John Leland
Encyclopedia
John Leland, also Leyland (13 September, c.1503 – 18 April 1552), was an English poet and antiquary.
Leland has been described as "the father of English local history
and bibliography". His Itinerary provided a unique source of observations and raw materials for many subsequent antiquaries, and introduced the county as the basic unit for studying the local history of England, an idea that has been influential ever since.
on 13 September, most probably in about 1503, and had an older brother, also named John. Having lost both his parents at an early age, he and his brother were raised by Thomas Myles. Leland was educated at St Paul's School, London, under its first headmaster, William Lily
. It was here that he already met some of his future benefactors, notably William Paget
.
Leland was subsequently sent to Christ's College, Cambridge
, graduating in 1522 (BA). While studying there, he was for a short time imprisoned, having accused a certain knight of collaborating with Richard de la Pole
, the Yorkist claimant to the throne (d. 1525). He proceeded to Lambeth, London, serving Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
as tutor to his son Thomas
. When the duke died in 1524, the king sent Leland to Oxford, where as Anthony Wood
later claimed from tradition, he became a fellow of All Souls College
. He would later deplore the state of education at Oxford, which he felt was too conservative in its approach to classical studies.
Between 1526 and 1528, Leland proceeded to Paris
, studying along with many fellow expatriates, both English and German. His original plan to study in Italy, too, never succeeded. Leland honed his skills at composing Latin poetry and sought the acquaintance of humanist scholars whom he much admired, such as Guillaume Budé
and Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples
. A scholar of particular importance for Leland was François Dubois
(Silvius), professor at the Collège de Tournai, who had a profound effect on his poetic as well as antiquarian interests. While in France, Leland kept in touch with his friends and sponsors in England, probably including Thomas Wolsey (d. 1530), Cardinal and Lord Chancellor, who made him rector at Laverstoke
, Hampshire.
, a relationship which would help explain his rising fortunes over the next few years. He was appointed one of the chaplains to King Henry VIII
, who gave him the rectory of Peuplingues
(Pepeling), in the marshes of Calais
(though he may never have visited the place). In 1533, Leland received papal dispensation
for four benefices, on condition that he became subdeacon
within two years and priest within seven. He was appointed prebendary
of Wilton Abbey
in 1535 and received two adjacent benefices.
Leland and Nicholas Udall
composed verses to be read or recited at the pageant of Anne Boleyn
's arrival in London in 1533, which was staged for the occasion of her coronation. Their common patron was probably Thomas, Duke of Norfolk and Cornwall. The poets worked together again during 1533 and 1534, when Leland contributed verses for Udall's Floures for Latine Spekynge.
, who much admired his work and offered his assistance.
In 1536, not long after the First Suppression Act commanding the dissolution of lesser monasteries was passed, Leland lamented the spoliation of monastic libraries and addressed Thomas Cromwell in a letter seeking aid for the rescue of books. He complained that
In the 1530s and 1540s, the royal library was reorganised to accommodate hundreds of books that were previously kept in monastic collections. Leland himself describes how Henry's palaces at Greenwich, Hampton Court
and Westminster were adapted for the purpose. Leland's part in this is uncertain.
In humanist fashion, Leland styled himself antiquarius, a title which was at one time interpreted as referring to a formal appointment as 'king's antiquary': however, it is now understood to have been merely Leland's own preferred way of describing himself. There is no evidence that he personally oversaw the relocation of the books to their new home or received a librarian's wages. What he did do was to compile his lists of important volumes, and to take measures to encourage their preservation.
. By that date he had been on a tour to the north-west, which went via the Welsh marches
to Cheshire
, Lancashire
and Cumberland
; while other itineraries took him to the west Midlands
, the north-east (reaching Yorkshire
and County Durham
), and the Bristol
region. He probably explored the south-east
in shorter excursions. He is not known to have toured East Anglia
, for which only a few fragmentary notes survive.
Leland kept notebooks on his travels, in which he entered and assessed information from personal observation, and from books, charters and oral sources. It is this material which we now know as his 'Itinerary'.
In the 1906-10 edition, the Itinerary runs to five printed volumes. It comprises rough notes and very early drafts, the raw materials for a more digested description of England and Wales—Leland would not have envisaged publishing it in anything like its present form. The county on which he appears to have made greatest progress in organising his material was Kent
. "Let this be the firste chapitre of the booke", he wrote; "The King hymself was borne yn Kent. Kent is the key of al Englande." John Bale
later listed an Itinerarium Cantiae (Itinerary of Kent) among Leland's writings.
Although Leland's Itinerary notes remained unpublished until the eighteenth century, they provided a significant quarry of data and descriptions for William Camden's
Britannia (first edition, 1586), and many other antiquarian works.
in which he outlined his achievements so far, and his future plans. It was subsequently published by John Bale
in 1549 (with Bale's own additional commentary) under the title The laboryouse journey & serche of Johan Leylande for Englandes antiquitees. The letter has traditionally (following Bale) been regarded as a "New Year's gift" to the King for January 1546, but James Carley has shown that it must have been composed in late 1543 or early 1544 (so that if it was presented at the new year, which is not certain, it would have been in 1544).
In the letter, Leland reported on his endeavours to preserve books, and the extent and thoroughness of his travels through England and Wales:
He also described what use he intended to make of the information he had accumulated. He noted four projects:
Of these projects, De uiris illustribus was already largely complete (it was written in two phases, in c.1535-6 and c.1543-6), but the others would never come to fruition. Polydore Vergil
appears to have suggested that Leland had been unrealistically over-ambitious: he was "a vaynegloryouse persone, whyche woulde promyse more, than ever he was able or intended to perfourme".
