Everything about John Leland totally explained
» This is about John Leland, antiquary. For other people called John Leland see John Leland (disambiguation).
John Leland (
September 13 1506 –
April 18 1552) was an English
antiquary. He has been described as 'the father of
English local history'; his
Itinerary introduced the shire as the basic unit for studying the history of England—an idea that has been influential ever since.
Early life
John Leland was born in
London on
September 13 1502 [Mirrorof Literature] or c.
1506 [EncyclopaediaBritannica]. He was a pupil to
William Lily—the first head master of
St Paul's School—and through the generosity of Thomas Myles, he was sent to
Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating in 1521. From this university he transferred to
All Souls' College, Oxford, where he paid particular attention to the Greek language. He afterwards went to
Paris, where he studied under
François Dubois (Sylvius) and cultivated the acquaintance of the principal scholars of the age. (
The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction suggests that these probably included
Erasmus, the
Robert Estienne,
Abraham Faber, and
Adrian Turnebus). While there he completed his studies of Latin and Greek; he later learned several modern languages.
Royal appointment
On his return to England he was a tutor of
Lord Thomas Howard, son of
the 3rd Duke of Norfolk, and to
Francis Hastings, afterwards
Earl of Huntingdon. He took
Holy Orders and was appointed one of the chaplains to
King Henry VIII, who gave him the rectory of
Peuplingues, in the marshes of
Calais. Henry also appointed him his library keeper, and conferred on him the title of Royal Antiquary; Leland is the only person ever to hold this title. In 1533 Henry commissioned him to search after England's antiquities, and explore the libraries of all cathedrals, abbeys, priories, colleges, and all the places wherein records, writings, and whatever else was lodged that related to antiquity. "Before Leland's time," says
Hearne, in his preface to the
Itinerary, "all the literary monuments of antiquity were totally disregarded; and the students of Germany apprised of this culpable indifference, were suffered to enter our libraries unmolested, and to cut out of the books deposited there whatever passages they thought proper, which they afterwards published as relics of the ancient literature of their own country."
In this research Leland spent over six years (from 1540 to 1546 travelling through England and Wales, visiting the remains of ancient buildings and monuments of every kind. On its completion, he presented the results to Henry, under the title of a
New Year's Gift (published by
John Bale in 1549) in which he says, "I have so traviled yn your 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's almoste nother cape, nor bay, haven, creke or peers, river or confluence of rivers, breches, watchies, lakes, meres, fenny waters, montagnes, valleis, mores, hethes, forestes, chases wooddes, cities, burges, castelles, principale manor placis, monasteries, and colleges, but I've seene them; and notid yn so doing a hole worlde of thinges very memorable." This descriptive
Itinerary runs to five printed volumes in the 1906 edition.
At the dissolution of the monasteries, Leland made application to Secretary
Thomas Cromwell, requesting his assistance in getting the manuscripts that they contained sent to the king's library. In 1542 Henry presented him with the valuable rectory of
Haseley,
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 follow the
Itinerary with a history divided into "so many books as there be shires in England and shires and great dominions in Wales". It never materialized because, as a contemporary reported, in 1547 ‘he fell besides his wits’. He was certified insane in March 1550 and died, still mentally deranged, on
April 18 1552.
Works
Leland's notes have survived, and held in the
Bodleian Library. They are an invaluable
primary source not only for the local history and the geography of England, but also for
archaeology,
social history, and
economic history.
The writings of Leland are numerous; in his lifetime he published several Latin and Greek poems, and some tracts on antiquarian subjects. His voluminous manuscripts, after passing through many hands, came into the Bodleian library, furnishing valuable materials to
John Stow,
William Lambarde,
William Camden,
Thomas Burton,
William Dugdale, and many other antiquaries and historians.
Polydore Virgil, who had plagiarised them freely, had the insolence to abuse Leland's memory—calling him "a vain glorious man." From these collections
Hall published, in 1709,
Commentarii de Scriptoribus Brittanicis.
The Itinerary of John Leland, Antiquary, was published by
Thomas Hearne, at
Oxford, in nine volumes in 1710, with a second edition printed in 1745, with considerable improvements and additions. The same editor published
Joannis Lelandi Antiquarii de Rebus Brittanicis Collectanea in six volumes at Oxford in 1716.
Other references to John Leland
Somerset and Camelot
John Leland makes a possibly unwitting contribution to the myth of
Camelot and
King Arthur in a reference in a letter of 1542:
» "At the very south end of the church of South-Cadbyri standeth Camallate, sometime a famous town or castle. . .The people can tell nothing there but that they've heard Arthur much resorted to Camalat."
It has been suggested that in making this reference to "South Cadbyri" (
Cadbury Castle in
Somerset) he was possibly influenced by the proximity to this location of the villages of
Queen Camel and
West Camel.
The Leland Trail
The Leland Trail is a 28 mile
footpath which follows in 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.
Further Information
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