ABSTRACT
In writing history the humanists cast their minds back to the Classics as historians had done from the time of Bede (c. 673-735) to that of Otto of Freising (c. 1111-58) or Matthew Paris (c. 1200-59): there was no other available source. However, the humanists like Leonardo Bruni, Poggio, Flavio Biondo and Machiavelli proclaimed that they were using ancient sources in a more authentic way. A low estimate, however, has sprung up of the historical writing of the humanists on the grounds that they revived the ancient pattern of writing history in a mechanical fashion. Naturally this charge would not be weighty if the further assumption was not made that the humanists revived something which was of little interest.
