The Book of Husbandry. Anthony Fitzherbert
Arthur Eyre whiche sir Arthur Eyre willed that his bastard sonne shulde haue fyve markes yerely of the profites of the same fferme as apperith by his wille wherfor I will that the same bastard sonne haue the same fyve markes according to the same will And the Residue of the profites of the same fferme I will and require the same Thomas my sonne that John ffitzherbert his brother may haue the profites therof during his lyfe And after his decesse Richard ffitzherbert his brother And I will that my fferme at Caldon And the fferme that I haue of the King And the howe Grange Remain to my heires males of Norbury And I will that the lande that I purchased at Whittington besides Lichefelde goo foreuer to kepe the obite at North wynfelde for my brother doctour soule according to his will and to be made sure—therfor as moche as may reasonably be devised therfor to stande with the lawe yf I do not assigne other landes therfor hereafter. …
And I will that my Cosyn Richard Coton haue one good amblyng Colt or oon good horsse of myn to Ryde on by the discrecion of my wife and my son Thomas to be deliuered And to my Cosyn Alice his wyfe oon of my best habites with the Cloke and Hood and the Lynyng and the furr of the same. Written the day and yere abouesaid.”
The will was proved at Lichfield, August 26, 1538.
I may add that the will mentions his wife dame Maude, his son Thomas, his three younger sons John, Richard, and William, and his daughter Kateryn; also his cousin Richard Coton and his wife Alice. Thomas Fitzherbert married the daughter of Sir Arthur Eyre.
It hence appears that Sir Anthony had no less than three farms, one at Castleton in the Peak, one at Caldon in Staffordshire, near Dove Dale, and a farm which he held of the King; besides the How Grange and some land at Whittington near Lichfield, as also some purchased lands and tenements in the counties of Stafford, Northampton, and Warwick, mentioned in a part of the will which I have not quoted. There was also the estate of Hampstall Ridware in Staffordshire, to which he attached considerable importance, directing his heir-looms to be kept there. He also makes mention, in all, of six horses (including a stallion and two geldings), twelve mares, three colts, one bull, four bullocks, five heifers, eight oxen, and ten cows, though it is obvious that these by no means include all his stock, but merely a selection from it. All this precisely agrees with the statements in the Book of Husbandry.
I do not think it necessary to pursue the subject further, but a word must be added as to the chronology. Not having seen the first edition of the Book of Husbandry printed by Pynson in 1523, I cannot certainly say whether the statement that the author had “been a householder for 40 years” occurs there. It occurs, however, in an undated edition by Peter Treuerys,[13] which is certainly the second edition, and printed between 1521 and 1531, as Treuerys is only known to have printed books during that period. Now this edition professes to have corrections and additions, the title being—“Here bygynneth a newe tracte or treatis moost profytable for all husbande men / and very [frutefu]ll for all other persones to rede / newly cor[rected] & amended by the auctour with to dyuerse other thynges added thervnto;” and it agrees very closely with the copy here printed. The date assigned for Sir Anthony Fitzherbert’s birth is 1470. If we suppose him to have begun housekeeping at 21, a period of 40 years will bring us to 1531, which is not inconsistent with his statement, if such be the date of the copy above mentioned. If, however, it should appear that the statement exists even in the first edition printed in 1523, then the “forty years” would lead us to suppose that, if the assigned date of his birth be correct, Sir Anthony began to be a householder, in his own estimation, at the early age of twelve or thirteen. This is of course a difficulty, but not an insuperable one, for the phrase “have been a householder” is somewhat vague, and the phrase “forty years or more” has rather the air of a rhetorical flourish.
It may here be noticed that Berthelet’s first edition (here reprinted) has nothing on the title-page but the words “The Boke of Hvsbandry,” with the date 1534 below. Later reprints which follow Berthelet have accordingly no statement as to the book being “newly corrected and amended by the auctour,” etc.; whilst those which follow Treuerys naturally copy it. This accounts for the fact that the later editions are, to the best of my belief, all very much the same, and that the claim to possess “corrections and amendments” means practically nothing, except with reference to the first edition only.
