John Leland (antiquary)

John Leland
Line engraving by Charles Grignion the Elder (1772), purportedly taken from a bust of John Leland at All Souls College, Oxford.[1] Sculptor Louis François Roubiliac (d. 1762) probably created the original bust.[2]
Born13 September c. 1503
London
Died18 April 1552
Resting placeparish church of St Michael-le-Querne, London[2]
51°30′46″N 0°05′51″W / 51.512778°N 0.0975°W / 51.512778; -0.0975
Monumentsdestroyed by fire in 1666
NationalityEnglish
Other namesJohn Leyland, Layland
EducationSt Paul's School (London)
Christ's College, Cambridge
All Souls College, Oxford
Known forLatin poetry, antiquarianism
Notable workinclude Cygnea cantio (1545)
Relativesan elder brother called John

John Leland or Leyland (13 September, c. 1503 – 18 April 1552) was an English poet and antiquary.[2][3][4]

Leland has been described as "the father of English local history and bibliography".[5] 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.

  1. ^ Printed in Huddesford, William, ed. (1772). The lives of those eminent antiquaries John Leland, Thomas Hearne, and Anthony à Wood. 2 vols: vol. 1. Oxford: Clarendon.
  2. ^ a b c Carley (2006), "Leland, John (ca. 1503–1552)"
  3. ^ "John Leland – Description of Caerleon 1540". Caerleon.net. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  4. ^ "John Leland's Itinerary". Britannia.com, LLC. 1999. Retrieved 5 May 2009.
  5. ^ Clarke, A. L. "John Leland and King Henry VIII". The Library. 3rd ser. 2: 132–149 (at 145). John Chandler comments on this and several similar 'paternity' claims: John Leland's Itinerary, p. xxi.