The Master of Game: The Oldest English Book on Hunting

Fue. "Se mettre a la fue" (var. fuie), (to take flight) (Borman, p. 89).

GLADNESS,

glade. The original sense is a smooth, bare place, or perhaps a bright, clear place in a wood.

GREASE,

One of the important technical terms of venery, related to the fat of game; for in the Middle Ages, when game was hunted to replenish the larder as much as for sport, it entered largely into the economy of even the highest households. The fat of the red deer and fallow deer was called suet, occasionally tallow. That of the roebuck was bevy-grease. Between that of the hare, boar, wolf, fox, marten, otter, badger, and coney no difference was made – it was called grease; and in one sense this general term was also used for deer: "a deer of high grease," or "a hart in the pride of grease," were phrases used for the season of the year when the stag and the buck were fattest (see Appendix: Seasons of Hunting).

GREASE TIME,

not Grace Time or Grass Time, as Strutt and others have it. It did not include the whole season when the hart or buck could be killed, but meant to indicate the time when they were fat and fittest for killing. As pointed out already by Dryden (p. 25), the Excerpta Historica (Lond. 1831) contains an interesting example of the use of this word. This is a letter written (p. 356) about 1480 by Thomas Stonor, Steward of the Manor of Thame. He was in Fleet Prison at the time he writes to his brother in the country concerning some property of his own in his brother's neighbourhood. "No more to youe at thys tyme but … more ovr I entende to kepe my gresse tyme in yat countre, where fore I wolle yat no mane huntte tylle I have bene ther."

In the privy-purse expenses of Henry VIII. (1532) is an entry of a payment for attendance on the king during the last grece-time. Cavendish in his Life of Wolsey says: "My lord continued at Southwell until the latter end of grease time." Both these passages refer to the month of June. In the laws of Howel the Good, King of Wales, a fine of 12 kine was imposed on whoever kills a hart in grease time (kylleic) of the kings.

Confusion arose occasionally owing to the similarity of the words as formerly spelt, grass being sometimes spelt "grysse" (Dryden, p. 25). Manwood, also, misinterprets Grease time. In the agreement between the Earl of Winchester and the Baron of Dudley of 1247, in which their respective rights of hunting in Charnwood Forest and Bradgate Park, Leicestershire, were defined, and which agreement Shirley has given (in a translation) in his "English Deer Parks," the time of the fallow buck season (tempus pinguedinis) or grease time or the fat season, is fixed between the Feast of St. Peter ad Vincula (August 1) and the Exaltation of Holy Cross (September 6, 14), while the time of the doe season (tempus firmationis) was fixed between the Feast of St. Martin (November 11) and the Purification of the Blessed Virgin (February 2).

GREYHOUND,

Fr. levrier, Lat. leporarius. Under this name a whole group of dogs were included, that were used for the chase of big and small game. They were swift hounds, hunting chiefly and in most cases by sight only. For in the Middle Ages the name greyhound, or levrier, denoted such seemingly different dogs as the immense Irish wolfhound, the Scotch deerhound, and the smaller, smooth-coated, elegant Italian greyhound. The powerful greyhound used for the chase of stag, wolf, and wild boar were known in France as levrier d'attache, and the smaller, nervous harehound as petit levrier pour lievre. In our illustrations we can see what are intended to be portraits of both the larger and the smaller kinds, some being smooth – and some rough-coated. The bigger hounds were considered capable of defending their masters against their armed enemies, as is shown by numerous legends of the Middle Ages, which, although they may not be strictly historical facts, showed the reputation these dogs enjoyed in those days (Jesse, p. 19).

Greyhounds were the constant companions of their masters during journeys and wars, and at home. In the houses they were allowed the greatest liberty, and seem to have ranged at will in both living- and bed-rooms; one sees them at the board when their owners are at meals, at the fireside, and they even accompanied their masters as good Christians to mass.

No hound seems to belong so peculiarly to the epoch of chivalry as the greyhound, and indeed one can scarcely picture a knight without one. A Welsh proverb declared that a gentleman might be known "by his hawk, his horse, and his greyhound." By a law of Canute, a greyhound was not to be kept by any person inferior to a gentleman ("Greyhounds," by a Sportsman, p. 28; and Dalziel, vol. i. p. 25).

