In the early 1630s, the Irish historian Geoffrey Keating addressed the question of the historicity or lack thereof of the pantheon of Gaelic heroes known as the Fian. In terms that recall similar debates over Arthur and his knights, he cites oral tradition, ancient documents and surviving monuments as evidence for the reality of these ancient heroes. However, he notes that, even if the individuals involved existed, not everything written about them should be taken as historically accurate:

Keating's literary allusions here have generally been passed over by scholars, but they merit some examination. Of the three texts cited, we only have firm evidence for the circulation of one, Sir Bevis of Hampton, in Ireland before this point. Yet Keating, writing in Irish for an Irish audience, holds these texts up as examples of narratives with which he clearly expects his readers to be familiar. In the case of ‘Huon of Burdex’, the form in which the title is given suggests Keating is thinking of the romance as an English text, rather than a French one, probably in the version translated by Lord Berners around 1515 and which went through numerous editions throughout the sixteenth century. Bevis of Hampton was translated into Irish from Middle English at the end of the fifteenth century, but once more the form that Keating gives for the title is so far removed from the form of the hero's name in that Irish translation – Bibus o Hamtuir – that it seems likely that he knew the romance in English.