Middle English Literature

The Hunt
Even though hunting was a widespread practice and important source of
food for the majority rural population in the Middle Ages, various laws
190
195
200
205
210
215
The Hunt
197

---

198
Style and Spectacle
attempted to exclude unpropertied and unconnected people from game
areas, including the specific game law of 1390. The nobility saw the hunt,
especially of large game such as deer, as an important occasion for the
exhibition of wealth, not only because of the servants and beasts required,
but also because of the elaborate accommodations, clothing, and feasts that
accompanied their gatherings. Medieval reserves for gaming were them-
selves also expensive investments in which to perform courtly power.
Edward of Norwich, duke of Aumale and second duke of York (ca.
1373–1415), was the son of the marriage of Edmund of Langley, earl of
Cambridge, and Isabella of Castile, and was the grandson of Edward III.
One of the intimates of Richard II’s court, he was in and out of favor with
Henry IV and Henry V before dying on the battlefield at Agincourt. As
master of game for his cousin Henry IV, in the Prologue Edward dedicates
his book to Henry’s son, Henry, prince of Wales. Edward wrote The Master
of Game in 1406–13. It survives in some twenty-five manuscripts and is a
translation and expansion of the late fourteenth-century Livre de chasse by
Gaston de Foix (Gaston Phoebus).
Primary documents and further reading
Berners, J. (1964) Boke of Huntyng, ed. G. Tilander. Karlshamn: E. G. Johanssons.
Cummins, J. (1988) The Hound and the Hawk: The Art of Medieval Hunting.
London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Marvin, W. P. (1999) “Slaughter and Romance: Hunting Reserves in Late Medieval
England.” In B. A. Hanawalt and D. Wallace (eds.) Medieval Crime and Social
Control. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 224–52.
Rooney, A. (1993) Hunting in Middle English Literature. Woodbridge, Suffolk:
Boydell.
Twiti, W. (1977) The Art of Hunting, 1327, ed. B. Danielsson. Stockholm: Almqvist
and Wiksell.
Warner, Sir George (ed.) (1912) Queen Mary’s Psalter: Miniatures and Drawings by
an English Artist of the 14th Century. London: British Museum.
Edward, Second Duke of York. British Library MS Cotton Vespasian B.xii. In W. A. Baillie-
Groham and F. Baillie-Groham (eds.) (1904) The Master of Game: The Oldest English Book on
Hunting. London: Ballantyne, Hanson, 93–111 (selections).
Language: English (Southeast Midland)
Manuscript date: ca. 1420

---

How the assemble that men clepen gaderyng shuld be makyd both wynter and
somyre aftir the gise of biyonde the see.
The assemble that men clepyn gaderyng shuld be makyd in this manere. The
nyght bifore that the lord or the maystir of the game wil go to wode, he
must make come bifore hym alle the hunters, her helpes, the gromes, and
the pages, and shuld assigne to everych one of hem her questes
1
in a certayn
place, and soner the oon fro the other, and the oon shuld not come upon
the quest of that other ne do hym non noyaunce ne lett. And everichon
shuld quest in her best wise in the maner that I have said and shuld assigne
hem the place where the gaderyng shuld be makyd at moost eese of hem
alle and at nyghest of her questes and the place where the gaderyng shuld
be makyd in a faire mede wel grene where faire trees welex
2
alle about, the
on f[a]r from that other, and a clere wel or some rennyng breke besides.
And it is cleped gaderyng bicause that alle men and houndes for the huntyng
gadren hem thider, for thei that goon in the quest shuld alle come agen in
a certayn place that I have spoke of, and also thei that partyn from home
and alle the officers that parten from home shuld bryng thider al that hem
neden, overychon in his office wel and plenteuously, and shuld lay the
towailes and boordclothes al about upon the grene gras and sette divers
metis upon a grete plater after the lordis pouere. And some shuld ete sittyng
and some standynge, some lenyng upon her elbowes, some shuld drynk and
some laugh, some jangle, some borde, som play, and shortly do alle manere
disportis of gladnesse. And whan men shuld be sette at tables or thei ete,
than shuld come the lynmers,
3
and her gromes with the lymers, the whiche
han be in the quest, and evrychon shal say his report to the lord of that thei
han don and yfounde, and lay the fumes
4
bifore the lord, he that hath eny
founde, and than the lord or the maistere of the huntyng, bi the counsel of
hem alle, shall chese to the whiche thei wil mene
5
and renne to, and which
shalle be the grettest hert and hiest deer. And whan thei shul have ete, the
lord shal devyse where the relaies shal go and other thing whiche y shal say
more playnly, and than every mane spede hym to his place, and thei also
hast hem that shullen go to the fyndeng.
1