Canis Gallicus was the name used by the Gauls for their coursing dogs, which were most probably greyhounds, and Arian says they were called Vertragia, from a Celtic word denoting swiftness. In Gallo-Latin the name for a large greyhound was Veltrahus or veltris (De Noir., ii. 295). They were also called Veltres leporarii (Blane, p. 46). There is some difference of opinion as to the derivation of our word greyhound. In the early Anglo-Norman days they retained their French name of levrier, or Latin leporarius. When our MS. was penned the English word grei, gre, or grewhound was in general use; it is thought by some to be derived from Grew hound or Greek hound, as they were supposed to have been originally brought from Greece. Others, again, consider that the name was simply taken from the prevalent colour of the common greyhound. Jesse gives the most likely origin of the name. "Originally it was most likely grehund, and meant the noble, great, choice, or prize hound" (Jesse, ii. 71; and Dalziel, i. 23). Probably the Celtic denomination for a dog, grech or greg, stands in close connection with our word greyhound (Cupples, p. 230). White seems to have been the favourite colour, and to say one had i levrier plus blanc que flors de lis (Heruis de Mes, 107a, 44; Bangert, p. 172) would be the greatest tribute to the beauty of one's hound. Co si sunt deus leveres nurit en ma meisun, cume cisne sunt blauns (Horn, 613 f.).

When Froissart went home from Scotland he is depicted as riding a grey horse and leading un blanc levrier, perhaps one of the four he took from these isles and presented to the Comte de Foix at Orthéz, whose names have been preserved to us as Tristan, Hector, Brun, and Rolland (La Curne de la Palaye).

Greyhounds were used, as has already been mentioned, for all kind of hunting and every kind of game, in conjunction with limers who started the game for them. They were let slip as relays to a pack of running or scenting hounds, and they were used by themselves for coursing game in an open country, or were placed at the passes where game was likely to run and were slipped to turn the game back to the archer or to chase and pull down the wounded deer (see Appendix: Stables). In our illustrations we see them in the pictures of stag-, hare-, roe- and boar-hunting, to say nothing of badger-hunting, for which one would have thought any other dog more suitable.

They seem always to have been held in couples except when following their master and he not bent upon the chase. The collars to which these couplings were attached were often wonderful gems of the goldsmith's and silversmith's art. Such an item appears in the Q. R. Wardrobe Acc. for 1400 (Wylie, iv. p. 196): "2 collars for greyhounds (leverer) le tissue white and green with letters and silver turrets." Another one of "soy chekerey vert et noir avec le tret (? turret) letters and bells of silver gilt."

The ancient doggerel in the Book of St. Albans, "Heded like a snake, and necked like a drake. Foted like a cat. Tayled like a Rat, Syded lyke a Teme. Chyned like a Beme" ("Boke of St. Albans," f. iv.), was preceded by a very similar one written some time previously by Gace de la Buigne. Of these verses G. de F. gives, twenty-eight years later, a prose version, which our Master of Game has rendered into English.

HARDEL,

hardeyl, to tie couples of hounds together. From the French word harder, which has the same meaning: Harder les chiens, and harde, the rope with which they are tied. It is derived from hart, hard, art, a binder of willow or other pliable wood used for fastening fagots together (Lit. and God.). The primitive way of tying hounds together was by passing such a small flexible branch through the couplings which bent back on itself, both ends being held. "Les chiens … seront enhardez par les couples à genoivres ou à autre josne bois tors" (Roy Modus, f. xlvii. recto). In France there used to be two hardes to each relay and not more than eight hounds in every harde (D'Yauville). In England there used to be about the same number. The term was still used in Blome's time (1686), for he writes in his "Gentleman's Recreation": "The huntsman on foot that hath the charge of the coupled hounds, and before that must have hardled them, that is, with a slip, for the purpose ready secured three or four couple together, that they may not break in from him, to run into the cry of the Finders" (p. 88).

