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 p_ro_fytable for all husba_n_de 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.