Sixteenth-century historians routinely invented speeches for leading figures

Evidence

We have unfortunately no record of such gatherings from the Muslim side (it would be surprising if we did) and so have to rely on reports in the Christian sources, doubly suspect because of the practice common among historians writing in the sixteenth century of inventing rhetorical speeches (often cast in a Tacitean mold) to put in the mouths of leading figures. The contents of such “speeches” (as opposed to the surface detail) is not necessarily totally unreliable as general background information: the presentational device was well understood at the time, and not intended to mislead. Nevertheless clearly we must be wary. — L. P. Harvey, Muslims in Spain, 1500 to 1614, 1004

Categorization

• DEFINE: Describes the Tacitean rhetorical-speech ‘presentational device’ as a recognized historiographical convention meant not to deceive but to convey general background.