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Historical fiction sometimes encouraged movements of [[romantic nationalism]]. Walter Scott's [[Waverley (novel)|Waverley]] novels created interest in [[Scotland|Scottish]] history and still illuminate it.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} A series of novels by [[Józef Ignacy Kraszewski]] on the history of [[Poland]] popularized the country's history after it had lost its independence in the [[Partitions of Poland]]. [[Henryk Sienkiewicz]] wrote several immensely popular novels set in conflicts between the Poles and predatory [[Teutonic Knights]], rebelling [[Cossack]]s and invading [[Sweden|Swedes]]. He won the 1905 [[Nobel Prize in literature]]. He also wrote the popular novel ''[[Quo Vadis (novel)|Quo Vadis]]'', which was about [[Nero]]'s [[Roman Empire|Rome]] and the [[early Christianity|early Christians]] and has been adapted several times for film, in [[Quo Vadis (1913 film)|1913]], [[Quo Vadis (1924 film)|1924]], [[Quo Vadis (1951 film)|1951]], [[Quo Vadis (2001 film)|2001]] to only name the most prominent. [[Sigrid Undset]]'s ''[[Kristin Lavransdatter]]'' fulfilled a similar function for [[Norway|Norwegian history]]; Undset later won a [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] (1928).
Many early historical novels played an important role in the rise of European popular interest in the [[Middle Ages in history|history of the Middle Ages]]. [[Victor Hugo]]'s ''[[The Hunchback of Notre
The genre of the historical novel has also permitted some authors, such as the [[Poland|Polish]] novelist [[Bolesław Prus]] in his sole historical novel, ''[[Faraon|Pharaoh]]'', to distance themselves from their own time and place to gain [[perspective (cognitive)|perspective]] on [[society]] and on the [[human condition]], or to escape the depredations of the [[Censorship|censor]].<ref>Czesław Miłosz, ''The History of Polish Literature'', pp. 299–302.</ref>
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[[Classical Greek]] novelists were also "very fond of writing novels about people and places of the past".<ref>Margaret Anne Doody, ''The True Story of the Novel''. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, p. 27.</ref> ''[[The Iliad]]'' has been described as historic fiction, since it treats historic events, although its genre is generally considered [[epic poetry]].<ref name="BrayfieldSprott2013">{{cite book|author1=Celia Brayfield| author2=Duncan Sprott|title=Writing Historical Fiction: A Writers' and Artists' Companion| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGmJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63|date=5 December 2013|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-78093-838-7|page=63}}</ref> [[Pierre Vidal-Naquet]] has suggested that [[Plato]] laid the foundations for the historical novel through the myth of [[Atlantis]] contained in his dialogues ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' and ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vidal-Naquet |first1=Pierre |author-link1=Pierre Vidal-Naquet|date=Winter 1992 |title=Atlantis and the Nations |journal=[[Critical Inquiry]] |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=300–326|jstor=1343786|doi=10.1086/448634 |s2cid=162246164 }}</ref> ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' (written before 1021) is a fictionalized account of Japanese court life about a century prior and its author asserted that her work could present a "fuller and therefore 'truer{{' "}} version of history.<ref name="Starrs2013">{{cite book|author=Roy Starrs|title=Asian Nationalism in an Age of Globalization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XcS1AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT646|date=23 October 2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-134-27869-5|page=646}}</ref>
One of the early examples of the historical novel in Europe is ''[[La Princesse de Clèves]]'', a French novel published anonymously in March 1678. It is regarded by many as the beginning of the modern tradition of the [[psychological fiction|psychological novel]] and as a great work. Its author generally is held to be [[Madame de La Fayette]]. The action takes place between October 1558 and November 1559 at the royal court of Henry II of France. The novel recreates that era with remarkable precision. Nearly every character – except the heroine – is a historical figure. Events and intrigues unfold with great faithfulness to documentary records. In the United Kingdom, the historical novel "appears to have developed" from ''La Princesse de Clèves'', "and then via the [[Gothic novel]]".<ref>J. A. Cuddon ''The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory''. Penguin Books: London, 1999, p.383.</ref> Another early example is ''[[The Unfortunate Traveller]]'' by [[Thomas Nashe]], published in 1594 and set during the reign of [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJAdBQAAQBAJ&q=%22the+Unfortunate+Traveller%22+%22historical+fiction%22&pg=PA151|title=Sidney to Milton, 1580-1660|isbn=9781403937926|last1=Wynne-Davies|first1=Marion|date=25 November 2002|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
===19th century===
