Medieval Hunting (19 page)

Surviving late medieval documents, such as the Hunting Ordinances of King Alfonso V of Portugal, provide us with information on the ranks of hunt officials, their duties, privileges and rights.
¹⁵
The Master of Game
is also a valuable English source regarding the ranks and salaries of hunt officials, although John Cummins comments that some of the gradations given in
Livre de chasse
are omitted.
¹⁶
It seems likely that salary was directly linked to both job-title and its attendant status. The hunt officials most often mentioned in documents before the end of the fifteenth century are as follows (all salaries are
per diem
):

Employment as a professional huntsman or falconer could be not only prestigious but also include valuable financial perquisites. The many falconers of the Visconti ruling family of Milan received tax exemptions and the 108 huntsmen of King Alfonso of Aragon in 1445 were all exempted from municipal taxation and jurisdiction. Alfonso also sent his senior Spanish huntsmen abroad on diplomatic missions, indicating his trust in their judgement and skills in statecraft. In 1443, Leonello d'Este, the elder brother of Borso, commissioned a votive portrait of a favourite falconer from the sculptor Nicolo Baroncelli.
¹⁸
There could hardly be a higher tribute to a professional servant. The falconers employed at the Scottish court were fortunate enough to be clothed by the king, and the 1491 treasurer's accounts clearly show a hierarchical structure in place, the higher placed professional receiving not only more cloth than his subordinates, but also cloth of varied kinds and some red-coloured.
¹⁹

The Duke of York, as Master of Game to Henry IV, was an aristocrat by birth, but it was possible in the higher grades of royal huntsman to achieve nobility. John Cummins remarks ‘it appears that a huntsman not born into the nobility could aspire to become a squire and presumably, therefore a knight'. He then provides two examples of this type of ennoblement. Late fourteenth-century French hunting accounts name Messire Philippe de Courguilleroy, a
Maistre Veneur
, and describe him as a
chevalier
, or knight; one of the other
veneurs
named is Jehan de Courguilleroy, and he is described as an
escuier
, or squire. This same family appears many times in the hunting accounts and is a good example of the achievement of nobility through promotion within the hierarchy of the hunting establishment. The Franconvilles, another French family in which the profession of huntsman was a strong tradition, became squires.
²⁰
Borso d'Este, who succeeded to the marquisate of Ferrara in 1450, was so passionately keen on hunting that he ennobled his falconer and the keeper of his hounds.
²¹

In England, William Twiti, a man of uncertain but not noble origin, became (Chief) Huntsman to Edward II, presumably through promotion within the royal hunting establishment. The 1326 Exchequer accounts name William de Twyty, the King's Huntsman, as being in receipt of a wage of 9
d
per day. This salary of a commoner compares very favourably to the accounts of 1401 which give the 2nd Duke of York 12
d
per day as Master of the King's Harthounds. Old royal huntsmen were often provided for by grateful monarchs. Edward II's respect for Twiti resulted in his honourable retirement around 1327 to residence at Reading Abbey as a pensioner of the king.
²²
The Abbot of Reading gave a later royal huntsman, Alan de Leek, the same honourable retirement as Twiti.
²³
The Hunting Ordinances of Alfonso V of Portugal lay down that if a retired royal huntsman attained the age of seventy, he was to be lodged by the Master Huntsman and receive the same protection and privileges as an employed huntsman.
²⁴

It was not only the officials of the upper echelons of the hunt who benefited from involvement in the hunt organisation. There were also particular occasions when the lesser employees enjoyed their privileges. Of course, there was a public formal relationship between professionals and the nobility, and this is apparent in the
assemblée
and
curée
ceremonies, sumptuously illustrated in
Livre de chasse
and other illuminated manuscripts. There is a distinct separation of figures based upon rank. Often this division is clear as the professionals are apparelled in green livery. Sometimes, particularly in the field, these differences are not clear. For example, a yeoman at horse appears very similar to a gentleman-hunter on horseback. However, at the same time, it is clear that the formalised events, important elements of the ritualistic procedures of a hunting day, must have dictated the public relationship between noble and professional hunter. These formal events were thus exclusive in that they catered for a restricted social membership, the nobility. However, in private, when hunters were not in the public gaze and could be more relaxed with each other, it was undoubtedly different and was inclusive. Social mixing and camaraderie occurred particularly at the special suppers given for all the huntsmen celebrating the successful taking of the first and last harts of the season.
²⁵
The Master of Game
relates, in the Duke of York's own words (so not included in its precursor
Livre de chasse
, from which much had been plagiarised):

And if it be þe frist hert slayn wip/ strength in þe seson or þe last þ shergeaunts/ or þe 3emen shul goo on þeire offices bihalfe/ and axe þeire fees, þe which I reporte mo to/ þe old statutis and custumes of þe kyngges/ hous, and þis do þe maister of þe game ou3t to/ spekis to þe officers þat alle þe hunters/ soper be well ordeyned and þat þei drynk non/ ale, for no þing but alle wyne þat nyght for þe/ good and grete labour þat pei haue had for þe/ lordes game and disport and for þe exploit and/ makyng of þe houndes, and also þat þei be more/ merily and gladly telle what ech of hem haþ don/ of alle þe day and which houndes haue best ronne and boldiest.
²⁶

