Thomas Tusser (c. 15243 May 1580) was an English poet and farmer, best known for his instructional poem ''Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry'', an expanded version of his original title, ''A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie'', first published in 1557. For Tusser the garden was the domain of the housewife, and the 1562 text expands on this theme. Scholars also consider it a text of interest for its defence of
enclosure
Enclosure or Inclosure is a term, used in English landownership, that refers to the appropriation of "waste" or " common land" enclosing it and by doing so depriving commoners of their rights of access and privilege. Agreements to enclose land ...
s. It was among the best selling poetry books of the
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personifi ...
age.
Early life
Tusser was born in
Rivenhall, Essex, about 1524, the son of William and Isabella Tusser. At a very early age he became a
chorister
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
in St Nicholas' Collegiate Chapel in
Wallingford Castle
Wallingford Castle was a major medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire), adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Sa ...
,
Wallingford, Oxfordshire
Wallingford () is a historic market town and civil parish located between Oxford and Reading on the River Thames in England. Although belonging to the historic county of Berkshire, it is within the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire for adminis ...
. He appears to have been pressed for service in the
King's Chapel
King's Chapel is an American independent christianity, Christian unitarianism, unitarian congregation affiliated with the Unitarian Universalist Association that is "unitarian Christian in theology, anglicanism, Anglican in worship, and congrega ...
, the choristers of which were usually afterwards placed by the King in one of the Royal Foundations at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
or
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
but Tusser entered the choir of
St. Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Gr ...
, and from there went to
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
. He has left a quaint account of his privations at Wallingford, and of the severities of
Nicholas Udall
Nicholas Udall (or Uvedale Udal, Woodall, or other variations) (1504 – 23 December 1556) was an English playwright, cleric, schoolmaster, the author of '' Ralph Roister Doister'', generally regarded as the first comedy written in the English ...
at Eton.
He was elected to
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...
in 1543, a date which sets the earliest limit of his birth-year, as he would have been ineligible at nineteen. From King's College he moved to
Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.
It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...
. On leaving Cambridge, he went to court in the service of
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget
William Paget, 1st Baron Paget of Beaudesert (15069 June 1563), was an English statesman and accountant who held prominent positions in the service of Henry VIII, Edward VI and Mary I.
Early life
He was the son of John Pachett or Paget, one ...
of Beaudesart, as a musician. After ten years of life at court, he married and settled as a farmer at Cattawade,
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, near the
River Stour.
Literary career
There he wrote ''A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie'', a long poem in rhyming couplets recording the country year. This work was first printed in London in 1557 by the publisher
Richard Tottel
Richard Tottel (died 1594) was an English publisher and influential member of the legal community. He ran his business from a shop located at Temple Bar on Fleet Street in London. The majority of his printing was centered on legal documents, but ...
, and was frequently reprinted. Tottel published an enlarged edition ''Five Hundreth Pointes of Good Husbandrie'' in 1573. Tusser includes a homely mix of instructions and observations about farming and country customs which offer insight into life in
Tudor England, and his work records many terms and
proverb
A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...
s in print for the first time. In this work, he also famously presents ten characteristics the perfect cheese must have:
Not like Gehazi
Gehazi, Geichazi, or Giezi ( Douay-Rheims) (Hebrew: ; ''Gēḥăzī''; "valley of vision"), is a figure found in the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible.
A servant of the prophet Elisha, Gehazi enjoyed a position of power but was ultimately corrupt ...
, i.e., dead white, like a leper
Not like Lot's wife
In the Bible, Lot's wife is a figure first mentioned in . The Book of Genesis describes how she became a pillar of salt after she looked back at Sodom. She is not named in the Bible but is called "Ado" or "Edith" in some Jewish traditions. She ...
, all salt
Not like Argus, full of eyes
Not like Tom Piper, "hoven and puffed"
Not like Crispin
Saints Crispin and Crispinian are the Christian patron saints of cobblers, curriers, tanners, and leather workers. They were beheaded during the reign of Diocletian; the date of their execution is given as 25 October 285 or 286.
History
Bor ...
, leathery
Not like Lazarus, poor
Not like Esau
Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...
, hairy
Not like Mary Magdalene
Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cru ...
, full of whey or maudlin
Not like the Gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym for ...
s, full of maggots
Not like a Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, made of burnt milk
He never remained long in one place. For the sake of his wife's health he removed to
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...
.
After her death he married again and farmed for some time at
West Dereham
West Dereham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk.
It covers an area of and had a population of 440 in 176 households as of the 2001 census, the population increasing to 450 at the 2011 Census.
For the purposes of loca ...
in Norfolk. He then became a singing man in
Norwich Cathedral
Norwich Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in Norwich, Norfolk, dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity. It is the cathedral church for the Church of England Diocese of Norwich and is one of the Norwich 12 heritage sites.
The cathedral ...
, where he found a good patron in the Dean,
John Salisbury.
Samples
''Five Hundred Points'' contains these rhyming couplets:
''Swéete April showers,''
''Doo spring Maie flowers.''
as well as
''At Christmas play and make good cheere,''
''for Christmas comes but once a yeere.''
and
''A foole and his monie be soone at debate,''
''which after with sorrow repents him too late.''
The latter is an early version of the
proverb
A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...
''A fool and his money are soon parted.''
Later life
After another experiment in farming at
Fairstead, Essex, he moved once again to London, whence he was driven by the plague of 1572–1573 to find refuge at Trinity Hall, being matriculated as a servant of the college in 1573. At the time of his death he was in possession of a small estate at
Chesterton, near Cambridge, and his will proves that he was not, as has sometimes been stated, in poverty of any kind, but had in some measure the thrift he preached.
Thomas Fuller
Thomas Fuller (baptised 19 June 1608 – 16 August 1661) was an English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his ''Worthies of England'', published in 1662, after his death. He was a prolific author, and ...
says he "traded at large in oxen, sheep, dairies, grain of all kinds, to no profit"; that he "spread his bread with all sorts of butter, yet none would stick thereon."
Death
Tusser died on 3 May 1580 at the age of about 55. An erroneous inscription at
Manningtree
Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Natural Beauty.
Smallest town claim
Manningtree has traditionally claimed to b ...
, Essex, asserts that he was 65 years old.
According to
John Stow
John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The C ...
's ''
Survey of London
The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an Ar ...
'', Cheape Ward, Thomas Tusser was buried in the now lost church of
St Mildred in the Poultry. The inscription on his tomb there was as follows:
"Here Thomas Tusser, clad in earth, doth lie,
That sometime made the pointes of Husbandrie;
By him then learne thou maiest; here learne we must,
When all is done, we sleepe, and turne to dust:
And yet, through Christ, to Heaven we hope to goe;
Who reades his bookes, shall find his faith was so."
Stow's editor
[Thoms 1876, p. 99, n.] adds the following epigram on Tusser from a volume called ''The More the Merrier'' (1608), by 'H. P.':
''Ad Tusserum''
"Tusser, they tell me, when thou wert alive,
Thou, teaching thrift, thyselfe couldst never thrive.
So, like the whetstone, many men are wont
To sharpen others, when themselves are blunt."
Notes
References
*
*
*
*W. J. Thoms (Ed.), ''Survey of London written in the year 1598 by John Stow. A new edition'' (Chatto and Windus, London 1876) (Based on 1798 edition).
External links
*
*
Full text of ''A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie''Edition of ''Five Hundred Points''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tusser, Thomas
1520s births
1580 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
People educated at Eton College
People from Braintree District
Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
16th-century English poets
English farmers
English male poets
People from Chesterton, Cambridge