John Leland and Asser’s Vita Ælfredi regis: British Library, MS Cotton Otho A. xii Reconsidered in its Tudor Context

Abstract

Before the sixteenth century the religious houses had been the chief repositories of learning in England. With the Henrician religious revolution, however, their stability became threatened and what survived and what was destroyed has greatly influenced our views of the intellectual culture of the English Middle Ages. It is for this reason that the writings of the royal agent John Leland are so important to our understanding of the crumbling world he was witnessing. In the years shortly before the suppressions Leland examined the contents of many libraries, listing titles of what he saw where. When in 1535 he began the compilation of his De uiris illustribus, he made use of these titles, the notes he had taken, and often the manuscripts themselves. The De uiris illustribus was compiled in two stages and the changes he made as he discovered further materials are significant. His evolving thoughts on Asser and his writings thus provide an illuminating case that throws light on his bio-bibliographical enterprise.