, hillforts
, and Roman and medieval ruins. He came across several Roman inscriptions
, though he was unable to read most of them, complaining of one that it was made up of "letters for whole words, and 2. or 3. letters conveid in one". He often reported finds of coins, writing of Richborough
, Kent, for example, that more Roman money had been discovered there "then in any place els of England". He investigated and recorded building materials in some detail.
He was sometimes able to make astute and informed deductions from what he saw. At Lincoln, for example, he identified three phases of urban development, beginning with a British
settlement at the top of the hill (close to which "much Romaine mony is found"), the Saxon
and medieval town further south, and a more recent riverside development at Wigford. He was able to judge that the existing fabric of Ripon Minster
"indubitately was made sins the Conquest
". He correctly distinguished what he called "Briton brykes" (actually Roman bricks
) at several geographically dispersed sites, including Verulamium
, Richborough
, Lympne
, Dover Castle, Canterbury
, and Bewcastle
.
He was normally content to record surface remains and recovered artefacts, but on one occasion he adopted a more interventionist approach. At the hillfort at Burrough Hill
, Leicestershire, he pulled some stones from the gateway to establish whether it had been walled or not: they were mortared with lime, which persuaded him that it had been. The account included in Leland's Itinerary may be regarded as the earliest archaeological field report.
. He therefore took offence when the Italian scholar Polydore Vergil
cast doubts on certain elements in the Arthurian legend in his Anglica Historia (published in 1534). Leland's first response was an unpublished tract, written perhaps in 1536, the Codrus sive Laus et Defensio Gallofridi Arturii contra Polydorum Vergilium. ("Codrus", a pseudonym for Vergil, was a type-name drawn from Juvenal
for a wretched and dreary hack-poet.) He followed this with a longer published work, the Assertio inclytissimi Arturii regis Britannia (1544). In both texts, Leland drew on a wide range of literary, etymological, archaeological and oral sources to defend the historicity of Arthur. Although his central belief was flawed, his work preserved much evidence for the Arthurian tradition that might otherwise have been lost.
Leland's material provides invaluable evidence for reconstructing the lost "tomb" of Arthur (a twelfth-century fabrication) at Glastonbury Abbey
.
On his itinerary of 1542, Leland was the first to record the tradition (possibly influenced by the proximity of the villages of Queen Camel
and West Camel
) identifying the hillfort of Cadbury Castle
in Somerset
as Arthur's Camelot
:
, Oxfordshire
. The year following he preferred him to a canonry of King's College, now Christ Church, Oxford
, and about the same time, collated him to a prebend in the church of Sarum
. He was an absentee pluralist, with the income and leisure to pursue his interests. He retired with his collections to his house in the parish of St Michael le Querne, Cheapside, London, where he intended to work on his various projects. However, in February 1547 "he fell besides his wits". He was certified insane in March 1550 and died, still mentally deranged, on 18 April 1552.
arranged for Leland's library (including many medieval manuscripts) to be placed in the custody of Sir John Cheke
. John Bale
consulted some of them at this time. Cheke fell from favour on the accession of Queen Mary
, and departed for mainland Europe in 1554: from that point onwards, and continuing after Cheke's death in 1557, the library was dispersed. Books were acquired by collectors including Sir William Cecil
, William, Lord Paget
, John Dee
and Archbishop Matthew Parker
.
Leland's own manuscript notebooks were inherited by Cheke's son, Henry, and in 1576 they were borrowed and transcribed by John Stow
, allowing their contents to begin to circulate in antiquarian circles. Antiquaries who gained access to them through Stow included William Camden
, William Harrison
, Robert Glover
and Francis Thynne
. The original notebooks passed from Henry Cheke to Humphrey Purefoy, and so (following his death in 1598) to Humphrey's son Thomas, who divided many of them between his two cousins John Hales and the antiquary, William Burton
. Burton subsequently managed to recover several of the items given to Hales, and in 1632 and 1642-3 donated most of the collection—comprising the Collectanea, De scriptoribus and several of the Itinerary notebooks—to the Bodleian Library
, Oxford, where the volumes remain.
is a 28 miles (45.1 km) footpath
, which follows the footsteps of John Leland as he traversed South Somerset between 1535 and 1543 in the course of his investigation of the region's antiquities. The Leland Trail begins at King Alfred's Tower
on the Wiltshire
/Somerset
border and finishes at Ham Hill Country Park
.
Leland's writings are an invaluable primary source
, not only for the local history and the geography of England, but also for literary history, archaeology
, social history
, and economic history
.
This edition, based on Toulmin Smith's, rearranges Leland's topographical descriptions of England (but not Wales) in county chapters, and renders them in modern English. It is less authoritative for scholarly purposes, but considerably more accessible and easier to navigate. It also corrects a small number of errors by Toulmin Smith.
Leland has been described as "the father of English local history
English local history
Local history is the study of the history of a relatively small geographic area; typically a specific settlement, parish or county. English local history came to the fore with the antiquarians of the 19th century and was particularly emphasised by the creation of the Victoria County History series...
and bibliography". His Itinerary provided a unique source of observations and raw materials for many subsequent antiquaries, and introduced the county as the basic unit for studying the local history of England, an idea that has been influential ever since.
