History Main / HistoricalFiction

-->'''GeorgeEliot''', ''SillyNovelsByLadyNovelists''

This is fiction set in a distinctive historical period other than the one the author lives in, which brushes up against actual historical figures if it doesn't star them outright. Depending on the bent of said author, he may let his [[AuthorTract biases]] bleed through via HistoricalHeroUpgrade or HistoricalVillainUpgrade. A HistoricalBeautyUpdate will make the story more fun without making it much less accurate. Important historical events are at least mentioned in passing if they don't have a strong influence on the plot. DeliberateValuesDissonance is frequent for historical accuracy. Often, the period predates a TropeBreaker (though sometimes the audience doesn't realize that).

* ''[[Series/TheRomanMysteriesSeries The Roman Mysteries]]'' is a historical DetectiveDrama series set in 1st Century AD of TheRomanEmpire.

* ''[[TheRomanMysteriesSeries The Roman Mysteries]]'' is a historical DetectiveDrama series set in 1st Century AD of TheRomanEmpire.

* ''DoctorWho'' occasionally slips into this, and uses Time Travel to land in the periods of historical figures such as WinstonChurchill, WilliamShakespeare, AgathaChristie and VincentVanGogh. Of course, its not a straight HistoricalFiction, considering the aliens, space-ships, and 'mythological' creatures, but then [[GenreBusting when was the show's genre ever easily defined]]?

* ''MademoiselleButterfly'', set in the 1930s with geishas.

* DoctorWho occasionally slips into this, and uses Time Travel to land in the periods of historical figures such as WinstonChurchill, WilliamShakespeare, AgathaChristie and VincentVanGogh. Of course, its not a straight HistoricalFiction, considering the aliens, space-ships, and 'mythological' creatures, but then [[GenreBusting when was the show's genre ever easily defined]]?

This is fiction set in a distinctive historical period other than the one the author lives in, which brushes up against actual historical figures if it doesn't star them outright. Depending on the bent of said author, he may let his [[AuthorTract biases]] bleed through via HistoricalHeroUpgrade or HistoricalVillainUpgrade. A HistoricalBeautyUpdate will make the story more fun without making it much less accurate. Important historical events are at least mentioned in passing if they don't have a strong influence on the plot. DeliberateValuesDissonance is frequent for historical accuracy.

[[/index]]

This is fiction set in a distinctive historical period other than the one the author lives in, which brushes up against actual historical figures if it doesn't star them outright. Depending on the bent of said author, he may let his [[AuthorTract biases]] bleed through via HistoricalHeroUpgrade or HistoricalVillainUpgrade. A HistoricalBeautyUpdate will make the story more fun without making it much less accurate. Important historical events are at least mentioned in passing if they don't have a strong influence on the plot.

-->''Admitting that genius which has familiarized itself with all the relics of an ancient period can sometimes, by the force of its sympathetic divination, restore the missing notes in the "music of humanity," and reconstruct the fragments into a whole which will really bring the remote past nearer to us, and interpret it to our duller apprehension,–this form of imaginative power must always be among the very rarest, because it demands as much accurate and minute knowledge as creative vigour''
--->'''GeorgeEliot''', ''SillyNovelsByLadyNovelists''

[[AC: {{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]] - see also JidaiGeki

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

* ''IClaudius'', a biography of the Julian emperors up to Claudius based on a duology by Robert Graves.
* ''{{Rome}}'' is the rise of the Julian dynasty from the perspective of ThoseTwoGuys.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

* ''TheDreamer''

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
[[index]]
* ''[[{{Ptitleqsu0peut}} Liberty's Kids]]'', set in TheAmericanRevolution.
* ''PrincessSissi'', a German series that takes a ''lot'' of liberties with the story of Elizabeth of Bavaria's life.
[[/index]]

See HistoricalFictionLiterature.

[[AC:{{ComicBooks}}]]

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagger_of_Kamui Dagger of Kamui]]'', set during the last days of the Tokugawa shogunate and features a cameo from Mark Twain.

* ''SamuraiChamploo'' is set during the Edo Period... [[AnachronismStew If you add guns... And rap music... And tagging...]]