It is clear that these suppers were important events in the hunting calendar, great occasions for drinking deeply of wine and not common ale, and recalling with gusto the day's events and which hounds performed best. There would be toasts to the slain harts and pledges by both gentle and professional hunters to each other, to times past and to future hunting. Such suppers were integral not only in breaking down class barriers but also to bonding together hunters who came from a wide range of social backgrounds. Such feasts can thus be termed inclusive events as they included all men who hunted in the hunt establishment. These twice-yearly occasions of good fellowship may be seen as the equivalent of the annual fraternity feasts,
²⁷
partaken of by a group of men united not by trade or occupation but by hunting, the ‘fraternity of the hunt', similar to the ‘fraternity of the forest' to which the outlaw band of Robin Hood has been recently likened by Professor A.J. Pollard.
²⁸
Tudor and Jacobean ‘hunting fraternities' are discussed by Roger Manning, but these groups of men were poaching bands or gangs, not legitimate fraternities within the hunt or Forest establishments. Manning's fraternities were local vigilante groups who took it upon themselves to dispense popular justice to unpopular landlords including ‘those who failed to display neighbourliness and hospitality, to landlords who encroached upon common wastes and woods or who neglected to prevent their deer and rabbits from damaging the crops of tenants and neighbours'.
²⁹
Manning suggests that the social gulf between gentry of all ranks and yeomanry was narrowed owing to mixed participation in these ‘hunting fraternities'.
³⁰
This would seem inevitable, just as the inclusive suppers of the hunt establishments promoted social mixing and equality.

It is significant that although ladies hunted on days organised by royal and noble hunting establishments, and were specifically catered for at these events, there is no mention of women hunters at the twice-seasonal socially democratic suppers. This is also a common feature of most medieval town guild feasts. ‘Inclusive' did not apparently embrace the fair sex at fraternal hunting ‘jollies', a profoundly puzzling view to modern fox-hunters whose social life for both sexes is centred around the local hunt calendar.

It must have been realised that enthusiastic cooperation and complete understanding between gentle and professional hunters in the hunting field were essential to success, and social events such as drinking and feasting were natural ways of encouraging them. Of course, the manuals of instruction present a perfect world and, in practice, it is likely that rank and position were rarely forgotten, merely set aside as necessity dictated. However, in a society where to be alone was probably an infrequent occurrence, men were inevitably closer to each other physically and spiritually than they are today. Differences in rank and station may or may not have been accepted with grace but they were part of what appeared to be an unchanging world which had endured since time out of mind. Camaraderie, respect and even friendship between persons of disparate status were possible in such an enclosed world, particularly one where there was the strong unifying factor of hunting.

It is interesting that extravagant feasts also took place after falconry expeditions, as well as after hunting days.
Picnic at the Court of Burgundy
, a copy of a lost Flemish original by the School of Jan van Eyck, captures such an event outside the Château of Versailles. This feast took place on the eve of Philip the Good's marriage to Duchess Isabella of Portugal in 1430.
³¹
However, unlike the inclusive suppers which relaxed social mores and brought together gentle and professional hunters for good fellowship, this is evidently an exclusive celebration feast for royal and noble guests. There appears no equivalent social event or supper for gentle and professional falconers, so was the democratic ‘good fellowship' of the hunting fraternity absent in hawking? It appears so; another factor supporting the widely held belief that this sport was more socially exclusive than hunting.

However, as well as the élitist nature of hawking, there is another factor to consider here. A large hunt establishment required considerable numbers of employees to function properly, ranging from kennel varlets to master huntsmen. The large number of hunt servants necessary is not only indicated in the surviving records, such as the Royal Hunt Wages Account of Henry IV of 1470; servants also outnumber the gentle hunters in many illustrations of royal and noble hunting. In contrast, with the exception of some royal mews on the continent such as those of Emperor Frederick II and some Iberian monarchs, many aristocrats ‘made do' with a single-handed falconer,
³²
a professional with the skills to care for the needs of a few hunting birds and run a small mews establishment. Pictures of hawking rarely show more than two assistants accompanying nobles, often only one, such as the lone falconer on foot accompanying the mounted lords and ladies in the August miniature of the
Très Riches Heures
.
³³
However, such illustrations may not reflect reality; with such a high-status pastime why should numbers of servants detract from the splendidly attired nobles and their ladies? The grooms and kennel men were not specialist mews employees, unlike the falconers or austringers, so cannot be included among those specifically employed in the mews. Thus there was not the social mix of people from different backgrounds in hawking, and it therefore follows that there could not be the same jolly good fellowship and inclusive feasting that were associated with hunting establishments.

The hierarchical structure of a large hunt establishment enabled those with ambition and ability to progress up through the various stages of page, varlet, assistant huntsman and huntsman, perhaps eventually reaching the ultimate post of
Maistre Venuer et Maistre des Eaues et des Forests
.
³⁴
This particular late medieval job description set down the areas of responsibility of a
Maistre Venuer
and clearly indicates the close ties between hunt and Forest establishments. Were Masters of Game,
de facto
, accountable for the successful administration of both organisations? This appears a likely arrangement, at least in some Forests, solving the issues of liaison and administration by a single appointment. The repetition of skills and knowledge required makes such appointments seem inevitable to modern business total quality management. The fortunate few who reached the highest ranks appear to have had the added possibility of ennoblement for their services, particularly in France. Certainly, these high achievers in their chosen profession attained great status and, in addition, enjoyed the respect of their social superiors.