Early life and education
Most evidence for Leland's life and career comes from his own writings, especially his poetry. He was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 13 September, most probably in about 1503, and had an older brother, also named John. Having lost both his parents at an early age, he and his brother were raised by Thomas Myles. Leland was educated at St Paul's School, London, under its first headmaster, William Lily
William Lilye
William Lily was an English classical grammarian and scholar. He was an author of the most widely used Latin grammar textbook in England and was the first headmaster of St Paul's School, London.-Life:...
. It was here that he already met some of his future benefactors, notably William Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert , was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.-Early life:...
.
Leland was subsequently sent to Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
, graduating in 1522 (BA). While studying there, he was for a short time imprisoned, having accused a certain knight of collaborating with Richard de la Pole
Richard de la Pole
Richard de la Pole was a pretender to the English crown. Commonly nicknamed White Rose, he was the last member of the House of York to actively and openly seek the crown of England...
, the Yorkist claimant to the throne (d. 1525). He proceeded to Lambeth, London, serving Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal , styled Earl of Surrey from 1483 to 1514, was the only son of John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk by his first wife, Katherine Moleyns...
as tutor to his son Thomas
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a prominent Tudor politician. He was uncle to Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, two of the wives of King Henry VIII, and played a major role in the machinations behind these marriages...
. When the duke died in 1524, the king sent Leland to Oxford, where as Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood
Anthony Wood or Anthony à Wood was an English antiquary.-Early life:Anthony Wood was the fourth son of Thomas Wood , BCL of Oxford, where Anthony was born...
later claimed from tradition, he became a fellow of All Souls College
All Souls College, Oxford
The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....
. He would later deplore the state of education at Oxford, which he felt was too conservative in its approach to classical studies.
Between 1526 and 1528, Leland proceeded to Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, studying along with many fellow expatriates, both English and German. His original plan to study in Italy, too, never succeeded. Leland honed his skills at composing Latin poetry and sought the acquaintance of humanist scholars whom he much admired, such as Guillaume Budé
Guillaume Budé
Guillaume Budé was a French scholar.-Life:Budé was born in Paris. He went to the University of Orléans to study law, but for several years, being possessed of ample means, he led an idle and dissipated life...
and Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples
Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples
Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples or Jacob Faber Stapulensis was a French theologian and humanist. He was a precursor of the Protestant movement in France. The "d’Étaples" was not part of his name as such, but used to distinguish him from Jacques Lefèvre of Deventer, a less significant contemporary, a...
. A scholar of particular importance for Leland was François Dubois
François Dubois
François Dubois was a French Huguenot painter who was born in Amiens. His only surviving work is the best known depiction of the Saint Bartholomew's Day massacre of 1572, when French Catholics killed Protestant Huguenots in Paris. It is not known whether Dubois himself was present at the event but...
(Silvius), professor at the Collège de Tournai, who had a profound effect on his poetic as well as antiquarian interests. While in France, Leland kept in touch with his friends and sponsors in England, probably including Thomas Wolsey (d. 1530), Cardinal and Lord Chancellor, who made him rector at Laverstoke
Laverstoke
Laverstoke is a village in the north of Hampshire, England. It forms a parish with the nearby village of Freefolk.Businesses include Laverstoke Park Farm-Literature:...
, Hampshire.
Royal appointment
By 1529, Leland had returned to England. When Wolsey fell from the king's favour in that year, Leland appears to have sought the patronage of Thomas CromwellThomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex
Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, , was an English statesman who served as chief minister of King Henry VIII of England from 1532 to 1540....
, a relationship which would help explain his rising fortunes over the next few years. He was appointed one of the chaplains to King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, who gave him the rectory of Peuplingues
Peuplingues
Peuplingues is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:Peuplingues is located 5 miles southwest of Calais, at the junction of the D243 and D243E roads, about a mile from the A16 autoroute....
(Pepeling), in the marshes of Calais
Calais
Calais is a town in Northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's capital is its third-largest city of Arras....
(though he may never have visited the place). In 1533, Leland received papal dispensation
Papal dispensation
Papal dispensation is a reserved right of the Pope that allows for individuals to be exempted from a specific Canon Law. Dispensations are divided into two categories: general, and matrimonial. Matrimonial dispensations can be either to allow a marriage in the first place, or to dissolve one...
for four benefices, on condition that he became subdeacon
Subdeacon
-Subdeacons in the Orthodox Church:A subdeacon or hypodeacon is the highest of the minor orders of clergy in the Orthodox Church. This order is higher than the reader and lower than the deacon.-Canonical Discipline:...
within two years and priest within seven. He was appointed prebendary
Prebendary
A prebendary is a post connected to an Anglican or Catholic cathedral or collegiate church and is a type of canon. Prebendaries have a role in the administration of the cathedral...
of Wilton Abbey
Wilton Abbey
Wilton Abbey was a Benedictine convent in Wiltshire, England, three miles from Salisbury on the site now occupied by Wilton House. A first foundation was made as a college of secular priests by Wulfstan, Ealdorman of Wiltshire, about 773, but after his death was changed into a convent for twelve...
in 1535 and received two adjacent benefices.
Leland and Nicholas Udall
Nicholas Udall
Nicholas Udall was an English playwright, cleric, pederast and schoolmaster, the author of Ralph Roister Doister, generally regarded as the first comedy written in the English language.-Biography:...
composed verses to be read or recited at the pageant of Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn
Anne Boleyn ;c.1501/1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536 as the second wife of Henry VIII of England and Marquess of Pembroke in her own right. Henry's marriage to Anne, and her subsequent execution, made her a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that was the...
