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John Leland (antiquary)
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==Leland and King Arthur== Leland was a staunch patriot, and believed firmly in the historical veracity of [[King Arthur]]. 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 Leland's first response was an unpublished tract, written perhaps in 1536, the ''Codrus sive Laus et Defensio Gallofridi Arturii contra Polydorum Vergilium''.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.<ref>Carley, "Polydore Vergil and John Leland".</ref><ref>Leland, ''De uiris illustribus'', ed. Carley, pp. xlii, cxv–cxxvii.</ref> Leland's material provides invaluable evidence for reconstructing the lost "tomb monument" of Arthur (thought to be a fabrication of the twelfth century) at [[Glastonbury Abbey]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Phillip |last=Lindley |title=Tomb Destruction and Scholarship: medieval monuments in early modern England |location=Donington |publisher=Shaun Tyas |year=2007 |isbn=9781900289870 |pages=138–166 }}</ref> He was probably also responsible for making a drawing of the lead cross that identified the grave as Arthur's, afterwards published as a [[woodcut]] in the 1607 edition of Camden's ''Britannia''.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Oliver D. |last=Harris |title='Which I have beholden with most curiouse eyes': the lead cross from Glastonbury Abbey |journal=Arthurian Literature |volume=34 |year=2018 |pages=88–129 |doi=10.1017/9781787442535.006 |isbn=978-1-84384-483-9 |s2cid=200168947 }}</ref> 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, Somerset|Cadbury Castle]] in [[Somerset]] as Arthur's [[Camelot]]: {{blockquote|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.<ref>Toulmin Smith (ed.), ''Leland's Itinerary'', vol. 1, p. 151.</ref>}}
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