William Lambarde

William Lambarde (18 October 1536 – 19 August 1601) was an English antiquarian, writer on legal subjects, and politician. He is particularly remembered as the author of A Perambulation of Kent (1576), the first English county history; Eirenarcha (1581), a widely read manual on the office and role of justice of the peace; and Archeion (completed c.1591, though not published until 1635), a discourse that sought to trace the Anglo-Saxon roots of English common law, prerogative and government.

William Lambarde was born in London on 18 October 1536. His father John Lambarde was a draper who served three times as Master of the Drapers' Company, an alderman and a sheriff of London. The Manor of Westcombe in Greenwich, demolished in 1725, was their family home.

In 1556, Lambarde was admitted to Lincoln's Inn. He studied law with Laurence Nowell, and in 1568, with Nowell's encouragement, published a collection of Anglo-Saxon laws, Archaionomia, which was printed by John Day. In the introduction he acknowledged Nowell's contribution. This publication included a woodcut map ("Lambardes map") depicting the seven kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, which is thought to be the first map of any sort to have been designed, printed and published in England, and which is very likely to have been the work of Laurence Nowell.

In 1570, while Lambarde was courting the daughter of George Multon, he completed his Perambulation of Kent, the first English county history. Circulating in manuscript before being printed in 1576, it proved to be very popular, and was published in a second edition in 1596. Lambarde considered writing a similar work for all of Britain, but he set the idea aside when he learned that William Camden was already working on the same project. On 11 September 1570, Lambarde married Jane Multon on her 17th birthday. She later died in 1573. He lived in the Manor of St. Clere in Ightham. On Laurence Nowell's death, he inherited his books and manuscripts, which may have included the manuscript of Beowulf.

...
Wikipedia