LINGARD, JOHN. - English polemicist and historian, b. at Winchester on 5 Feb. 1771, d. at Horbny on 17 July 1851. Ordained priest at York, he taught at Crookhall College, devoting his scholarly activity to polemical works in defence of Catholicism and, above all, to the collection of material for the religious and political history of his country.
Of his very extensive output, only the two works of greatest historical importance are recalled: The antiquities of the anglo-saxon Church (Newcastle 1806) and A history of England from the first invasion by the Romans to the commencement of the reign of William III (London 1819-30), as well as his translation of the Gospel: New version of the four Gospels (ibid. 1836), replacing that of Douai.
BIBL.: Hurter, V, cols. 1296-98; E. Bonney, s. V. in Cath. Enc., IX, cols. 270-72; M. Haile-E. Binney, Life and letters of J. L., Londra 1911; further bibliography in F. W. Batson, The Cambridge Bibliography of English literature, III, Cambridge 1940, pp. 879-80. Cosimo Petino