John Rous (historian)

John Rous, as depicted in the Rous Roll (1845 engraving after the original)

John Rous (c. 1411/20 – 24 January 1492)[1] was an English historian and antiquary, most noted for his Historia Regum Angliae ("History of the Kings of England"), which describes ancient British and English rulers from Brutus to King Henry VII. His historical work is now considered to have "displayed no critical faculty" and to have made credulous the "imaginative embellishments (of) the myths of Geoffrey of Monmouth."[2] However his Rous Roll and Warwick Roll are noted for their historically important illustrations, often credited to Rous's hand but not with certainty.[3]

  1. ^ Orme, Nicholas. "Rous, John (c.1420–1492)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/24173. Retrieved 16 May 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Rous, John (1411?-1491) (1897) Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 49.
  3. ^ Emery, Anthony (2000). Greater Medieval Houses of England and Wales, 1300–1500: East Anglia, Central England and Wales. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. p. 445. ISBN 0521581311.