You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
The Master of Game: The Oldest English Book on Hunting stands as a seminal anthology in the annals of English literature, offering readers a profound glimpse into the medieval ethos of hunting, nature, and the chivalric code. This collection boasts an exquisite range of literary styles, from the didactic to the vividly descriptive, showcasing the era's intricate relationship between man and the natural world. Its pieces, rooted in the extensive traditions of European hunting literature, reveal the diversity and depth of medieval thought on fauna, conservation, and the moral dimensions of hunting, making significant contributions to our understanding of medieval cultural and environmental his...
The Master of Game is the oldest and most important work on the chase in the English language. Based primarily on Gaston de Foix's Livre de chasse, originally composed in 1387, The Master of Game was written by Edward of Norwich at his leisure between 1406 and 1413, mostly while being held prisoner for having treasonous designs against his cousin, Henry IV. While much of the book is almost an exact translation of de Foix, Edward added five chapters of his own to form the major source for our knowledge of the medieval hunt. The book begins with a description of the nature of popular quarry, such as the hare, deer, and badger, including their behavior, characteristics, and even smells, and the...
The gentlemen of medieval and Renaissance Europe had three all-consuming passions: warfare, courtly love, and hunting with a hawk or hound -- and the philosophy behind the last of the trio really encompasses them all. Hunting, the sport of kings, served as training for battle, a rite of manhood, and a powerful ritualistic pastime. In vivid and engrossing detail, here are all the appropriate methods for hunting deer, boar, wolves, foxes, bears, otters, birds, hares . . . even unicorns! A dazzling diversity of sources (poems, ballads, letters, court directives, royal accounts, gamekeepers' handbooks, psalters) illustrate how hunting and hawking appear throughout medieval art and literature as metaphors and motifs for everything from romance to combat.
First published in the early 15th century and reprinted with a foreword by American President and hunting fan Theodore Roosevelt. Considered the very first book in English on hunting. Full of information on how to hunt hare, hart, buck, roe, boar and wolf, fox, badger and otter. Not just a historical guide to hunting there are still good honest tips to maintaining and caring for your dogs. Including a specially commissioned introduction to deer stalking and hunting.
William II, better known as William Rufus, was the third son of William the Conqueror and England’s king for only 13 years (1087–1100) before he was mysteriously assassinated. In this vivid biography, here updated and reissued with a new preface, Frank Barlow reveals an unconventional, flamboyant William Rufus—a far more attractive and interesting monarch than previously believed. Weaving an intimate account of the life of the king into the wider history of Anglo-Norman government, Barlow shows how William confirmed royal power in England, restored the ducal rights in France, and consolidated the Norman conquest. A boisterous man, William had many friends and none of the cold cruelty of most medieval monarchs. He was famous for his generosity and courage and generally known to be homosexual. Licentious, eccentric, and outrageous, his court was attacked at the time by Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, and later by censorious historians. This highly readable account of William Rufus and his brief but important reign is an essential volume for readers with an interest in Anglo-Saxon and medieval history or in the lives of extraordinary monarchs.
Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the sport of hunting was transformed: the principal prey changed from deer to fox, and the methods of pursuit were revolutionized. Questioning the traditional explanation of the hunting transition—namely that change in the landscape led to a decline of the deer population—this book explores the terrain of Northamptonshire during that time period and seeks alternative justifications. Arguing that the many changes that hunting underwent in England were directly related to the transformation of the hunting horse, this in-depth account demonstrates how the near-thoroughbred horse became the mount of choice for those who hunted in the shires. This book shows how, quite literally, the thrill of the chase drove the hunting transition.
None
This book explores views of the natural world in the late Middle Ages, especially as expressed in Livre de chasse (Book of the Hunt), the most influential hunting book of the era. It shows that killing and maiming, suffering and the death of animals were not insignificant topics to late medieval men, but constituted a complex set of issues, and could provoke very contradictory thoughts and feelings that varied according social and cultural milieus and particular cases and circumstances.