The Dogs of the Medieval/Renaissance Hunt

Renaissance and Medieval hunting; the hunting dogs of the period. 

There were two forms of hunting; with stable and bow, and ‘par force de chien’, by the use of dogs.

Stable and bow meant that the hunters rode out to try to bring down their quarry with bows and arrows; it was not considered as prestigious as hunting par force which involved the huntsmen tracking the deer or other quarry by its spoor to know where to go and then setting the dogs to chase it down while the noble ‘hunters’ followed on. It was considered good sport if the chase was long, though I hate to think what all that adrenaline and hard running might have done to the meat even without our modern minds considering the cruelty of this method.  However, this was a means to fill in the idle hours for the idle rich and pragmatic consideration of the state of the meat probably did not enter into it.

The hunt was so popular that it was often celebrated in song, some of which songs, like ‘Blow thy Horn Hunter’ were allegories of the pursuit of romance in which the huntsman is in hot pursuit of a doe, harrying her until she gives up at which point he can stick his weapon in her.  Hmm, very romantic. [I’ve put the lyrics at the bottom of this blog, an excellent version may be had from Tania Opland]. Incidentally, there are a lot of medieval illustrations as tapestries and in supposedly devotional books etc which show the hunting of the unicorn; this mythical beast symbolised purity and virginity so showing it hunted is a pretty fair indication of what was intended for that as an ideal.  Unicorns, like foxes and otters, were hunted only for sport not the table.

Again, as plenty has been written about the hunt, beyond this brief introduction I thought I’d write about the dogs involved, each breed optimised for a particular quarry.  Note: there was no formal writing about breeds until 1570, so there was no particular regulation of any breed and there is a lot of uncertainty about the precise nature of many.  What may be certain is that the hounds had kennels far superior in warmth and comfort to the homes of many peasants and tender medical care few but the wealthy might hope to receive.

Alaunt/Alan  A large dog introduced from Spain, mentioned by Chaucer; were used against bears or boars.  Originally coming from central Asia they spread through Europe with the onslaught of the Vandals with the Alans which gave the dogs their name, Alaunt being applied to a working dog more than to a specific breed initially. However being bred as war dogs, protectors of families and hunters of large game a general body type became set. There were three distinct types in Medieval Europe; the Alaunt Gentil, a lither, faster variant with much in common with the greyhound; the Alaunt de Bucherie, used to guard livestock, and the Alaunt Vautre [Veantre], an aggressive hunting dog, also known as the running mastiff or as a boarhound. It was a cross between the lighter Gentil for its speed and the heavy de Bucherie.   The Alaunt de Bucherie is the progenitor of the mastiff and bull breeds. 

Basset  bred by monks in France to hunt rabbit in heavy cover where their short legs and powerful bodies were an advantage. ‘Bas’ means low.

Beagle This breed predates the Romans and may be very ancient indeed.  It was used to hunt the hare which does not go to ground as the rabbit does.  The beagle’s tendency to ‘sing’ when it has the scent of its prey enabled a canny hunter who knew the terrain to guess where the hare might double back.  Glove Beagles were an affectation of the 14^th and 15^th centuries, small enough to fit in a glove and were kept as packs; Pocket Beagles, 9” tall at the withers, were ladies’ hunting dogs and could ride in front of their mistress on the saddle.  Possibly from the Gaelic ‘beag’ meaning ‘small’.

Griffon see spaniel.

Harrier described as ‘like a beagle on speed’; similar to the foxhound, the first documented pack was in 1260, but this breed was mostly confined to Western England and Wales.

Irish hound/ Wardog/wolf dog [Irish wolfhound] A breed whose origins are lost in the mists of antiquity, probably the hound which features in Irish folktale.

Kenet/Kennet   MAY be the Beagle. The name derives from the diminutive of ‘Chien’[Norman French ‘ken’ cf Picard ‘kien’], a dog, therefore being ‘little dog’. The word ‘kennel’ derives from the same source which is Old Norman French where the ‘ch’ has a hard sound.

Levrier [Greyhound]  A very ancient breed; in earlier times a greyhound was worth more than a serf.  They were used for hunting and coursing because of their speed.  

Lymer [Bloodhound] Used to hunt wild boar and stag, though sometimes replaced after 1526 by the Spanish Mastiff.  It was mostly prized for its scenting ability.  Originally called a Lymehound, the Lymer was the leash securing it to the harbourer or dog handler. 

