Medieval HuntingThe History Press, 2011 M10 24 - 224 pages Hunting was a major economic and leisure activity throughout the European Middle Ages, and while aristocratic practices have featured in studies of romantic and narrative literature, hunting in its wider sense, across the social spectrum with attendant male and female roles, has larged been ignored by modern medieval historians. Richard Almond's study brings vividly to life the universality and centrality of hunting to medieval societies, both as an economic necessity and as an expression of medieval humanity's amost atavistic sense of oneness with nature. Medieval Hunting dispels some of the myths and misunderstandings about hunting, including the persistent view that it was exclusively an aristocratic pursuit and a male one at that. Using a wide variety of contemporary textual and art historical evidence, Richard Almond demonstrates convincingly that hunting, including fishing and all manner of poaching, was enjoyed by all classes, and by women as well as men. |
Contents
Three Bestis and Crafte | |
Four Everyman | |
Five Crossing the Barriers | |
Six Medieval Dianas | |
Seven Conclusions | |
Bibliography | |
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Common terms and phrases
animals aristocratic hunting beast birds Birrell British Library carcass chapter chase common commonalty hunting dress Edward Egerton English evidence falcon falconry female ferrets fifteenthcentury Forest courts Forest Laws fourteenth century Game Law Gaston Fébus gentle hunters German Gottfried von Strassburg greyhounds H & H hare hart horseback hounds hunt establishment hunt servants Hunters and Poachers hunting and hawking hunting books hunting manuals huntsman Ibid illustrations indicate John Cummins king’s knight ladies late medieval later Middle Ages Livre de chasse London Luttrell Psalter male manuscript Master of Game Maurice Keen medieval hunting methods nets Nicholas Orme nobility noble parks particularly pastime peasant Pisanello poaching practice probably quarry species Queen Mary’s Psalter rabbits rank red deer regarded repr ritual Roy Modus royal Saint Albans social sources sport stag hunting status tapestry texts Tilander treatises Tristan Twiti venery veneurs venison warren wild boar wolf women