Harling was a word used in Devonshire, and as it meant tying the hound together by means of a rope passed through the rings of the couples, it is undoubtedly a corruption of the word hardeling. "Until comparatively recent times the hounds in Devonshire were taken to the meet and held in this manner until the time came to lay the pack on" (Collyns).

Hardel, the technical O. E. term for binding together the four legs of the roebuck, the head having been placed between the two forelegs, in order to carry him whole into the kitchen.

HARE,

Pliny records the fable that hares "are of many and various sexes." Topsell remarks that "the Hebrews call the hare 'arnebet,' in the feminine gender," which word gave occasion to an opinion that all hares were females (pp. 264, 266).

"In the Gwentian code of Welch laws supposed to be of the eleventh century, the hare is said not to be capable of any legal valuation, being in one month male and in another female" (Twici, p. 22).

Certainly in many of the older writings on hares the pronouns "her" and "him" are used indiscriminately in the same sentence. Sir Thomas Browne in his treatise on vulgar errors asserts from his own observation that the sex of the hare is changeable, and that the buck hare will sometimes give birth to young. Up to the end of the eighteenth century there was a widespread and firm belief in this fable (Brehm, ii. p. 626). Buffon describes it as one of the animal's peculiar properties, and from the structure of their parts of generation he argues that the notion has arisen of hermaphrodite hares, that the males sometimes bring forth young, and that some are alternately males and females and perform the functions of either sex.

"Master of Game" (copying G. de F.) states that the hare carries her young for a period of two months, but in reality the period of gestation is only thirty days. Harting says that the adult hare will breed twice or thrice in the year, but Brehm declares they breed as many as four times, and but seldom five times (Encyclop. of Sport, vol. ii. p. 504; Brehm, vol. ii. p. 626; G. de F. p. 47).

G. de F. (p. 43) says of a hare, "Elle oït bien, mais elle voit mal." "Master of Game" translates this simply as She hath evil sight; but does not say she hears well. The sense of hearing is most highly developed in the hare, and every lightly breaking twig or falling leaf will disturb her. It is said that of old when warreners wished to prepare hares for the market they filled their ears with wax, so that, not being continually disturbed by noises, they did not move about much, and grew sleek and fat (Blome, p. 95). G. de F.'s assertion that the hare "has evil sight" is also confirmed by Brehm, who, however, says that they are endowed with a keen sense of smell, whereas G. de F. says elle sent pou.

Attention has already been called to the Duke of York's statement that "the hare hath great fear to run." This arose probably from the similarity of the words peur and pouvoir in the MSS., for it should read "hath great power to run," the principal MSS. which we have examined showing pouvoir. Verard in his first edition of G. de F. also has the same rendering as the Duke of

York, to which Lavallée draws attention as being one of the many ludicrous mistakes in this edition (G. de F., xli.).

Our text calls the hare the most marvellous beast (p. 181), the reasons given being because she "fumeth or croteth and rowngeth and beareth tallow and grease." By "rowngeth" (Fr. ronger) it was meant that the hare chewed the cud, as by the ancients it was generally supposed that the hare was a ruminant. Although this is not the case, and the hare has not a compound stomach, nevertheless this belief showed a close observation of nature, for when a hare is seated she can bring up parts of her food and give it a second mastication.

The hare and rabbit have little or no fat, but what they do possess is called grease. Twici says: Il porte gresce (pp. 1 and 21).

"She has teeth above in the same wise as beneath" (p. 181) is another of the peculiarities noticed in our text, which shows that the difference in dentition that distinguishes the hare from all other rodents had been remarked. Instead of two incisors in the upper jaw, the hare has four, having two small rudimentary incisor teeth behind the two large front ones, and five or six molars in the upper jaw, with two incisors and five molars in the lower jaw (Brehm, ii. p. 627; Cornish, "Shooting," ii. p. 153).