Spaniel/Barbet/Water Dog The European water spaniel was bred and refined between about 1300 and 1600.  It was used to flush game for falcons or for hounds and retrieved water birds being adept swimmers.  The original ones had the characteristic floppy ears and were black and white or liver and white.  From this was developed the Springer Spaniel around 1576. The water spaniel is a heavier bodied dog than later breeds with a coat that is more dense and may be curly rather than silky. This is logged in 1758 as the difference between a spaniel and a barbet, that the spaniel has long hair and the barbet has curly hair, though earlier there may have been no differentiation.  The barbet is a progenitor of the poodle originally called Pudel and included as one of the water dogs . A sub species of the spaniel types is the Griffon which does not have curly hair.  The illustration is usually tagged as poodle. The name Spaniel derives from the French l’espagnole, as the water dog originated in Spain and may have been developed by the Moors. 

Talbot Hound brought to England from France during the Norman conquest and are considered the ancestors of the Southern Hound, the modern Beagle and the Foxhound. It was also a name often used as a given name to a dog. It is extinct today and appears to have had much in common with the bloodhound, and was probably white, being heavier in build than its descendants.

Terrier Very little different to a modern terrier.  Used to control pests like rats, rabbits and foxes; larger ones were used to hunt badgers. 

Blow thy Horn, Hunter

Blow thy horn, hunter, and blow thy horn on high.
There is a doe in yonder wood, in faith she will not die

Now blow thy horn, hunter, now blow thy horn jolly hunter.

Sore this deer stricken is, and yet she bleeds no whit,
She lay so fair, I could not miss. Lord I was glad of it...

As I stood under a bank the deer shoff on the mede
I struck her so that down she sank, but yet she was not dead...

There she goeth, see ye not how she goeth o'er the plain,
And if ye lust to have a shot, I warrant her barrain...

To the covert both they went, for I found where she lay.
An arrow in her haunch she hent for faint she might not bray...

Here I leave and make an end now of this hunter's lore
I think his bow is well unbent, his bolt may flee no more...

The Hawks and Falcons of the Renaissance and Medieval Mews

from Frederick II of Hohenstaufen's book, de arti venandi cum avibus

As we move towards the Christmas feast I thought I’d look at the ways some delicacies made their way to the table.

Hawks, were kept for two purposes – pleasure, and the table.  Indeed hawking became by the end of the Medieval period a craze such as we would understand it in the modern era, the must-be-seen-doing sport.  Much care was lavished on the birds and many noblemen had lavish mews that were better kept than the houses of their tenants, but almost everyone except the poorest owned some kind of bird at the zenith of the craze.

I do not propose to go into a great deal of detail as there are excellent sites available dedicated to this subject, but I plan to draw together a brief outline of the art of falconry with some information about the birds used. 

Here’s one:

http://www.owl-help.org.uk/page3/files/e69402879c11f05e8fdf9017c4184af9-175.html

There are two subdivisions of falconry, that using hawks, trained by ostringers [aka austringers] and the more prestigious falco species trained by falconers.  Falconers were more prestigious and commanded higher wages.  Ostringers also flew eagles and owls as well as the accipitor species.

The ‘Boke of St Albans’ by Dame Juliana Barnes, prioress, was published in 1486 and lays down in detail all that was needed to care for birds including the list of who was permitted to own which bird.  It was an offence to own a bird pertaining to a social estate above one’s own that was punishable by cutting off the hand.  It was also an offence to harm a bird’s nest, eggs or young, tough on a peasant whose young animals might be predated by a wild falcon!

Female falcons tend to be larger and more prestigious.

There are lists of precedence and the hawks permitted, I have chosen to list the hawks and add those permitted to use them which means that there is not a strict order of precedence owing to the more prestigious nature of the female of the species.

Gyrfalcon: owned by a king, who might have male or female of the species. The male is known as a Gerkin, the female as a gyrfalcon.

Peregrine Falcon: owned by a prince.  The male is called a tiercel the female is a falcon.  An Earl may own a tiercel. A peregrine will live to 15½ years in the wild, conceivably longer in captivity.  There is a marked difference in size between males and females, males weighing from 0.44 – 0.75 kg, the females 0.9 to 1.5 kg. Peregrines are particularly good at catching birds.

Rock Falcon: owned by a duke; this is a subspecies of the peregrine.

Buzzard aka Bastarde Hawk:  this was the permitted bird of a baron. Buzzards are not good at manoeuvring. They can reach 1.3 kg.

Saker: permitted for a knight, this is one of the largest falcon species, related to the gyrfalcon and weighing in at 1.25kg.  It lives 5-7 years in the wild and has been recorded at up to 25 years in captivity.  It is not used for river quarry.  It will take small to medium sized rodents eg rabbit. 

Lanner: permitted for the use of a squire [someone who has a coat of arms but has not been knighted sometimes esquire]. The male is called a lanneret. It is a fast flying bird ideal for catching birds and is known to catch bats.  It will take ground dwelling prey and is happy to take river quarry.  Partridge, heron and hare would be its quarry at the fist.

