Ossian

Ossian is the narrator and purported author of a cycle of epic poems published by the Scottish poet James Macpherson from 1760. Macpherson claimed to have collected wordofmouth material in Gaelic, said to be from ancient sources, and that the work was his translation of that material. Ossian is based on Oisn, son of Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill, anglicised to Finn McCool, a legendary bard who is a character in Irish mythology. Contemporary critics were divided in their view of the works authenticity, but the consensus since is that Macpherson framed the poems himself, based on old folk tales he had collected, and that Ossian is, in the words of Thomas Curley, the most successful literary falsehood in modern history.

Complete Danish translations were made in 1790, and Swedish ones in 17941800. In Scandinavia and Germany the Celtic nature of the setting was ignored or not understood, and Ossian was regarded as a Nordic or Germanic figure who became a symbol for nationalist aspirations. The French general JeanBaptiste Bernadotte, who was made King Charles XIV John of Sweden and King of Norway, had already named his only son after a character from Ossian born in 1799, he later became King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway, and was succeeded by his son Oscar II .

Source: Wikipedia