Walter of Henley (Walter de Henley) was an English
agricultural
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...
writer of the thirteenth century, writing in French. His known work is called ''Le Dite de Hosebondrie'' (or ''Husbandry''), written about 1280, and deals with the
agricultural management
Agricultural science (or agriscience for short) is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Profession ...
of a
manor.
Little of Walter of Henley is known except that he once served in the office of
bailiff. A manuscript of ''Husbandry'' housed at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
states that Walter was first a knight and then a friar-preacher, specifically a Dominican.
Walter's ''Husbandry'' was one of four agrarian treatises that appeared in the thirteenth century, treatises said by medieval historian Eileen Power to be "undoubtedly the most original contribution of the Middle Ages to scientific agriculture. Their value lies," she noted, "in their strictly empirical character, for they appear to spring straight from the soil, owing nothing to their great classical forerunners." Power attributes the appearance of these treatises in the thirteenth century to the fact that an intellectual revival was fostered by the friars of the time, notably the Franciscans, while, at the same time, the studies of the English schoolmen were beginning to lean toward what we might call "physical and biological inquiry." Desmene (or manorial) farming was at its height, creating a market for agrarian treatises among the great landowners, and indeed it is known that copies of the manuscripts were owned by religious houses which owned extensive lands.
Walter of Henley employed a "rustic" style of writing, making use of proverbs in French and English to make his points memorable. His work makes for pleasurable reading, so much so that Professor
Bertha Haven Putnam noted, as a teacher, that "American undergraduate students read no mediæval work with greater pleasure than Walter of Henley's treatise."
A manuscript of Walter of Henley's work dating from the fifteenth century stated that it was translated into English by
Robert Grosseteste
Robert Grosseteste, ', ', or ') or the gallicised Robert Grosstête ( ; la, Robertus Grossetesta or '). Also known as Robert of Lincoln ( la, Robertus Lincolniensis, ', &c.) or Rupert of Lincoln ( la, Rubertus Lincolniensis, &c.). ( ; la, Rob ...
,
Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury.
The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...
. This attribution has often been considered a mistake, probably arising from the fact that Robert wrote his own agriarian treatise called ''Rules'', but Power argues that it is not far-fetched to associate Walter of Henley's treatise with the bishop of Lincoln since the latter was obviously interested in the subject.
Dr. William Cunningham has listed twenty surviving manuscripts of Walter of Henley's ''Husbandry'', which was widely used until the sixteenth century when Sir
Anthony Fitzherbert
Sir Anthony Fitzherbert (147027 May 1538) was an English judge, scholar and legal author, particularly known for his treatise on English law, ''New Natura Brevium'' (1534).
Biography
Fitzherbert was the sixth son of Ralph Fitzherbert of Norbur ...
published ''The Boke of Husbandry'', which, notably, contained several unattributed segments of Walter's work.
Bibliography
*Elizabeth Lamond (1890),'' Walter of Henley's Husbandry: together with an anonymous Husbandry, Seneschaucie, and Robert Grosseteste's Rules''
*Dorothea Oschinsky (1971), ''Walter of Henley and other Treatises on Estate Management and Accounting''
References
{{Authority control
13th-century English writers
Agricultural writers
13th-century Latin writers