Merlin: a lady would use a female merlin; I have not found an instance of the male bird being assigned.  Merlins live typically 3 years only, though have been known to survive to 13.  By its appearance, flight habits and behaviour it is said to be like a miniature peregrine. It is a bold hunter and capable of taking species bigger than itself, but prefers birds such as larks, pipits, finches, wheatears etc [all medieval delicacies] and will also take waders such as snipe.  It chases rather than stooping.

Goshawk: A hawk of the fist and trained by an ostringer, this was one of the permitted birds of a yeoman. Goshawks are not always hooded.  They are ill-tempered birds but very efficient at providing food for the table, taking partridge, pheasant and hares. Like the peregrine the male is considerably smaller, weighing in at well under a kilogram, the female can be over 2kg. It is almost as large as the buzzard to which it is related. Goshawks live typically 7 years in the wild and may live to a maximum of 18 years, providing also a reasonable working life as well as efficiency.

Hobby: also permitted to the yeoman. It is one of the few birds capable of out flying the swift. It is a pretty bird but its preferred diet is insects though it will take small birds in mid flight.  It was a bird often used to teach young noblemen how to hawk.

Sparrowhawk: the female was permitted to a priest, the male, known as a musket to a holy water clerk. It was also a bird permitted to ladies as an alternative to the Merlin. Typical lifespan in the wild is three years though up to twenty years have been recorded in captivity.  Typically the sparrowhawk would be flown at partridges and pheasants.  It can be an unpredictable bird and also is known to keel over and die for no apparent reason.  The trainer of a sparrowhawk is a specialist called a sparviter. Males hunt more in woodland, females more in fields and open areas.

Kestrel: the bird of knaves, servants and children.  Lives typically 4 years in the wild or up to a maximum of 16 in captivity.  The smallest hawk it catches only small rodents which might however be used to feed other birds in the mews.  I wondered why a peasant might bother with this, fashion or no, but deterring rodents by catching them would have been important for maintaining stores and contributing to the better health of livestock. 

Here’s a site with clickable info sheets with great pictures

http://raptortrust.org.uk/what-is-a-raptor/british-raptors/

Livestock and a few terms and sayings surrounding them

Everything you never wanted to know about sheep.

Sheep are not just sheep.

That is to say, there is a wide range of terminology connected with sheep according to their age and gender [including the gender ‘gelding’] before you even get to technical terms in shearing.

There are some excellent shearing videos on YouTube so I’m not going there.  Here however is a table of  the names given to sheep at various ages.

Age	Male	Female	Gelded
Generic name	Tup/Ram	Ewe	Wether
Until weaned	Lamb	Lamb	Lamb
Up to first shearing	Tup-hogget	Ewe-hogget	Wether-hogget
After first shearing	Shearling	Gimmer	Dinmont
After 2nd shearing	Two-year tup	Ewe	Wether
After 3rd shearing	Tup	Twinter-ewe	Wether

In addition, when a ewe is past breeding age she is said to be a draft-ewe.

The Bellwether of the flock was a steady creature who wore a bell to attract the attentions of the other members of the flock to lead them home; in the Middle Ages and after it was also a jocose but deprecating name given to a man of decided opinions and tendency to try to lead the opinions of others.

Another term with implications attached if used descriptively was free-martin; this referred to an ewe who displayed masculine behaviour and generally lacked functioning ovaries.

The fleece of a hogget at its first shearing could yield 15lb of wool; the average weight of wool from an ewe was 4-5 lb though this varied from species to species and long staple sheep gave more.

Ah yes, staple – this refers to the length of the wool.  Long staple wool was in demand for weaving the warp of a bolt of cloth and the often very fine short staple wool for the weft.  This is a simplification!

Another Medieval term that might be used in a derogatory sense to describe appearance was to say that someone had dag-locks.  The dag-locks were the matted and soiled locks of wool around the sheep’s rear end.  Dag-wool was refuse wool

What have sheep in common with sherry?

Up to the 15^th century the wool of the merino sheep was rather coarse, and not much prized.  It came under the attentions of Spanish monks who produced the forerunner of the breed as we know it today, with long lustrous wool that is of good fineness.

The Spanish monks were very good at selective breeding; as well as the merino they also developed the famous Andalusian horse and the grapes for the wine of Xerez, otherwise known as sherry.

