Tag Archives: Medieval hunting

Medieval (Forest) Law & Order (Medieval Mondays #6e)

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No examination of medieval hunting would be complete without a more thorough discussion of forest law.

1225 reissue of England’s 1217 Charter of the Forest

To say nothing for the corresponding legend – one that lives on to this day – that grew up surrounding it.

As mentioned in my first post about medieval hunting, forest law stipulated such matters as who was permitted to hunt what and when, what the punishment for poachers would be, and even how many talons were permitted on dogs that lived in households and villages within a royal forest.

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All the Bells and Jesses: Falconry in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #6d)

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In the medieval times, hunting with dogs was the most typical form of the sport.

It wasn’t, however, the only way to bring down prey – or even the most popular one, particularly among the noble class.

Neither were deer and boar – which were restricted to all but the king and his favourites – foxes, hares, squirrels, and other beasts of the warren the only quarry that was hunted during the Middle Ages.

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A-Hunting We Will Go in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #6c)

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King John hunting deer

King John hunting deer

Hunting, in the medieval times, was a way of life.

This is the case in more ways than one.  On the one hand, hunting was an essential task for generating food for a noble household.  According to Joseph and Frances Gies, authors of Life in a Medieval Castle,

The deer and other quarry supplied a substantial share of the meat for the castle table, and the forest supplemented game with nuts, berries, mushrooms, and other edibles.  It also furnished the principal construction material and fuel for all classes. (p. 134)

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