's arrival in London in 1533, which was staged for the occasion of her coronation. Their common patron was probably Thomas, Duke of Norfolk and Cornwall. The poets worked together again during 1533 and 1534, when Leland contributed verses for Udall's Floures for Latine Spekynge.
Library tours, 1533-6
In 1533, the king appears to have entrusted Leland with a document, "a moste gratius commission" (or principis diploma as he called it in Latin), which authorized him to examine and use the libraries of all religious houses in England. Leland spent the next few years travelling from house to house, for the most part shortly before they were dissolved, compiling numerous lists of significant or unusual books in their libraries. In c.1535, he met the ex-Carmelite churchman and fellow antiquary John BaleJohn Bale
John Bale was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English , and developed and published a very extensive list of the works of British authors down to his own time, just as the monastic libraries were being...
, who much admired his work and offered his assistance.
In 1536, not long after the First Suppression Act commanding the dissolution of lesser monasteries was passed, Leland lamented the spoliation of monastic libraries and addressed Thomas Cromwell in a letter seeking aid for the rescue of books. He complained that
- "The Germans perceive our desidousness, and do send daily young scholars hither that spoileth [books], and cutteth them out of libraries, returning home and putting them abroad as monuments of their own country."
In the 1530s and 1540s, the royal library was reorganised to accommodate hundreds of books that were previously kept in monastic collections. Leland himself describes how Henry's palaces at Greenwich, Hampton Court
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century. The palace is located south west of Charing Cross and upstream of Central London on the River Thames...
and Westminster were adapted for the purpose. Leland's part in this is uncertain.
In humanist fashion, Leland styled himself antiquarius, a title which was at one time interpreted as referring to a formal appointment as 'king's antiquary': however, it is now understood to have been merely Leland's own preferred way of describing himself. There is no evidence that he personally oversaw the relocation of the books to their new home or received a librarian's wages. What he did do was to compile his lists of important volumes, and to take measures to encourage their preservation.
Itineraries, c.1538-43
Even after the dissolution, Leland did not abandon his hunt for books. For instance, he obtained official permission to avail himself of the library belonging to the defunct monastery of Bury St Edmunds. The descriptions of Britain which he encountered in the manuscripts, however, and his personal experiences of travel, also sparked off fresh interests. By c.1538, Leland had turned his attention to English and Welsh topography and antiquities, embarking on a series of journeys which lasted six years. Probably over the summer of 1538 (though there may also have been earlier and/or later trips), he made an extended excursion through Wales. He subsequently made a number of journeys in England: the exact sequence and their dates are again uncertain, but there seem to have been five major English itineraries, taken over the summers of the years 1539 to 1543. His one firmly dated itinerary is that of 1542, which took him to the West CountryWest Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
. By that date he had been on a tour to the north-west, which went via the Welsh marches
Welsh Marches
The Welsh Marches is a term which, in modern usage, denotes an imprecisely defined area along and around the border between England and Wales in the United Kingdom. The precise meaning of the term has varied at different periods...
to Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
and Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
; while other itineraries took him to the west Midlands
West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
, the north-east (reaching Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
and County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
), and the Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
region. He probably explored the south-east
South East England
South East England is one of the nine official regions of England, designated in 1994 and adopted for statistical purposes in 1999. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Oxfordshire, Surrey and West Sussex...
in shorter excursions. He is not known to have toured East Anglia
East Anglia
East Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
, for which only a few fragmentary notes survive.
Leland kept notebooks on his travels, in which he entered and assessed information from personal observation, and from books, charters and oral sources. It is this material which we now know as his 'Itinerary'.
In the 1906-10 edition, the Itinerary runs to five printed volumes. It comprises rough notes and very early drafts, the raw materials for a more digested description of England and Wales—Leland would not have envisaged publishing it in anything like its present form. The county on which he appears to have made greatest progress in organising his material was Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. "Let this be the firste chapitre of the booke", he wrote; "The King hymself was borne yn Kent. Kent is the key of al Englande." John Bale
John Bale
John Bale was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English , and developed and published a very extensive list of the works of British authors down to his own time, just as the monastic libraries were being...
later listed an Itinerarium Cantiae (Itinerary of Kent) among Leland's writings.
Although Leland's Itinerary notes remained unpublished until the eighteenth century, they provided a significant quarry of data and descriptions for William Camden's
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
Britannia (first edition, 1586), and many other antiquarian works.
The "New Year's Gift", 1544
In the mid 1540s, Leland wrote a letter to Henry VIIIHenry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
in which he outlined his achievements so far, and his future plans. It was subsequently published by John Bale
John Bale
John Bale was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English , and developed and published a very extensive list of the works of British authors down to his own time, just as the monastic libraries were being...
in 1549 (with Bale's own additional commentary) under the title The laboryouse journey & serche of Johan Leylande for Englandes antiquitees. The letter has traditionally (following Bale) been regarded as a "New Year's gift" to the King for January 1546, but James Carley has shown that it must have been composed in late 1543 or early 1544 (so that if it was presented at the new year, which is not certain, it would have been in 1544).