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Many well-known writers from the United Kingdom published historical novels in the mid 19th century, the most notable include [[William Makepeace Thackeray|Thackeray]]'s ''[[Vanity Fair (novel)|Vanity Fair]]'', [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'', [[George Eliot]]'s ''[[Romola]]'', and [[Charles Kingsley]]'s ''[[Westward Ho! (novel)|Westward Ho!]]'' and ''[[Hereward the Wake (novel)|Hereward the Wake]]''. ''[[The Trumpet-Major]]'' (1880) is [[Thomas Hardy]]'s only historical novel, and is set in [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]] during the [[Napoleonic wars]],<ref name="Taylor xx">Taylor xx</ref> when the town was then anxious about the possibility of invasion by Napoleon.<ref name=dorsetlife>{{cite web|title=Hardy and the Trumpet Major|url=http://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2010/12/hardy-and-the-trumpet-major/|publisher=Dorset Life|access-date=1 December 2013|year=2010}}</ref>
In the United States, the first historical novelist was [[Samuel Woodworth]], who wrote ''The Champions of American Freedom'' in 1816.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Letter | first = Joseph J. | year = 2010 | title = Past Presentisms: Suffering Soldiers, Benjaminian Ruins, and the Discursive Foundations of Early U.S. Historical Novels | journal = American Literature | volume = 82 | issue = 1 | pages = 31–32 | doi = 10.1215/00029831-2009-068 | url = https://doi.org/10.1215/00029831-2009-068}}</ref> [[James Fenimore Cooper]] was better known for his historical novels and was influenced by Scott.<ref name = Lukacs69-72>Lukacs 69-72</ref> His most famous novel is ''[[The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757]]'' (1826), the second book of the ''[[Leatherstocking Tales]]'' pentalogy.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eKNK1YwHcQ4C&pg=PA661 ''Last of the Mohicans, The'']. In: ''Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature''. Merriam-Webster, 1995, {{ISBN|0877790426}}, p.661</ref> ''The Last of the Mohicans'' is set in 1757, during the [[French and Indian War]] (the [[Seven Years' War]]), when France and [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] battled for control of North America. Cooper's chief rival,<ref>{{Cite book | publisher = University of Chicago Press | isbn = 0-226-46969-7 | last = Lease | first = Benjamin | title = That Wild Fellow John Neal and the American Literary Revolution | location = Chicago, Illinois | year = 1972 | page = 39}}</ref> [[John Neal (writer)|John Neal]], wrote ''[[Rachel Dyer]]'' (1828), the first bound novel about the 17th-century [[Salem witch trials]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Sears | first = Donald A. | title = John Neal | publisher = Twayne Publishers | location = Boston, Massachusetts | year = 1978 | isbn = 080-5-7723-08 | page = 82}}</ref> ''Rachel Dyer'' also influenced future American fiction set in this period, like ''[[The Scarlet Letter]]'' (1850) by [[Nathaniel Hawthorne]]<ref>{{cite book | last = Kayorie | first = James Stephen Merritt | editor1-last = Baumgartner | editor1-first = Jody C. | chapter = John Neal (1793-1876) | page = 90 | title = American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and Their Impact on U.S. Policy and Culture | publisher = ABC-CLIO | location = Santa Barbara, California | year = 2019 | isbn = 9781440854866}}</ref> which is one of the most famous 19th-century American historical novels.<ref>{{cite news |publisher=National Public Radio (NPR) |date=March 2, 2008|work=Weekend All Things Considered |title=Sinner, Victim, Object, Winner {{pipe}} ANCHORS: JACKI LYDEN |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87805369|quote="masterwork"}}</ref> Set in 17th-century [[Puritan]] Boston, Massachusetts during the years 1642 to 1649, it tells the story of [[Hester Prynne]], who conceives a daughter through an affair and struggles to create a new life of [[repentance]] and dignity.
In French literature, the most prominent inheritor of Scott's style of the historical novel was [[Balzac]].<ref>Lukacs 92-96</ref> In 1829 Balzac published ''[[Les Chouans]]'', a historical work in the manner of Sir Walter Scott.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/balzac.htm |title=Honoré de Balzac |work=Books and Writers|first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140924072443/http://kirjasto.sci.fi/balzac.htm |archive-date=24 September 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This was subsequently incorporated into ''[[La Comédie Humaine]]''. The bulk of ''La Comédie Humaine'', however, takes place during the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]] and the [[July Monarchy]], though there are several novels which take place during the [[French Revolution]] and others which take place of in the Middle Ages or the Renaissance, including ''About Catherine de Medici'' and ''The Elixir of Long Life''.
[[File:Gosselin Hugo 1831 Johannot.jpg|thumb|Notre-Dame de Paris. 1482, Victor Hugo (1831)]]
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[[Category:Historical fiction| ]]
[[Category:Literary genres]]
[[Category:Film genres]]
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