It is difficult to know why the hare was considered a "melancholy" beast, and how this curious reputation was kept up during the whole of the Middle Ages. It was thought that eating the flesh of the hare rendered one also subject to melancholy. G. de F. does not mention this, and altogether his book is comparatively free of such superstitions, but he says the flesh of the hare should not be given to the hounds after a day's hunting, as it is indigestible: quar elle est fastieuse viande et les fet vomir (p. 210). Therefore, when rewarding the hounds, they should only have the tongue and the kidneys, with some bread soaked in the blood of the hare.

In our MS., at the end of the chapter on the nature of the hare (p. 22), the Duke of York says that he "trows no good hunter would slee them so," alluding to pockets, pursenets, and other poaching devices; and although G. de F. gives six ways of taking the hare, he does not approve of such methods for the true sportsman, but enters an amusing protest: "I would that they who take hares thus should have them [the cords] round their own necks" (p. 171). Snaring hares was never considered legitimate sport. In hare-hunting proper, the hounds were taken into the fields to find the hare, as at present; or hare-finders were sent out early in the morning, and the tufts of grass or plants where the hare was likely to be seated were beaten, and the hounds uncoupled only when the hare was started. One of the chief differences in the sport between then and now was that often, when the hare was once on foot, greyhounds were also uncoupled, and our Plate, p. 182, shows greyhounds and running-hounds hunting seemingly happily together. It must have been rather discouraging for the old-fashioned, slow scenting-hound to have the hare he has been diligently hunting suddenly "bitten" in front of him by the swifter greyhound. Trencher-fed packs also existed as early as the fourteenth century, and we read in Gace de la Buigne that the small farmers would assemble together, bringing all told some forty hounds of different breeds and sizes, immensely enjoying their sport, and accounting for many hares.

HARNESS,

means in our text "paraphernalia wherewith animals can be caught or taken." It is frequently used in this sense by Gaston —Hayes et autres Harnoys (p. 126). In Julien's note to this same sentence occurring in Le bon Varlet, he says, autres harnois, autres engins, instruments, procédés.

HARRIER,

spelt in early documents with many variations —eirere, heyreres, heyrer, hayrers. A hound which is described in modern dictionaries as "resembling a foxhound but smaller, used for hare-hunting" (Murray). This explanation would not have been a correct one for our harriers of the fourteenth century, for as far as we can gather they were used to hunt all kinds of game and by no means only the hare. They were evidently a smaller kind of running hound, for as our MS. says, there are some small and some large running hounds, "and the small are called Kenettis (or small dogs —see Kenet), and these hounds run well to all manner of game and they that serve for all game men call them heirers" (p. III). And in chapter 36 we see that heyrers were used to hunt up the deer in the forest, the herthounds and greyhounds meanwhile being held in leash till a warrantable deer was on foot, or till "the heyrer have well run and well made the rascal void" (made the smaller deer clear out of that part of the forest) (p. 191). Then the herthounds were to be uncoupled where the most likely "ligging is for an hert, and seek." The herthounds then put up the wary old stag and hunted him till he came to the tryst where the King would be with his long bow or cross-bow, or till the hert was pulled down by them or the greyhounds which had been slipped at him.

In the chapter on hare-hunting in our MS. the word harrier does not occur; only hounds, greyhounds, and raches are mentioned. So when Henry IV. paid for "La garde de nos chiens appelez hayrers" (Privy Seal, 20 Aug. 9th Henry, 1408, No. 5874), or Henry V. for the "Custodiam Canum nostrum vocatorum hayreres" (Rot. Pat. I Henry V. 1413), it was not because they were especially addicted to hare-hunting, but because they kept these useful hounds to "harry" game.

In 1407 we find one Hugh Malgrave "servienti venatori' vocat' hayters p' c'vo (cervo), which we may accept as another proof that their office was to hunt the stag. The Duke of York also repeatedly says that "heirers" run at all game (see pp. III, 196, 197). In 1423 Hugh Malgrave still held the "office of the hayrers" by grant from Henry IV. In the curious legal Latin of the thirteenth century, we find the word canes heirettes, and heyrettor (Wardrobe Accounts, 34 Ed. I.).

There are a great number of early records which show us that these hounds were used then for hunting red and fallow deer, sometimes in conjunction with greyhounds and sometimes without their aid.

