William Lambarde

A 16th- or 17th-century portrait of Lambarde by an unidentified artist

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.