In the letter, Leland reported on his endeavours to preserve books, and the extent and thoroughness of his travels through England and Wales:
- "I have so travelid yn yowr dominions booth by the se costes and the midle partes, sparing nother labor nor costes, by the space of these vi. yeres paste, that there is almoste nother cape, nor bay, haven, creke or peere, river or confluence of rivers, breches, waschis, lakes, meres, fenny waters, montaynes, valleis, mores, hethes, forestes, wooddes, cities, burges, castelles, principale manor placis, monasteries, and colleges, but I have seene them; and notid yn so doing a hole worlde of thinges very memorable."
He also described what use he intended to make of the information he had accumulated. He noted four projects:
- De uiris illustribus, a biographical encyclopedia of British writers in four books, arranged chronologically.
- A detailed map of the realm engraved on a silver table, to be presented to the King (inspired by a set of table-maps once possessed by the Emperor CharlemagneCharlemagneCharlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
), accompanied by a written description, the Liber de topographia Britanniae, and a key to identifying the British place-namesToponymyToponymy is the scientific study of place names , their origins, meanings, use and typology. The word "toponymy" is derived from the Greek words tópos and ónoma . Toponymy is itself a branch of onomastics, the study of names of all kinds...
given in ancient texts. - A history of England and Wales, entitled De Antiquitate Britannica, or Civilis Historia. This work was to be divided into "so many bookes as there be shires yn England, and sheres and greate dominions yn Wales", i.e. about fifty: a further six books would deal with Britain's offshore islands.
- De nobilitate Britannica, a catalogue of royalty, nobility, and "capitaines and rulers", divided chronologically into three books.
Of these projects, De uiris illustribus was already largely complete (it was written in two phases, in c.1535-6 and c.1543-6), but the others would never come to fruition. Polydore Vergil
Polydore Vergil
Polydore Vergil was an Italian historian, otherwise known as PV Castellensis. He is better known as the contemporary historian during the early Tudor dynasty. He was hired by King Henry VIII of England, who wanted to distance himself from his father Henry VII as much as possible, to document...
appears to have suggested that Leland had been unrealistically over-ambitious: he was "a vaynegloryouse persone, whyche woulde promyse more, than ever he was able or intended to perfourme".
Leland and archaeology
Leland was concerned to record evidence for the history of England and Wales as it was visible in the landscape, and he therefore took pains to note all kinds of archaeological remains, including megalithsMegalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
, hillforts
Hill fort
A hill fort is a type of earthworks used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze and Iron Ages. Some were used in the post-Roman period...
, and Roman and medieval ruins. He came across several Roman inscriptions
Roman Inscriptions of Britain
The Roman Inscriptions of Britain is a multi-volume index of inscriptions found in Britain from the Roman period. It is an important reference work for all scholars of Roman Britain. This monumental work was initiated by Francis Haverfield – his notebooks were bequeathed to the University of...
, though he was unable to read most of them, complaining of one that it was made up of "letters for whole words, and 2. or 3. letters conveid in one". He often reported finds of coins, writing of Richborough
Richborough
Richborough is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet....
, Kent, for example, that more Roman money had been discovered there "then in any place els of England". He investigated and recorded building materials in some detail.
He was sometimes able to make astute and informed deductions from what he saw. At Lincoln, for example, he identified three phases of urban development, beginning with a British
Britons (historical)
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
settlement at the top of the hill (close to which "much Romaine mony is found"), the Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
and medieval town further south, and a more recent riverside development at Wigford. He was able to judge that the existing fabric of Ripon Minster
Ripon Cathedral
Ripon Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds and the mother church of the Diocese of Ripon and Leeds, situated in the small North Yorkshire city of Ripon, England.-Background:...
"indubitately was made sins the Conquest
Norman conquest of England
The Norman conquest of England began on 28 September 1066 with the invasion of England by William, Duke of Normandy. William became known as William the Conqueror after his victory at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066, defeating King Harold II of England...
". He correctly distinguished what he called "Briton brykes" (actually Roman bricks
Roman brick
Roman brick can refer either to a type of brick originating in Ancient Rome and spread by the Romans to the lands they conquered; or to a modern type of brick, inspired by the ancient prototypes...
) at several geographically dispersed sites, including Verulamium
Verulamium
Verulamium was an ancient town in Roman Britain. It was sited in the southwest of the modern city of St Albans in Hertfordshire, Great Britain. A large portion of the Roman city remains unexcavated, being now park and agricultural land, though much has been built upon...
, Richborough
Richborough
Richborough is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet....
, Lympne
Portus Lemanis
Portus Lemanis was the name of an ancient Roman fort, settlement and port in southern Kent. The modern village of Lympne derives its name from the ancient port.-History:...
, Dover Castle, Canterbury
St Martin's Church, Canterbury
The Church of St Martin in Canterbury, England, situated slightly beyond the city centre, is England's oldest parish church in continuous use. Since 1668 St Martin's has been part of the benefice of St Martin & St Paul Canterbury. Both St Martin's and nearby St Paul's churches are used for weekly...
, and Bewcastle
Bewcastle Roman Fort
Bewcastle Roman Fort was a Roman fort, built to the north of Hadrian's Wall as an outpost fort and intended for scouting and intelligence. The Roman name for the fort was Fanum Cocidi , and means 'The Shrine of Cocidius', a deity worshipped in northern Britain...
.
He was normally content to record surface remains and recovered artefacts, but on one occasion he adopted a more interventionist approach. At the hillfort at Burrough Hill
Burrough Hill
Burrough Hill is an Iron Age hillfort in Burrough on the Hill, south of Melton Mowbray in the English county of Leicestershire. Situated on a promontory about above sea level, the site commands views over the surrounding countryside for miles around. There has been human activity in the area...
