Much time was occupied in hunting and hawking, and the adherents of the House of York were more especially the votaries of the noble art of venery. The first English book of sport had the second Duke of York for its author, and was entitled 'The Master of Game.' The Duke declares that 'hunters live more joyfully than any other men,' and his work shows that he was a keen observer with a wonderfully accurate knowledge of natural history. With such a master and guide in their family the scions of the royal House of York were the leading sportsmen in the country, closely followed by their friends and numerous cousins among the nobility and gentry. The 'Book of St. Albans' by Juliana Berners the Prioress of Sopwell, treating of hawking, hunting, fishing, and the laws of arms, was also a work of that period, and was first printed at St. Albans Abbey, by John Insomuch, the Schoolmaster, in 1481.[3] Juliana divides the wild animals into beasts of venery--the wolf, wild boar, stag, hart and hare; beasts of the chase of the sweet foot--buck and doe and the roe--and of the stinking foot, wild cat, badger, fox, weasel, marten, squirrel, and others. She is particular in explaining the terms to be used in venery, that one must say a covey of partridges but a bevy of quails, and so forth. Closely allied to the arts of war and of venery was the law of arms, of which every gentleman of that day had {110} some knowledge. Charges on shields and standards, on surcoats and liveries were regulated by the heralds, and after the ordinance of Henry V. were granted by the Sovereign. But in the most flourishing days of chivalry, those of Edward III., this was not essential. There was no Heralds' College,[4] and the only really interesting armorial bearings are those used in the days of the Plantagenets. With Tudors and Stuarts heraldry lost its chivalric significance, and coats of arms subsequently granted are unmeaning and vulgar. ====================================================================== {109} [Sidenote: Peerage of Richard III] PEERS _Relations of the Sovereign_ * Duke of Suffolk (_brother-in-law_), K.G. *+Earl of Lincoln (_nephew_), K.B. *+Viscount Lovell (_dearest friend_), Lord Chamberlain, K.G. *+Earl of Northumberland (1_st cousin_), K.G. * Lord Greystoke (1_st cousin_). * Lord Abergavenny, K.B. }(_cousins_). Earl of Westmoreland (_sick_) } _Minors_ Duke of Buckingham } (_cousins_) Earl of Essex } Earl of Salisbury (_son_). * Earl of Warwick (_nephew_). Earl of Pembroke (_nephew_). _Staunch and true_ *+Duke of Norfolk, Ld. Admiral, K.G. *+Earl of Surrey, K.G. * Lord Audley, Ld. Treasurer. *+Lord Zouch, K.B. *+Lord Ferrers. Marching to join the King * Earl of Kent, K.B. * Lord Dacre. * Lord FitzHugh. * Lord Lumley. * Lord Ogle in the Marches, * 2 Lords Scrope. _Other Peers_