<P> Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the Middle Ages . They wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers . In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, but this style tended to hamper the analysis of events and causes . An example of this type of writing is the Anglo - Saxon Chronicle, which was the work of several different writers: it was started during the reign of Alfred the Great in the late 9th century, but one copy was still being updated in 1154 . Some writers in the period did construct a more narrative form of history . These included Gregory of Tours and more successfully Bede, who wrote both secular and ecclesiastical history and who is known for writing the Ecclesiastical History of the English People . </P> <P> During the Renaissance, history was written about states or nations . The study of history changed during the Enlightenment and Romanticism . Voltaire described the history of certain ages that he considered important, rather than describing events in chronological order . History became an independent discipline . It was not called philosophia historiae anymore, but merely history (historia). </P> <P> Muslim historical writings first began to develop in the 7th century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammad's life in the centuries following his death . With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, it was necessary to verify which sources were more reliable . In order to evaluate these sources, various methodologies were developed, such as the "science of biography", "science of hadith" and "Isnad" (chain of transmission). These methodologies were later applied to other historical figures in the Islamic civilization . Famous historians in this tradition include Urwah (d . 712), Wahb ibn Munabbih (d . 728), Ibn Ishaq (d . 761), al - Waqidi (745--822), Ibn Hisham (d . 834), Muhammad al - Bukhari (810--870) and Ibn Hajar (1372--1449). Historians of the medieval Islamic world also developed an interest in world history . Islamic historical writing eventually culminated in the works of the Arab Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun (1332--1406), who published his historiographical studies in the Muqaddimah (translated as Prolegomena) and Kitab al - I'bar (Book of Advice). His work was forgotten until it was rediscovered in the late 19th century . </P> <P> During the Age of Enlightenment, the modern development of historiography through the application of scrupulous methods began . </P>

Label for the last decades of the nineteenth century