i>Inquest on the Shroud of Turin: Latest Scientific Findings</i> by Joe Nickell, Prometheus Books, 1998, ISBN 9781573922722.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-12"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-12">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorship_of_the_Pauline_epistles" class="extiw" title="wp:Authorship of the Pauline epistles" rel="nofollow">Authorship of the Pauline epistles</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-13"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-13">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/24405356">Review: PRESTER JOHN: THE LETTER AND THE LEGEND by V. Slessarev</a>, Frend, W. H. C. History 46, no. 157 (1961): 132.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-14"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-14">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitler_Diaries" class="extiw" title="wp:Hitler Diaries" rel="nofollow">Hitler Diaries</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-15"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-15">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://michigansotherside.com/the-mysterious-michigan-relics/">The Mysterious Michigan Relics</a>, Michigan's Other Side</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-16"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-16">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/the_history_of_crowland">The History of Crowland</a>, Museum of Hoaxes</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-17"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-17">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://hoaxes.org/archive/permalink/kinderhook_plates">The Kinderhook Plates</a>, Museum of Hoaxes</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-18"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-18">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderhook_plates" class="extiw" title="wp:Kinderhook plates" rel="nofollow">Kinderhook plates</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-19"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-19">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oera_Linda_Book" class="extiw" title="wp:Oera Linda Book" rel="nofollow">Oera Linda Book</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-20"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-20">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilegium_Maius" class="extiw" title="wp:Privilegium Maius" rel="nofollow">Privilegium Maius</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-21"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-21">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v42/n18/ferdinand-mount/the-dwarves-and-the-onion-domes">The Dwarves and the Onion Domes</a>, Ferdinand Mount, London Review of Books, Vol. 42 No. 18 · 24 September 2020</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-22"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-22">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text">See the <a href="/wiki/Wikipedia" title="Wikipedia">Wikipedia</a> article on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Description_of_Britain" class="extiw" title="wp:The Description of Britain" rel="nofollow">The Description of Britain</a>.</span> </li> <li id="cite_note-23"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><a href="#cite_ref-23">↑</a></span> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jul/19/history-roman-map-18th-century-hoax">History in the making: a Roman map… and an 18th-century hoax</a>, Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian, 19 July 2013</span> </li> </ol></div></div>    </div></div><div class="printfooter">Retrieved from "<a dir="ltr" href="https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&oldid=2691996">https://rationalwiki.org/w/index.php?title=Historical_forgery&oldid=2691996</a>"</div> <div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" data-mw="interface"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="/wiki/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories">Categories</a>: <ul><li><a href="/wiki/Category:Significantly_problematic_articles" title="Category:Significantly problematic 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