Medieval Hunting Read Online Free
participation, quarry species and methodology, in order to appreciate the universality of hunting and its essential contribution towards a better understanding of our medieval forebears. Chapter seven is thus necessarily a brief summary of the eclectic collection of evidence and my own thoughts on the interpretation of this material, together with some examples of composite pictorial evidence which support my notion of the universality of hunting.
Finally, I must make two points relating to the analysis and interpretation of the source material used in the compilation of this book. Firstly, throughout the book I have used both textual and illustrated sources and have endeavoured, wherever possible, to read them together in order to produce clear and plausible results. Secondly, the precise interpretation of any evidence, particularly illustrated material from hundreds of years ago, presents particular problems and challenges to the historian attempting to elucidate what actually happened and what constituted ârealityâ. There are almost always several levels of meaning to a medieval or Renaissance hunting illustration, whether it be from a manuscript, painting, misericord or tapestry. This multiplicity of possible meanings also often applies to medieval literature, especially romantic and imaginative texts. Although this methodological difficulty provokes issues, sometimes of an ambiguous or conflicting nature, it is also immensely stimulating to the historian and helps make the interpretation of medieval and Renaissance sources an utterly fascinating pursuit.
ONE
âDeliteâ and Other Functions
I n Livre de chasse , a canonical manuscript begun on 1 May 1387 and completed in 1389, 1 Gaston Fébus remarks âtout mon temps me suis delite par espicial en trois choses, lâune est en armes, lâautre est en amours, et lâautre si est en chasce . . . .â 2 This illustrates the importance that hunting held in the life and mind of one medieval French noble, a self-confessed hunting enthusiast and former mercenary captain who had retired from his profession to his vast estates in south-west France. However, it can be applied to a greater or lesser extent to the educated European upper classes as a genre and as a class. The Second Estate, the nobility and knights, hunted and were expected to do so. Not everybody in the establishment automatically approved, however; in his satirical work Policraticus , John of Salisbury derides hunting as one of the diversions and frivolities of courtiers and adopts a hostile, even socialistic, attitude towards aristocratic hunters. 3 In addition, he acidly remarks âRarely is one found to be modest or dignified, rarely self-controlled, and in my opinion never temperate.â 4 Harsh words, although he admits his criticisms are partially for amusementâs sake.
Yet in spite of the apparent monopoly of this pastime by the upper classes, hunting in its widest sense was not the preserve of the courtiers and educated élites. Owing to the various and disparate needs of medieval society, the functions of hunting ensured that it was widely engaged in throughout every community.
For the ruling classes, avoiding idleness, and therefore sin, was important and hunting provided the ideal anodyne of healthy, violent and enjoyable exercise. Edward, Duke of York, using the words of Gaston Fébus, comments on this function of venery:
The first resouns is for the game causeth oft a man to eschewe þe vii deedly synnes. Secoundly men byn bettir ryding, and more just and more vndyrstondyng, and more appert, and more esye and more vndirtakyng, and bettir knowyng of all contrees and of all passages . . . and helthe of man and of his sowle for ho that fleeth þe vii dedly synnes . . . shal be saued, than a good huntere shal be saued, and in this world haue joye ynow, and of gladnesse and of solace . . . . 5
He continues in the same manner, emphasising the dreadful
Finally, I must make two points relating to the analysis and interpretation of the source material used in the compilation of this book. Firstly, throughout the book I have used both textual and illustrated sources and have endeavoured, wherever possible, to read them together in order to produce clear and plausible results. Secondly, the precise interpretation of any evidence, particularly illustrated material from hundreds of years ago, presents particular problems and challenges to the historian attempting to elucidate what actually happened and what constituted ârealityâ. There are almost always several levels of meaning to a medieval or Renaissance hunting illustration, whether it be from a manuscript, painting, misericord or tapestry. This multiplicity of possible meanings also often applies to medieval literature, especially romantic and imaginative texts. Although this methodological difficulty provokes issues, sometimes of an ambiguous or conflicting nature, it is also immensely stimulating to the historian and helps make the interpretation of medieval and Renaissance sources an utterly fascinating pursuit.
ONE
âDeliteâ and Other Functions
I n Livre de chasse , a canonical manuscript begun on 1 May 1387 and completed in 1389, 1 Gaston Fébus remarks âtout mon temps me suis delite par espicial en trois choses, lâune est en armes, lâautre est en amours, et lâautre si est en chasce . . . .â 2 This illustrates the importance that hunting held in the life and mind of one medieval French noble, a self-confessed hunting enthusiast and former mercenary captain who had retired from his profession to his vast estates in south-west France. However, it can be applied to a greater or lesser extent to the educated European upper classes as a genre and as a class. The Second Estate, the nobility and knights, hunted and were expected to do so. Not everybody in the establishment automatically approved, however; in his satirical work Policraticus , John of Salisbury derides hunting as one of the diversions and frivolities of courtiers and adopts a hostile, even socialistic, attitude towards aristocratic hunters. 3 In addition, he acidly remarks âRarely is one found to be modest or dignified, rarely self-controlled, and in my opinion never temperate.â 4 Harsh words, although he admits his criticisms are partially for amusementâs sake.
Yet in spite of the apparent monopoly of this pastime by the upper classes, hunting in its widest sense was not the preserve of the courtiers and educated élites. Owing to the various and disparate needs of medieval society, the functions of hunting ensured that it was widely engaged in throughout every community.
For the ruling classes, avoiding idleness, and therefore sin, was important and hunting provided the ideal anodyne of healthy, violent and enjoyable exercise. Edward, Duke of York, using the words of Gaston Fébus, comments on this function of venery:
The first resouns is for the game causeth oft a man to eschewe þe vii deedly synnes. Secoundly men byn bettir ryding, and more just and more vndyrstondyng, and more appert, and more esye and more vndirtakyng, and bettir knowyng of all contrees and of all passages . . . and helthe of man and of his sowle for ho that fleeth þe vii dedly synnes . . . shal be saued, than a good huntere shal be saued, and in this world haue joye ynow, and of gladnesse and of solace . . . . 5
He continues in the same manner, emphasising the dreadful
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