Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 33.djvu/70

Rh   LEOFRIC (fl. 1100) is said to have written a life of Hereward [q. v.] in English. The sole authority for this statement is the anonymous writer of the ‘Gesta Herewardi,’ whose work is a tissue of legends and romances constructed in order to magnify the name of his hero. It is found on f. cccxx. sqq. of the ‘Cartulary of Peterborough Abbey,’ which now belongs to Peterborough Cathedral Library, and was compiled in the end of the thirteenth and beginning of the fourteenth centuries. The writer of the ‘Gesta’ states that he gathered facts from men who were living in Hereward's time, and if this were so he must have lived in the first half of the twelfth century. The English work of Leofric the deacon, Hereward's chaplain (presbyter) at Bourne (Brun), was his chief source, and he says Leofric was fond of collecting for the edification of his hearers all the acts of giants and warriors out of the fables of the ancients, or from faithful report, and of committing these to writing. Leofric was one of Hereward's chosen followers, and, although a monk, he was skilled in arms. He is praised for his astuteness in carrying out a plan for the release of Hereward when on his way from Bedford to Rockingham in the custody of Robert de Horepol.

The account of Hereward's career given in the ‘Gesta’ resembles rather that of the pseudo-Ingulph than that of the ‘Liber Eliensis’ (cf., Norm. Conq. iv. 455, and note O O).

 LEOFWINE (d. 1066), a younger and probably the fifth son of Earl Godwine [q. v.] and his wife, Gytha, is described as ‘nobilis’ in 1049 (, Codex Dipl. iv. No. 787), and about that date, or perhaps earlier, acted as governor of Kent (ib. No. 828, dated by the death of Archbishop Eadsige in 1050, and according to Norman Conquest, ii. 567, by the death of Godwine, bishop of Rochester, in 1046, but the latter date seems uncertain). Leofwine was not, however, earl, and no doubt acted as governor under his father's direction; for he must then have been quite a youth. On the outlawry of his family in 1051, he fled with his brother Harold [see ] to Ireland, took part in Harold's raid on Somerset in the next year, and shared in his father's restoration. In 1057, the date of a rearrangement of earldoms, he probably became earl of the whole country over which it is certain that he afterwards ruled. His government extended over Kent, Surrey, Essex, Middlesex (with the exception of London and so much as pertained to it), Hertfordshire, and probably Buckinghamshire (, Codex Dipl. iv. Nos. 846, 858, 860, 864), though the administration seems to some extent to have been under the control of Harold (ib. Nos. 854, 855, 859). He appears to have accompanied Harold, then king, to the battle of Stamford Bridge (Norman Conquest, iii. 361 n.) At the battle of Hastings, on 14 Oct. 1066, he took his place beside the king under the standard, and fell fighting at the barricade in front of the English position almost at the same moment at which his brother Gyrth [q. v.] was slain. His death is represented in the Bayeux tapestry.

 LEOMINSTER, (d. 1711), connoisseur. [See .]

LEONI, GIACOMO (1686–1746), architect, was a Venetian, and held the post of architect to the elector palatine. He settled in England at the beginning of the eighteenth century, having probably been brought over by Richard Boyle, earl of Burlington, to assist in the publication of Palladio's ‘Architecture’ in English. The plates for the work were prepared afresh by Leoni. The book was published, London, 1715, 1721, 1725; the Hague, 1726 (in French); London, 1742. Leoni translated into English Alberti's ‘De re Ædificatoria,’ and published it with C. Bartoli's Italian translation, and plates of his own designs. It appeared as ‘The Architecture of Leon Battista Alberti,’ &c., in London in 1726, 1739, 1751, 1755 (the last edition is in English only). The books on painting and