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Audiobook edition · 14 h 9 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the work of sowing, brewing, hiring and feasting all finds its place in a farmer’s rhyme?
In Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie, Thomas Tusser turns country work into short, memorable verses. His farming calendar starts in September and follows the tasks that keep land productive and animals cared for. Winter brings fences to mend and cattle to house. Summer brings hay to cut and dry before the rain.
Alongside the farming verses, a section on the housewife’s work turns to running the home. Advice on rent, servants, neighbours and debt shows how much depends on care and thrift. Tusser, a farmer and former singer, brings dry humour to these practical lessons. A short poem about his own hard life lets you meet the man behind the counsel.
What you’ll discover
- A year of work Follow the farm from autumn preparations through winter care to the pressures of summer harvest.
- The household’s daily demands Explore the housewife’s section, where managing the home has its own place beside farming.
- Good sense in rhyme Discover short verses designed to keep practical advice within reach, even out in the field.
- Neighbours, landlords and debt See how Tusser connects the running of land with money, thrift and dealings with others.
- The farmer behind the verses Meet Tusser through his dry wit and a poem that touches on his hard life.
Who will love it
Readers who love gardens, farms, folk sayings and old English country life will enjoy it, as will anyone curious about how Tudor households worked, ate and celebrated.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Rhyme carries the farming year
- Experience gives Tusser his plain voice
- Thrift grows through small honest habits
- Autumn preparation protects the farm
- Christmas plenty should feed the neighbours
- Small tasks prepare the busy summer
- Harvest joins careful work with sharing
- Fields and household need fair order
- Good order belongs with open hands
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Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie
by Thomas Tusser · 1573
A Tudor farmer turns a whole year of chores into rhyming advice, from September sowing to harvest home.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
What would you do with a year of farm work if you had to remember it all without a notebook? Thomas Tusser answers with rhyme.
Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 50 min5 h 25 min fast, 8 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 97,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1573by Thomas Tusser
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A singing boy becomes a farming teacher
Thomas Tusser is born around 1525 at Rivenhall in Essex. His father places him as a singing boy in the chapel at Wallingford castle, though his mother weeps and begs against it. Tusser later describes the bare robes, the stale bread and the penny ale of that school. His fine voice carries him on to the choir of St Paul's in London.
Then he goes to Eton, where the master Nicholas Udall beats him fifty-three times for a small fault. Cambridge comes next. A long illness ends his studies, and he joins the household of Lord Paget as a musician. He spends about ten years at court. He sees cards, dice and pride ruin many people there, and he leaves when the court turns unfriendly.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1573
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Tusser, Thomas. Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/fiue-hundred-pointes-of-good-husbandrie.
Tusser, T. (2026). Fiue hundred pointes of good husbandrie. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fiue-hundred-pointes-of-good-husbandrie (Original work published 1573)
Tusser, Thomas. Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fiue-hundred-pointes-of-good-husbandrie.
@book{tusser2026fiue,
author = {Tusser, Thomas},
title = {Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/fiue-hundred-pointes-of-good-husbandrie},
note = {First published 1573}
}
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What is Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry about?
It is a rhyming guide to the English farming year, set out month by month. It covers ploughing, sowing, livestock, hops, dairy work, harvest and Christmas, then turns to a housewife's daily work and short poems on faith and life.
Who was Thomas Tusser?
He was an Elizabethan farmer, singer and poet, born in Essex around 1525. He sang in choirs, studied at Cambridge, served Lord Paget, then farmed in Suffolk and elsewhere. He died in London in 1580.
Why is the book written in rhyme?
Most of it uses short, bouncing couplets that are easy to remember and repeat. The rhymes helped farm families keep the lessons in mind through a whole working year without needing notes.
The author
Thomas Tusser
1524–1580 · English Tudor poet
Thomas Tusser (1524–1580) was an English poet and farmer. He was born in Essex and died in London. He published A Hundred Good Points of Husbandry in 1557. He expanded this work as Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry in 1573. He lived and farmed in Suffolk.
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