1328            William Ferthyng sued several people that had not paid their debts to him.  A resident of Hilborough, Norfolk, William lived only 10 miles from Thetford.  Thetford had been an old Viking army camp and the location of a mint where a mint master named Farthegn had once worked.

1328 Walter Fartheyn - He was a cleric ca. 1328-1334 in Devonshire.

1332           John Fartheyn - the Bishop of Bath and Wells, Somersetshire wrote the following entry in his diary:  "License for Brother John Fartheyn, of the order of Friars Preachers, dwelling at Bristol, to hear confessions."   In 1339 John was listed the "prebend" of Exeter Cathedral. As a Canon he was responsible for the administration of the cathedral. Like most of the Friars Preachers, John had been recruited from the higher classes of society.  He possessed a Master of Arts degree from Oxford University which would have taken eight years of study.  The Dominicans that did not have such a degree would have had to take a solemn and public oath that they had studied philosophy for eight years and theology for six more.  They were called upon to act as special preachers for parish, collegiate, and capitular churches and even preached at court before the King.  And when John did preach he would emphasize the love of God, not hell fire and damnation. This was Dominican doctrine.  He would have had to give at least 240 sermons a year.

We do not know exactly when John died, but if he were alive in 1348 he would have witnessed one of the greatest catastrophes ever to befall mankind.  Hearing the confessions of the dying and taking care of the dead, John Farthegn would have been one of the first to succumb to the Black Death. 

1359            J. Ferthyng served as a justice in London.  He lived during a time when large numbers of immigrants from the rest of the country were settling in the capital, and no other town provided more new inhabitants to London at this time than Lincoln.  If Justice Ferthyng's roots were also in Lincoln, the heart of the old Danelaw, his name could very well be just another mutation of Farthegn.

1379            Robert Farthing is listed in Yorkshire.  About 50 years behind the south and the southwest, it was at this time that the majority of the residents of northern England had inherited surnames.  Most of the surnames derived from nicknames did not survive.  A surprisingly large number derived from personal names did.