, Leicestershire, he pulled some stones from the gateway to establish whether it had been walled or not: they were mortared with lime, which persuaded him that it had been. The account included in Leland's Itinerary may be regarded as the earliest archaeological field report.
Leland and King Arthur
Leland was a staunch patriot, and believed firmly in the historical veracity of King ArthurKing Arthur
King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore and literary invention, and...
. He therefore took offence when the Italian scholar Polydore Vergil
Polydore Vergil
Polydore Vergil was an Italian historian, otherwise known as PV Castellensis. He is better known as the contemporary historian during the early Tudor dynasty. He was hired by King Henry VIII of England, who wanted to distance himself from his father Henry VII as much as possible, to document...
cast doubts on certain elements in the Arthurian legend in his Anglica Historia (published in 1534). Leland's first response was an unpublished tract, written perhaps in 1536, the Codrus sive Laus et Defensio Gallofridi Arturii contra Polydorum Vergilium. ("Codrus", a pseudonym for Vergil, was a type-name drawn from Juvenal
Juvenal
The Satires are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD.Juvenal is credited with sixteen known poems divided among five books; all are in the Roman genre of satire, which, at its most basic in the time of the author, comprised a...
for a wretched and dreary hack-poet.) He followed this with a longer published work, the Assertio inclytissimi Arturii regis Britannia (1544). In both texts, Leland drew on a wide range of literary, etymological, archaeological and oral sources to defend the historicity of Arthur. Although his central belief was flawed, his work preserved much evidence for the Arthurian tradition that might otherwise have been lost.
Leland's material provides invaluable evidence for reconstructing the lost "tomb" of Arthur (a twelfth-century fabrication) at Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....
.
On his itinerary of 1542, Leland was the first to record the tradition (possibly influenced by the proximity of the villages of Queen Camel
Queen Camel
Queen Camel is a village and civil parish, on the River Cam and the A359 road, in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. It is about north of Yeovil. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 926. The parish includes the hamlet of Wales...
and West Camel
West Camel
West Camel is a village and civil parish in south Somerset, England, about north of the town of Yeovil. Situated either side of the River Cam it lies just south of the A303 and has a population of 490...
) identifying the hillfort of Cadbury Castle
Cadbury Castle, Somerset
Cadbury Castle is an Iron Age hill fort in the civil parish of South Cadbury in the English county of Somerset. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and associated with King Arthur.-Background:...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
as Arthur's Camelot
Camelot
Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and eventually came to be described as the fantastic capital of Arthur's realm and a symbol of the Arthurian world...
:
- "At the very south ende of the chirch of South-Cadbyri standeth Camallate, sumtyme a famose toun or castelle, apon a very torre or hille, wunderfully enstregnthenid of nature. . .The people can telle nothing ther but that they have hard say that Arture much resortid to Camalat."
Final years and death
In 1542, Henry presented Leland with the valuable rectory of Great HaseleyGreat Haseley
Great Haseley is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire. The village is southwest of Thame. The parish includes the hamlets of Latchford, Little Haseley and North Weston and the house, chapel and park of Rycote...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. The year following he preferred him to a canonry of King's College, now Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, and about the same time, collated him to a prebend in the church of Sarum
Salisbury
Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...
. He was an absentee pluralist, with the income and leisure to pursue his interests. He retired with his collections to his house in the parish of St Michael le Querne, Cheapside, London, where he intended to work on his various projects. However, in February 1547 "he fell besides his wits". He was certified insane in March 1550 and died, still mentally deranged, on 18 April 1552.
Collections and Notebooks
Following Leland's death or (more probably) his descent into madness, King Edward VIEdward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
arranged for Leland's library (including many medieval manuscripts) to be placed in the custody of Sir John Cheke
John Cheke
Sir John Cheke was an English classical scholar and statesman, notable as the first Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge University....
. John Bale
John Bale
John Bale was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English , and developed and published a very extensive list of the works of British authors down to his own time, just as the monastic libraries were being...
consulted some of them at this time. Cheke fell from favour on the accession of Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, and departed for mainland Europe in 1554: from that point onwards, and continuing after Cheke's death in 1557, the library was dispersed. Books were acquired by collectors including Sir William Cecil
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley
William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley , KG was an English statesman, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, twice Secretary of State and Lord High Treasurer from 1572...
, William, Lord Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert , was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.-Early life:...
, John Dee
John Dee
John Dee was a Welsh mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I.John Dee may also refer to:* John Dee , Basketball coach...
and Archbishop Matthew Parker
Matthew Parker
Matthew Parker was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder of Anglican theological thought....
.
Leland's own manuscript notebooks were inherited by Cheke's son, Henry, and in 1576 they were borrowed and transcribed by John Stow
John Stow
John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
, allowing their contents to begin to circulate in antiquarian circles. Antiquaries who gained access to them through Stow included William Camden
William Camden
William Camden was an English antiquarian, historian, topographer, and officer of arms. He wrote the first chorographical survey of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and the first detailed historical account of the reign of Elizabeth I of England.- Early years :Camden was born in London...
, William Harrison
William Harrison (clergyman)
William Harrison was an English clergyman, whose Description of England was produced as part of the publishing venture of a group of London stationers who produced Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles...
