e earliest European histories. Thus too
Abo, the ancient capital of Finland, was called Turku, which in the
Swedish language means a market-place. Adam of Bremen, having occasion
to treat of the countries adjoining the Baltic, was so misled by the
word Turku that this celebrated historian assures his readers that there
were Turks in Finland.

To these illustrations many others might be added, showing how mere
names deceived the early historians, and gave rise to relations which
were entirely false, and might have been rectified on the spot; but
which, owing to the art of writing, were carried into distant countries
and thus placed beyond the reach of contradiction. Of such cases, one
more may be mentioned, as it concerns the history of England. Richard
I., the most barbarous of our princes, was known to his contemporaries
as the Lion; an appellation conferred upon him on account of his
fearlessness and the ferocity of his temper. Hence it was said that he
had the heart of a lion; and the title Coeur de Lion not only became
indissolubly connected with his name, but actually gave rise to a story,
repeated by innumerable writers, according to which he slew a lion in a
single combat. The name gave rise to the story; the story confirmed the
name: and another fiction was added to that long series of falsehoods of
which history mainly consisted during the Middle Ages.

The corruptions of history, thus naturally brought about by the mere
introduction of letters, were in Europe aided by an additional cause.
With the art of writing, there was in most cases also communicated a
knowledge of Christianity; and the new religion not only destroyed many
of the Pagan traditions, but falsified the remainder by amalgamating
them with monastic legends. The extent to which this was carried would
form a curious subject for inquiry; but one or two instances of it will
perhaps be sufficient to satisfy the generality of readers.

Of the earliest state of the great Northern nations we have little
positive evidence; but several of the lays in which the Scandinavian
poets related the feats of their ancestors or of their contemporaries
are still preserved; and notwithstanding their subsequent corruption, it
is admitted by the most competent judges that they embody real and
historical events. But in the ninth and tenth centuries, Christian
missionaries found their way across the Baltic, and introduced a
knowledge of their religion among the inhabit