It is hardly necessary to dwell here on the value and significance of these "lives". We may regard them as religious romances or novels, and as is generally agreed, they were written to enhance the cause of the church or "parochia", whose freedom and independence was not infrequently threatened at this time. In no sense are they 'historical'; indeed they have more to offer the student of social anthropology and primitive religion. Much of what they contain is pure imagination, mingled and blended with myth, folklore and legend. But, as Doble reminds us, 'Legend is history, in the sense that the legends and traditions of a people are part of its history.'