, Robert Glover
Robert Glover (officer of arms)
Robert Glover was an English Officer of Arms, genealogist and antiquarian in the reign of Elizabeth I. In the College of Arms, he rose to the rank of Somerset Herald of Arms, serving in that capacity from 1571 until his death in 1588...
and Francis Thynne
Francis Thynne
Francis Thynne was an officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Thynne was born in Kent, the son of William Thynne, who was Master of the Household of King Henry VIII. He attended Tonbridge School. Francis Thynne was an antiquary before being admitted to the College of Arms after several...
. The original notebooks passed from Henry Cheke to Humphrey Purefoy, and so (following his death in 1598) to Humphrey's son Thomas, who divided many of them between his two cousins John Hales and the antiquary, William Burton
William Burton (antiquary, died 1645)
William Burton was an English antiquarian, best known as the author of Description of Leicestershire.-Life:...
. Burton subsequently managed to recover several of the items given to Hales, and in 1632 and 1642-3 donated most of the collection—comprising the Collectanea, De scriptoribus and several of the Itinerary notebooks—to the Bodleian Library
Bodleian Library
The Bodleian Library , the main research library of the University of Oxford, is one of the oldest libraries in Europe, and in Britain is second in size only to the British Library...
, Oxford, where the volumes remain.
The Leland Trail
The Leland TrailLeland trail
The Leland Trail, a footpath in Somerset, England. It runs from King Alfred's Tower in Penselwood to Ham Hill Country Park.-History:The path was established by creating rights of way via tracks and lanes. It is named after John Leland who visited South Somerset during the years 1535 - 1543...
is a 28 miles (45.1 km) footpath
Long-distance trail
Long-distance trails are the longer recreational trails mainly through rural areas, used for non-motorised recreational travelling ....
, which follows the footsteps of John Leland as he traversed South Somerset between 1535 and 1543 in the course of his investigation of the region's antiquities. The Leland Trail begins at King Alfred's Tower
King Alfred's Tower
King Alfred's Tower or The Folly of King Alfred the Great is in the parish of Brewham, Somerset, and was built as part of the celebrated Stourhead estate and landscape. The tower stands on Kingsettle Hill and nowadays belongs to the National Trust...
on the Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
/Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
border and finishes at Ham Hill Country Park
Ham Hill Country Park
Ham Hill is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest , Scheduled Ancient Monument, Iron Age hill fort, Roman site, Local Nature Reserve and country park, to the west of Yeovil in Somerset, England....
.
Works
Latin poetry
- Naeniae in mortem Thomæ Viati, equitis incomparabilis (1542). An elegy in praise of Sir Thomas WyattThomas Wyatt (poet)Sir Thomas Wyatt was a 16th-century English lyrical poet credited with introducing the sonnet into English. He was born at Allington Castle, near Maidstone in Kent – though his family was originally from Yorkshire...
, written on his death. - Genethliacon illustrissimi Eaduerdi principis Cambriae (1543). A poem inspired by the birth of Prince Edward (the future Edward VIEdward VI of EnglandEdward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
) in 1537, and focusing on his titular dominions of WalesWalesWales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
and CheshireCheshireCheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. A prose "Syllabus" (appendix) provides a commentary on its many topographical allusions. - Three poems in celebration of the king's military achievements in France:
- Fatum Bononiae Morinorum (1544), on the First Siege of Boulogne in 1544.
- Bononia Gallo-mastix in laudem felicissimi victoris Henrici VIII (1545), also on the First Siege of Boulogne.
- Laudatio pacis (1546).
- Naenia in mortem splendidissimi equitis Henrici Duddelegi (1545). An elegy in praise of Sir Henry Dudley.
- Κυκνειον άσμα: Cygnea cantio (1545). A long "river poem", which praises Henry VIIIHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
through the voice of a swan as it swims down the ThamesRiver ThamesThe River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
from OxfordOxfordThe city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
to GreenwichGreenwichGreenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
. An extensive prose "Commentarii" elucidates the poem's many place-name and topographical references. - Principum, ac illustrium aliquot & eruditorum in Anglia virorum, encomia, trophæa, genethliaca, & epithalamia (1589), ed. Thomas Newton. Generally known as the Encomia, this is a collection of over 250 short poems in honour of Leland's contemporaries.
Antiquarian prose writings
Leland's prose writings, published and unpublished, include:- Assertio inclytissimi Arturii regis Britanniae (1544). Leland's prose treatise on the historicity of King Arthur. Also published in English translation by Richard Robinson as A learned and true assertion of the original, life, actes, and death of the most noble, valiant, and renoumed Prince Arthure, King of great Brittaine (1582).
- "Antiphilarchia" (completed in 1541, unpublished). A religious dialogue, written in response to Albert Pighius' "Hierarchiæ ecclesiasticæ assertio" (Cologne, 1538). Leland's manuscript survives as Cambridge University Library MS Ee.5.14. His annotated copy of the Pighius work can be found in the collection of Worcester Cathedral now administered by the University of Birmingham.
- The "New Year's Gift" (c.1544). A letter addressed to Henry VIIIHenry VIII of EnglandHenry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. Published by John Bale (with additional commentary) as The Laboryouse Journey (1549). - "De uiris illustribus" (written c.1535-6 and c.1543-6). A biographical dictionary of famous British authors in chronological order. Leland did not live to complete the work. The manuscript is Bodleian Library MS Top. gen. c.4. It was published as Commentarii de scriptoribus Britannicis by Anthony Hall in 1709; and more authoritatively (and under its original title) by James Carley in 2010.