Little boy blue come blow up your horn

The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn

Where is the boy that looks after the sheep

He’s under a haystack fast asleep

MAY be a satire on Thomas Wolsey, little boy blue [blue being heraldically associated with his home town of Ipswich] and referring to him being the son of a grazier [and butcher], and doubtless expected to care for the animals in his youth.   If it was meant as a satire on him, it would be suggesting that he abrogated his responsibilities as Lord Chancellor by ignoring the needs of the people in putting the wishes of the king and his own ambitions first. 

I am not about to go into breeds but an excellent article is the PDF available online by AK Copus ‘Changing Markets and the development of Sheep Breeds in Southern England 1750 – 1900.

Everything you never wanted to know about swine

Age	Male	Female	Gelded
Generic name	Boar	Sow	Hog
Under a year	Pig/pigling/piglet	Pig/pigling/piglet	Pig/pigling/piglet
Young		gilt [before first litter]
3 years old	Hog-steer

Note that pig iron was so called because it ran into ‘pigs’ bars of iron side by side coming off the stream of melt because it was said to represent pigs suckling a  sow.  The term pig was in use for a young hog well into the early years of the 19^th century.

A Tantony Pig is a corruption of ‘St Anthony’s pig’.  A tantony pig is one of the terms of the runt of the litter [the other being cab pig as devotees of 101 Dalmations will know].  St Anthony is patron saint of pigs and runt pigs were given to the monks hospitallers of St Anthony, to be reared as free range pigs. They were free to roam and would follow anyone who looked likely to give them a choice morsel, hence the term ‘to follow someone around like a tantony pig’.  As the swine wore small bells to identify them, a tantony also came to refer to a small ring of bells.

A pig in a poke – in the middle ages sucking pigs were sold in sacks, or pokes.  The unscrupulous would sell a sack in which was a cat or dog not the pig that was expected.  It is a warning against purchasing without checking the goods first.

Tom, Tom the piper’s son, he stole a pig and away did run

The pig was eat, and Tom was beat, and he went roaring down the street

This nursery rhyme is often illustrated with Tom carrying an actual piglet under one arm, but actually referred to a confectionary not as large as a pie and containing apple or dried fruit.

Everything you never wanted to know about cattle AKA kine

Age	Male	Female	Gelded
Generic name	Bull	Cow	Ox
Unweaned	Calf	Calf	Calf
Young [under three years]		Heifer [or before first calving]
mature	bull	cow	Bullock

The word cattle is a corruption of the Saxon catel, which also gives us the word chattel, or property.

Ox [plural oxen] are generally geldings used as draught beasts.

Young cattle may also be referred to as veals if destined to become veal meat, even as meat cattle are sometimes called beeves.

An old term for a bovine is a neat, which survives only in neatsfoot jelly and neatsfoot oil made from the hooves and lower legs of cattle.

The term free-marten is used for cows as well, typically of females born as twins to males, and which are always infertile.

Cattle of course come in two varieties, beef and dairy, and what is food for one is generally less good for the other.  Dairy cattle needing fine grassland led to the rise in prices of dairy produce during and immediately following the Napoleonic war owing to the need to turn over more land to arable farming, initially to have enough bread for domestic consumption and subsequently as a result of the Corn Laws which forbade the importing of cheap foreign grains. 

Everything you never wanted to know about horses

Age	Male	Female	Gelded
Generic name	Stallion	Mare	Gelding
Under a year	Foal	Foal	Foal
One to two years	Yearling	Yearling	Yearling
Two to four years	Colt	Filly	Gelding
Over 4	Stallion	Mare	Gelding

The Heavy Horse for draught work appeared in several different places in Europe around the beginning of the sixteenth century, the first recorded Suffolk Punch being in 1511.  It has been postulated that as knights in armour became obsolete the destrier was bred into the general stock which increased the strength and size of working horses.  The main reason for the change from oxen to horses as draught beasts was more to do with improved agricultural practices than with anything else, because horses could be sustained on improved fodder since a horse costs more to keep than an ox [an ox costs about 70% the cost of a horse to feed].  Horses tend to live longer than oxen, but the main advantage is their versatility and ability to perform more than one basic task; they also do not churn up the land as much with their feet. Oxen tended to be used in the north of England where fodder was less rich and where too the heavy lands needed their superior stamina.  Horses were used in the south west as early as the fourteenth century.  The advent of the heavy horse brought a superior stamina to the farm.

[for greater detail on the economics of horses versus cattle in depth see John Langdon ‘The economics of horses and oxen in medieval England’ available online as a PDF]

May I just add, as a matter of general livestock interest,  a link to Mike Rendell's blog 'The Musings of Richard Hall'  where the activities of Mr Robert Bakewell of Dishley are chronicled and his ground-breaking selective breeding.
http://georgiangentleman.posterous.com/73297943
There's a link there to the New Dishley Society and I've put it on my list of favourite places too