INTRODUCTION XXI 



because it was superseded by the work of Sir Anthony 

 Fitzherbert, 1 in which, however, much of the earlier treatise 

 was incorporated without acknowledgment. Even then, 

 however, it was not wholly forgotten ; Gervase Markham, 

 when writing on the Enrichment of the Weald of Kent, 

 quotes Sir Walter of Henley as an authority who recom- 

 mended that marl should not be ploughed into the soil, for 

 while the virtue of dung will ascend, however deep it lie, 

 ' marie sendeth his vertue downward, and must therefore 

 be kept aloft and may not be buried in any wise,' p. 11. 

 He also refers to 'Books of gainage or husbandry that 

 were written in the days of Edward II. or before,' p. 4, a 

 double mode of reference which we also find in Lambarde's 

 note-book, mentioned below. 



III. 

 WALTEE OF HENLEY'S HUSBANDRY. 



1. Of Walter of Henley, only one thing is known for 

 certain. He had served the office of bailiff, for he makes 

 incidental mention of the fact. The title of the manuscript 

 (13) marked Dd. vii. 6 in the Cambridge University Library 

 gives some further details, but on what authority is unknown. 

 It runs as follows : ' Ceste ditee si fesoyt sire Waltier de 

 hengleye qui primes fu chiualier e puis se rendesist frere 

 precheur e le fist de housebonderie e de gaygnerie ede issue 

 de estor.' 



This gives us broad limits as to the date when the 

 author flourished ; the Dominicans came to England in 

 1221, and settled in Holborn and at Oxford during that 

 year. It is most unlikely that the Husbandry was written 

 before the thirteenth century opened ; while, on the other 

 hand, there is a MS. of the treatise at Canterbury written, 

 as I am told by Dr. Sheppard — in the hand of John de 

 Gare, who was clerk to the Prior — in the early years of 

 Edward I. Within these limits there are no precise data 

 available at present for fixing the exact time when the 



'• On bandry. 



