A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle AgesWright, Thomas
History
A History of Domestic Manners and Sentiments in England During the Middle Ages
Wright, Thomas
England -- Social life and customs -- 1066-1485
The Anglo-Saxons, as we have seen, were no less attached to hawking
than hunting. The same Colloquy already quoted contains the following
dialogue relating to the fowler (_fugelere_). To the question, “How
dost thou catch birds?” he replies, “I catch them in many ways;
sometimes with nets, sometimes with snares, sometimes with bird-lime,
sometimes with whistling, sometimes with a hawk, sometimes with a
trap.” “Hast thou a hawk?” “I have.” “Canst thou tame them?” “Yes, I
can; of what use would they be to me unless I could tame them?” “Give
me a hawk.” “I will give one willingly in exchange for a swift hound.
What kind of hawk will you have, the greater or the lesser?”... “How
feedest thou thy hawks?” “They feed themselves and me in winter, and
in spring I let them fly to the wood, and I catch young ones in autumn
and tame them.” A party of hawkers is represented in our cut No. 45,
taken from the manuscript last quoted, where it illustrates the month
of October. The rude attempt at depicting a landscape is intended to
represent a river running from the distant hills into a lake, and the
hawkers are hunting cranes and other water-fowl. Presents of hawks and
falcons are not unfrequently mentioned in Anglo-Saxon writers; and in a
will, an Anglo-Saxon leaves to his natural lord “two hawks and all his
stag-hounds.”
[Illustration: _No. 45. Anglo-Saxons Hawking._]
[Illustration: _No. 46. Anglo-Saxons on a Journey._]
The Saxon youths were proud of their skill in horsemanship. Bede
relates an anecdote of the youthful days of Herebald, abbot of
Tynemouth, when he attended upon bishop John of Beverley, from
Herebald’s own words--“It happened one day,” the latter said, “that
as we were travelling with him (the bishop), we came into a plain
and open road, well adapted for galloping our horses. The young men
that were with him, and particularly those of the laity, began to
entreat the bishop to give them leave to gallop, and make trial of
the goodness of their horses.... When they had several times galloped
backwards and forwards, the bishop and I looking on, my wanton humour
prevailed, and I could no longer refrain; but, though he forbade me, I
struck in among them, and began to ride at full speed.” Horses were
used chiefly by the upper classes of society in travelling. Two of
a party of Saxon travellers are represented in our cut No. 46 (from
MS. Cotton. Claudius, B. iv.). The lady, it will be observed, rides
sideways, as in modern times, and the illuminated manuscripts of
different periods furnish us with examples enough to show that such was
always the practice; yet an old writer has ascribed the introduction of
side-saddles into this country to Anne of Bohemia, the queen of Richard
II., and the statement has been repeated by writers on costume, who
too often blindly compile from one another without examining carefully
the original sources of information.[16] The next cut, No. 47 (taken
from MS. Harl. No. 603), represents a horseman with his arms, the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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