The nineteenth century was the period of nation building in East-Central Europe. Historical novels played a role in the process, especially in encouraging the development of national identity by looking for the national essence in the past, or rather creating ideas about a national essence in the medium of history. This paper analyses several late-nineteenth-century historical novels from the region (by Alois Jirásek, Henryk Sienkiewicz, Ferenc Herczeg, and Géza Gárdonyi) to show the ways fictitious traits of a supposedly reliable historical background served contemporary political and ideological needs. These traits, which can also be described as anachronisms or author’s mistakes, both contribute to characterising national ancestors as us and also historical enemies as the other.