Thomas Blundeville's writings are mentioned in passing in literary histories of the sixteenth century, in histories of astronomy and navigation, and in accounts of popularized arts of logic. In his own time, he received more specific notice and praise from his peers. Roger Ascham, for example, contributed prefatory verses to Blundeville's translation of Plutarch; Jasper Heywood, in the preface to his Latin translation The seconde tragedie of Seneca entituled Thyestes faithfully Englished (1560), refers to "the gentle Blundeville" who teaches "Plutarches lore / What frute by foes to fynde"; and Gabriel Harvey, in his Pierces Supererogation Or A New Prayse Of The Old Asse (1593), commends Blundeville's "painfull, and skillfull bookes on Horsemanship."

Aligning these various references, the reader forms a picture of a highly imaginative, self-educated man, whose interests centered on discerning the "logic" of various disciplines, from moral philosophy to the practical science of training and caring for horses...