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5. John Lelandʼs Itinerary: a chronicle of the disappearing medieval country and a written “map” of England of the mid-16th century

John Lelandʼs Itinerary: a chronicle of the disappearing medieval country and a written “map” of England of the mid-16th century

Shuvalova Yuliya N.

Independent Researcher, Historian, Member of the Russian Society “Znanie”, Russia, Moscow, yushuvalova1@yandex.ru

Abstract

John Lelandʼs Itinerary is one of the principal sources on history and geography of Britain during the Tudor reign. Leland traveled throughout different counties for six years, meticulously recording the place names and distances between cities, towns and villages, analyzing the history of noble families and facts about various locali-ties. The collected data were supposed to serve as material for multi-volume publi-cations on history, genealogy and topography of England, but Lelandʼs mental ill-ness, which befell him shortly after the death of Henry VIII, did not allow to pursue these plans. The lifepath and journey of the first English antiquary are thus consid-ered in the general context of history of England in the reign of Henry VIII, when the foundations were laid for the flourishing of sciences and arts under Elizabeth I.

Keywords

John Leland; Tudors; Henry VIII; geography of England; history of England.

For citing: Shuvalova Yu.N. (2025) John Lelandʼs Itinerary: a chronicle of the disappearing medieval country and a written “map” of England of the mid-16th century. Human being: Image and essence. Humanitarian aspects. Moscow. INION RAN.Vol. 1 (61). pp. 23-37. DOI: 10.31249/chel/2025.01.02

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