Harriers were sometimes taken with buckhounds on hunting expeditions as well as with greyhounds. In some of the documents harriers are simply alluded to as canes currentes. As they were not a distinct breed, but were included under the designation "raches," or running hounds, a separate chapter is not given to them in our text, and neither Twici nor the Dame of St. Albans mentions these hounds. Gradually we find the spelling, although presenting still countless variations, bringing the a more constantly than the e; the "heirers" become hayrers, hareres, hariers, and after the sixteenth century harriers. It is also probable that the word was originally derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hergian, herian, to harry, to disturb, to worry; O. Fr. harrier, herrier, herier, to harry; F. hare and harer, to set a dog on to attack. The harrier, in fact, was a dog to "hare" the game. Although now obsolete, we find this word used late in the seventeenth century.

"Let the hounds kill the fox themselves and worry and hare him as much as they please" (Cox, "Gent. Rec.," p. 110). It is also in the sixteenth century that one comes across the first allusions to their use in hunting the hare.

HART,

It is not necessary to dwell here at length upon the great esteem in which the hart was held by all devotees to sport in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was royal game, and belonged to the Prince or ruler of the country, and the chase was their prerogative. Few unconnected with the court were ever able to enjoy the chase of the stag unless in attendance on or by special licence granted by the sovereign. Those who had extensive property of their own and had permission to erect a fence could, of course, keep deer on it, but this did not enable them to enjoy the sport of real wild deer hunting, or La chasse Royale as the French called it.

The stag was one of the five beasts of venery, and was, according to the ancient French regulations, a beast of the sweet foot, although in the list of beasts of sweet and stinking foot given in the "Boke of St. Albans" the hart is included in neither category (see Appendix: Fewte).

One of the first essentials for a huntsman in the Middle Ages was to learn to know the different signs of a stag (according to German venery there were seventy-two signs), so as to be able to "judge well." These signs were those of the slot, the gait, the fraying-post, the rack or entry (i. e. the place where the stag entered covert), and the fumes. By recognising differences in these signs made by a young stag, a hind, and a warrantable stag, he was enabled to find out where the latter was harbouring, and by the slot and gait he could recognise when the chased stag was approaching his end.

There were many things that the huntsman of old had to learn regarding the stag before he could be considered as more than an apprentice – for instance, how to speak of a hart in terms of venery. The terms used were considered of the greatest importance, even to the manner in which the colour of the stag was spoken of, brown, yellow, or dun being the only permissible terms to distinguish the shade of colour. Special terms are given for every kind of head, or antlers, a stag might bear.

The huntsman spoke of the stag's blenches and ruses when alluding to the tricks of a deer when trying to rid himself of the hounds, of his doubling and rusing to and fro upon himself when he retraced his steps, of his beating up the river when he swam up-stream, and of foiling down, when he went down-stream, or of going to soil when he stood in water. When the deer lay down he was quat, when he stood still in covert he was stalling. When he was tired he "cast his chaule" i.e. drooped his head, a well-known sign when the deer is done, as was his closed mouth when dead beat.

The hart was meved or moved, when he was started from his resting-place; he was quested or hunted for, and sued or chased; his resting-place was called his ligging or lair, his scent of line of flight, his fues. He was spoken of as soule or soile (F. seule) if unaccompanied by other deer, and in "herd with rascal and folly" if keeping company with lesser deer.

Besides many other quaint terms of venery the following were the designations given to the hart according to his age by: —

Until he was a hart of ten our text tells us he was not considered a chaseable or warrantable deer. By the above one will see that the "Master of Game" is exceptional in calling a deer of the second year a bullock, brocket being the usual term.

In old French literature we occasionally find the word broches used for the tines of a deer's antlers; brochet would be the diminutive, i. e. a small tine, and hence perhaps brocket, a young stag bearing small tines. Any stag of ten or over if hunted by the king became a Hart Royal, and if hunted and not taken, but driven out of the forest, a proclamation was made to warn every one that no person should chase or kill the said hart, and he was then a "Hart Royal proclaimed" (Man., p. 180).