Medieval Hunting by Richard Almond

Author:Richard Almond
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Medieval Hunting
ISBN: 9780752474625
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

FIVE

Crossing the Barriers

The three previous chapters have been concerned largely with comparisons, stressing the differences between upper- and lower-class hunting, emphasising in particular quarry type, methods and techniques. These differences highlight the barriers of class division, a continually reiterated subject which is dear to the hearts of many historians. However, it is apparent, perhaps surprising, that the uniting factor between all classes was a love of hunting. This common ground provided the base for organised hunting on a large scale and was vital to the successful running of a royal or noble hunt establishment.

This organisation resembled a pyramid in its hierarchical structure and it recruited men and youths from a wide social background. The sons of yeomen, and lesser men, shared a common culture with aristocrats and gentlemen when they joined such an establishment. It was a way for the non-gentleman, and his son, to rise up the social scale. Distinctions of class increasingly became blurred and there was confusion over the meaning and validity of gentility.1 By Tudor times, their dress, weaponry (which included swords), speech and manners gave them the appearance of gentlemen.2 Some of this could be said to be a necessary part of their training as hunt servants within the noble household, but some was also the result of concern with their own image in the hunting field, a direct reflection of their master’s wealth and prestige. Of course, their masters were also responsible as they held the purse strings which financed such finery. However, some commentators were critical of yeomen imitating their social betters, exemplified by the comment in Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden of a ‘yeman arraieth hym as a squyer’.3 Certainly, in pictorial sources of Renaissance hunting, such as Les Chasses de Maximilien, it is often difficult to differentiate between gentle and professional hunters. This is not the case in earlier illustrations, such as those of Roy Modus and Livre de chasse, in which the hunt staff are much easier to identify. Compared to the gentle hunters, the servants are purposely painted smaller, even those in the foreground; more simply dressed and often in green; carry hunting knives and horns slung on baldrics but not swords; and as most are on foot, lack spurs. Not only are the gentle hunters larger, they are also depicted as more elegant and stylish than the staff on whom the artist has skilfully bestowed a humble demeanour. There are few hunt servants portrayed in the Calendar cycle of MS Egerton 1146; they are only present in April (Netting Red Deer), July (Despatching the Hart), August (The Ceremony of the Curée) and December (The Boar-hunt on Horseback with Hounds).4 However, their inferior rank is evident from their dress which is not only plain but ragged. The fewterer in April sports grey leggings lacking knees. The weary lymerer in July is shown wearing boots which have split from their soles, revealing his bare feet. The August lymerer wears a ragged blue tunic and he, too, has holey boots. The servants wear hunting knives but lack swords and spurs.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.