Of Sir Anthony Fitzherbert, one of the best accounts seems to be that given in the Biographia Britannica, 1750, vol. iii. p. 1935, where Camden’s statement as to his being “Chief Justice” is refuted. Briefly recapitulated, this account tells us that he was born in 1470, and was the younger son of Ralph Fitzherbert, Esq., of Norbury in Derbyshire; that he went to Oxford, and thence to the Inns of Court; was made a serjeant-at-law, Nov. 18, 1511; was knighted in 1516; was made one of his majesty’s serjeants-at-law, and finally one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas in 1523. He died May 27, 1538, and was buried at Norbury. “Two things are mentioned in reference to his conduct; first, that, without fear of his power, he openly opposed Cardinal Wolsey in the heighth of his favour; the other, that, when he came to lie upon his death-bed, foreseeing the changes that were like to happen in the Church as well as State, he pressed his children in very strong terms to promise him solemnly, neither to accept grants, nor to make purchases of abbey-lands; which it is said they did, and adhered constantly to that promise, though much to their own loss.” The authorities referred to are Pits, De Illustribus Angliæ Scriptoribus, p. 707; Wood, Athenæ Oxonienses, i. col. 50; Fuller, Worthies, Derbyshire, p. 233; Tanner, Bibliotheca Britannico-Hibernica, p. 283; Chronica Juridicialia, pp. 153, 155., etc.
The number of editions of the Book of Husbandry is so large, and many of these are nevertheless so scarce, that I do not suppose the list here subjoined is exhaustive; nor have I much information about some of them. I merely mention what I have found, with some authorities.
1. A newe tracte or treatyse moost profytable for all Husbandemen, and very frutefull for all other persons to rede. London: by Rycharde Pynson. 4to. (1523). See Typographical Antiquities, by Ames and Herbert, ed. Dibdin, ii. 503. This is the first edition, and very rare. It was described by Dibdin from Heber’s copy, supposed to be unique. See Heber’s Catalogue, part ix. p. 61. The note in Hazlitt that a copy of this edition is in the Bodleian Library is a mistake, as I have ascertained. It is not dated, but the Book on Surveying, printed just afterwards, is dated 1523; and there is no doubt as to the date. It is remarkable for an engraving upon the title-page, representing two oxen drawing a plough, with drivers.
2. “Here begynneth a newe tracte,” etc. (See p. xx.) London, Southwark; by P. Treuerys, 4to. (No date; but between 1521 and 1531). In the Camb. Univ. Library. This is the only other edition which (as far as I know) has the picture of ploughing upon the title-page.[14]
3. By Thomas Berthelet, in 1532 (Lowndes). It is “12mo in size, but in eights by signatures,” and therefore 8vo. (A. Wallis; Derby Mercury, Nov. 1869).
4. By Thomas Berthelet; 8vo.; the edition here reprinted from the copy in the Cambridge University Library. There are also two copies of it in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The title-page has merely the words: “The | Boke of | Hvs- | bandry;” printed within a border bearing the date 1534. The reverse of the title-page is blank. On the second leaf, marked A ij, begins “The aucthors prologue.” The rest of sheet A (which contains in all only six leaves) is occupied with the Prologue and “the Table;” and is not foliated. Then follow sheets B to M, all of eight leaves, and sheet N, of two leaves only. Sheets B to H have the folios numbered from 1 to 56; sheets I, K, L have the folios numbered from 51 to 75; and sheets M and N, from 81 to 90. Thus the six numbers 51–56 occur twice over, and the five numbers 76–80 do not occur at all. It is not quite certain that the apparent date is also the real one; for at the end of Berthelet’s print of Xenophon’s treatise of Housholde, which has 1534 within the same border upon the title-page, there is a colophon giving the date as 1537. This border was evidently in use for at least three years. See Dibdin, iii. 287.
5. By Berthelet; 1546. This edition also contains the Treatise on Surveying. (Lowndes; compare Dibdin, iii. 348.)
6.