The chief authority for the reign is the chronicler Flodoard.
The chronicler's style can be recognized in vii.
But from the independent testimony of Haggai and Zechariah it is doubtful whether the chronicler's account of the return under Cyrus is at all trustworthy.
Andres Hurtado de Mendoza, marquess of Canete, who became viceroy of Peru in 1655, bestowed on Fernandez the office of chronicler of Peru; and in this capacity he wrote a narrative of the insurrection of Francisco Hernandez Giron, of the rebellion of Gonzalo Pizarro, and of the administration of Pedro de la Gasca.
But most critics hold that the chronicler also drew directly from the canonical books of Samuel and Kings as he apparently did from the Pentateuch.