Background
He was born at Norbury, Derbyshire in 1470.
He was born at Norbury, Derbyshire in 1470.
Fitzherbert got an Oxford education.
After his studying he was called to the English bar, and in 1523 became justice of the Court of Common Pleas, the duties of which office he continued to discharge till within a short time of his death in 1538. As a judge he left behind him a high reputation for fairness and integrity, and his legal learning is sufficiently attested by his published works. He is the author of La Graunde A bridgement, a digest of important legal cases written in Old French, first printed in 1514; The Office and Authority of Justices of the Peace, first printed in 1538 (last ed. 1794); the New Natura Brevium (1534, last ed. 1794), with a commentary ascribed to Sir Matthew Hale. To Fitzherbert are sometimes attributed the Book of Husbandry (1523), the first published work on agriculture in the English language, and the Book of Surveying and Improvements (1523).
Sir Anthony was twice married, first to Dorothy Willough by who died without issue, and secondly to Matilda Cotton by whom he had a large family. His descendants have remained Catholic and still own his estate of Norbury as well as the family seat at Swynnerton.