** Just about every "SwordAndSandal" movie of that era covered the birth of Christianity and/or some part of the Roman Empire:
**** ''Julius Caesar'' and its "sequel", ''Cleopatra'', about the two title characters.
**** ''QuoVadis'', set during Nero's reign; ditto ''TheRobe''.
**** ''{{Spartacus}}'', a retelling of Spartacus' revolt.
**** ''TheFallOfTheRomanEmpire'', set during the Emperor Commodus' reign; ditto ''{{Film/Gladiator}}''

* ''Titanic''

* ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'', in which the main character becomes honorary brothers with Genghis Kahn; ''The Book and the Sword'' has Qianlong caught up in a conspiracy to restore the previous Ming dynasty; and ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deer_and_the_Cauldron The Deer and the Cauldron]]'', starring [[LovableCoward Wei]] [[ChivalrousPervert Xiao]] [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Bao]], the childhood friend of Qing Emperor Kangxi. (Most of JinYong's other novels are set in an explicit historical period, but in general don't have cameos from famous figures.)
* ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', a VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory retelling of the Three Kingdoms period.
* ''FengShenYanYi'', an even looser retelling of the founding of the Zhou dynasty.
* ''Bandits of the WaterMargin'', set near the end of the Song dynasty and featuring a corrupt minister as a villain (sort of).
* ''DreamOfTheRedChamber'', set in the early Qing dynasty (though at least one LiveActionAdaptation has opted to set it vaguely in the Ming dynasty instead).
* ''TheOtherBoleynGirl'' and Philippa Gregory's other novels.
* ''{{Flashman}}'' counts, I think, with the titular character appearing at historical events and meeting the key figures.
* The ''{{Masters of Rome}}'' series by Colleen [=McCullough=], which charts the decline and fall of the Roman Republic.
* The ''Master and Commander'' books are probably this, although it's slightly edited history (Jack Aubrey has been inserted into most of the Napoleonic War).
* ''{{Ivanhoe}}'', with special guest star [[spoiler:RobinHood]].
* ''ATaleOfTwoCities''
* ''Berenice'', about the fall of the Macedonian Empire after the death of Alexander the Great, and about Berenice's rise as the queen of Egypt.
* Arguably, ''TheIliad'' falls in this category as well, making this OlderThanDirt.
* ''{{Sharpe}}'' set during the Napoleonic Wars, with a few prequel novels set in India. Much more historically faithful then the television series based off the books.
** Really, this is Bernard Cornwall's whole shtick.
* ''ThePillarsOfTheEarth'', set in 12th century England. Henry II and Thomas Becket play large roles.
* ''RobinHood''
* ''KingArthur''...[[ShroudedInMyth maybe]].
* Most of AlexandreDumas' novels (''TheThreeMusketeers'', ''{{The Count of Monte Cristo}}'', etc.).
* Conn Iggulden's ''Empire'' (Roman Empire) and ''Conqueror'' (Mongol Empire) series
* ''TheEgyptian''.
* The SienkiewiczTrilogy is set in the 17th Century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. While these books are popular in Poland, the author, Henryk Sienkiewicz, is more well-known internationally for ''QuoVadis'', set in AncientRome.
* The MarcusDidiusFalco novels, about a PrivateDetective in AncientRome.
* ''WarAndPeace''.
* ''{{The Sand-Reckoner}}'' by Gillian Bradshaw is about Archimedes as a young man.
* TheIcelandicSagas were written a couple centuries after the events they describe, based on the oral traditions about events during the time of the Commonwealth, before politically everything went south and Iceland lost its independence in civil war.
* TheDeathOfTheVazirMukhtar - set in Russia, Georgia (in the Caucasus) and Persia in 1829.
* EcceRomani - A high-school Latin textbook series teaching through a story about a Roman family. Obviously quite accurate on historical facts, being a textbook.
* Arguably OnlyRevolutions, as it passes through two hundred years of American history and includes historical tidbits for context on the sides.
* TheAlienist
* SnowFlowerAndTheSecretFan

* A good chunk of WilliamShakespeare's work is this:
** ''Antony and Cleopatra''
** ''HenryIV''
** ''HenryV''
** ''Henry VI''
** ''Henry VIII''
** ''JuliusCaesar''
** ''{{Macbeth}}''
** ''Richard II''
** ''RichardIII''

* ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewel_in_the_palace Jewel in the Palace]]'' - set in Korea's Joseon Dynasty.
* NHK loves historical fiction, to the point of producing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga_drama one per year]].
* The HBO Series ''Rome'' is the rise of the Julian dynasty from the perspective of ThoseTwoGuys.

[[AC:Webcomics]]

* ''[=~Liberty's Kids~=]'', set in TheAmericanRevolution.

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*''MademoiselleButterfly'', set in the 1930's with geishas.