cal History of
England_), Paulus Diaconus (_History of the Lombards_), and others. Of
the many historians of the middle ages, besides the authors of
biographies, chronicles, cloister annals, &c, may be mentioned Haymo,
Anastasius, Adam of Bremen, Ordericus Vitalis, Honorius of Autun, Otto
of Freising, Vincent of Beauvais and Antoninus of Florence.

The Protestant reformation resulted in a new development of historical
writing. Polemic interest led a number of Lutheran scholars of the 16th
century to publish the _Magdeburg Centuries_ (1559 ff.), in which they
undertook to show the primitive character of the Protestant faith in
contrast with the alleged corruptions of Roman Catholicism. In this
design they were followed by many other writers. The opposite thesis was
maintained by Baronius (_Annales Ecclesiastici_, 1588 ff.), whose work
was continued by a number of Roman Catholic scholars. Other notable
Roman Catholic historians of the 17th and 18th centuries were Natalis
Alexander, Bossuet, Tillemont, Fleury, Dupin and Ceillier.

Church history began to be written in a genuinely scientific spirit only
in the 18th century under the leadership of Mosheim, who is commonly
called the father of modern church history. With wide learning and keen
critical insight he wrote a number of historical works of which the most
important is his _Institutiones Hist. Eccles._ (1755; best English
trans. by Murdock). He was followed by many disciples, among them
Schroeckh (_Christliche Kirchengeschichte_, 1772 ff. in 45 vols.). Other
notable names of the 18th century are Semler, Spittler, Henke and
Planck.

The new historical spirit of the 19th century did much for church
history. Among the greatest works produced were those of J.C.L. Gieseler
(_Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte_, 1824 ff., best Eng. tr. revised and
edited by H.B. Smith), exceedingly objective in character and still
valuable, particularly on account of its copious citations from the
sources; Neander (_Allgemeine Geschichte der christlichen Religion und
Kirche_, 1825 ff., Eng. tr. by Torrey), who wrote in a sympathetic
spirit and with special stress upon the religious side of the subject,
and has been followed by many disciples, for instance, Hagenbach, Schaff
and Herzog; and Baur (_Das Christenthum und die christliche Kirche_,
1853 ff.), the most brilliant of all, whose many historical works were
dominated by the principles of the Hegelian philosophy and evinced both
the meri