A far more modern example of the growth of legend.
William Tell
http://www.divainternational.ch/spip.php?article99
William Tell
http://www.divainternational.ch/spip.php?article99
Quote:As the image of William Tell was taking on its definitive form, literary critics were beginning to demolish it. In 1760 an obscure village priest in the canton of Berne published (anonymously) a pamphlet pointing out that the story of William Tell was, in fact, originally a Danish legend! This caused great outrage, particularly in Uri. In the same year, the original document of the Gr?tli pact of 1291 was discovered in the archives of the canton of Schwytz. The name of Tell does not appear on it!