- "Antiquitates Britanniae". A compendium of extracts from classical and medieval texts relating to Britain. Now British Library Cotton MS Julius C.vi.
- The "Collectanea" (now Bodleian Library, MSS Top. gen. c.1-3; British Library Add. MS 38132). Leland's many notes and transcripts from his visits to monastic libraries, including most of his book-lists, compiled 1533-6. The three principal volumes were donated to the Bodleian by William Burton. First published in six volumes by Thomas HearneThomas HearneThomas Hearne or Hearn , English antiquary, was born at Littlefield Green in the parish of White Waltham, Berkshire.-Life:...
in 1715, with revised editions appearing in 1770 and 1774. The third volume includes a copy of ÆlfricÆlfric of EynshamÆlfric of Eynsham was an English abbot, as well as a consummate, prolific writer in Old English of hagiography, homilies, biblical commentaries, and other genres. He is also known variously as Ælfric the Grammarian , Ælfric of Cerne, and Ælfric the Homilist...
's Glossary. Leland reports that at Malmesbury, he found a copy of a now lost work which he ascribed to William of MalmesburyWilliam of MalmesburyWilliam of Malmesbury was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. C. Warren Hollister so ranks him among the most talented generation of writers of history since Bede, "a gifted historical scholar and an omnivorous reader, impressively well versed in the literature of classical,...
, verses in 15 books on the four EvangelistsFour EvangelistsIn Christian tradition the Four Evangelists are Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the authors attributed with the creation of the four Gospel accounts in the New Testament that bear the following titles:*Gospel according to Matthew*Gospel according to Mark...
. - "Itinerary" notebooks (now Bodleian Library, MSS Top. gen. e.8–15; other fragments in British Library, or surviving only as later transcripts). Leland's topographical notes, compiled c.1538-43. Of the Bodleian material, the first seven volumes were donated to the library by Burton, and the eighth and final one (a compilation of fragments) by Charles King in c.1693. First published by Thomas HearneThomas HearneThomas Hearne or Hearn , English antiquary, was born at Littlefield Green in the parish of White Waltham, Berkshire.-Life:...
in 1710-12 (second edition 1744-5); and more authoritatively by Lucy Toulmin Smith in 1906-10.
Leland's writings are an invaluable primary source
Primary source
Primary source is a term used in a number of disciplines to describe source material that is closest to the person, information, period, or idea being studied....
, not only for the local history and the geography of England, but also for literary history, archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
, and economic history
Economic history
Economic history is the study of economies or economic phenomena in the past. Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations and institutions...
.
De uiris illustribus: On Famous Men
This is a new and authoritative edition (with English translation) of the work previously published by Hall as Commentarii de Scriptoribus Britannicis.Itinerary (ed. Thomas Hearne, 9 vols.)
- Hearne, Thomas (ed.), The Itinerary of John Leland the Antiquary, 2nd edition, 9 vols., 1744-5
Itinerary (ed. Lucy Toulmin Smith, 5 vols.)
- Toulmin Smith, Lucy (ed.), The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543, Vol. 1, Containing Parts 1-3, with General Introduction, Portrait, and 2 Maps, London, 1907
- Toulmin Smith, Lucy (ed.), The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543, Vol. 2, Containing Parts 4 & 5, with an Appendix of Extracts from Leland's Collectanea, and a Map, London, 1908.
- Toulmin Smith, Lucy (ed.), The Itinerary in Wales of John Leland in or about the years 1536-1539, Vol. 3 Containing Part 6 (The Itinerary in Wales), with a Map, London, 1906.
- Toulmin Smith, Lucy (ed.), The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543, Vol. 4, Containing Parts 7 & 8 with Appendices including Extracts from Leland's Collectanea & 3 Maps, London, 1909.
- Toulmin Smith, Lucy (ed.), The Itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543, Vol. 5, Containing Parts 9-11, Two Appendices, a Glossary and General Index, London, 1910.
Itinerary (ed. John Chandler)
- Chandler, John (ed.), John Leland's Itinerary: Travels in Tudor England, Gloucester: Sutton, 1993; revised edn. 1998.
This edition, based on Toulmin Smith's, rearranges Leland's topographical descriptions of England (but not Wales) in county chapters, and renders them in modern English. It is less authoritative for scholarly purposes, but considerably more accessible and easier to navigate. It also corrects a small number of errors by Toulmin Smith.
Latin poetry
- Naeniae in Mortem Thomae Viati. Published by Dana F. Sutton with English translation in the Philological Museum as Naeniae in Mortem Thomae Viati.
- Genethliacon. Published by Dana F. Sutton with English translation in the Philological Museum under the title Pompa Nympharum.
- Bononia Gallo-mastix and Laudatio pacis. Published by Dana F. Sutton with English translation in the Philological Museum as Two Poems on the French War.
- Naenia in mortem splendidissimi equitis Henrici Duddelegi. Published by Dana F. Sutton with English translation in the Philological Museum as Naenia in mortem splendidissimi equitis Henrici Duddelegi.
- Cygnea Cantio. Published by Dana F. Sutton with English translation in the Philological Museum as Cygnea Cantio.
- Encomia. 28 of Leland's short poems from this collection are published with English translations by James Carley in "Leland in Paris" (1986). All 282 short poems are published by Dana F. Sutton with English translations in the Philological Museum under the title Epigrammata. Sutton publishes two longer masques from the collection separately as Two Latin Masques.