The Master of Game: The Oldest English Book on HuntingEdward, of Norwich
History
The Master of Game: The Oldest English Book on Hunting
Edward, of Norwich
Hunting -- Early works to 1800
Gradually the word dog superseded the word hound, and the latter was
only retained to designate a "scenting" dog. Dr. Caius, writing to Dr.
Gesner, remarks in his book: "Thus much also understand, that as in
your language _Hunde_ is the common word, so in our naturall tounge
dogge is the universall, but _Hunde_ is perticular and a speciall, for
it signifieth such a dogge onely as serveth to hunt" (Caius, p. 40).
(_See_ Appendix: Raches.) Running hounds was a very literal
translation of the French _chiens courants_, and as the descriptive
chapter given in our text is as literal a rendering from G. de F.
there is no information that helps us to piece together the ancestry
of the modern English hound. We do not know what breed were in the
royal kennels in the reign of Henry IV., but probably some descendants
of those brought to this country by the Normans, about the origin of
which breed nothing seems known.
_Keep of Hounds._ The usual cost of the keep of a hound at the time of
our MS. was a halfpenny a day, of a greyhound three farthings, and of
a limer or bloodhound one penny a day.
However for the royal harthounds an allowance of three farthings a day
was made for each hound (Q. R. Acc. 1407), and we also find
occasionally that only a halfpenny a day was made for the keep of a
greyhound. In Edward I.'s reign a halfpenny a day was the allowance
made for fox- and otter-hounds (14, 15, 31, 32, 34, Edward I. Ward.
Acc.), and sometimes three farthings and sometimes a halfpenny a day
for a greyhound. The Master of Buckhounds was allowed a halfpenny a
day each for his hounds and greyhounds.
In the reign of Richard III. the Master of Harthounds was allowed 3s.
3d. a day "for the mete of forty dogs and twelve greyhounds and
threepence a day for three limers" (Rolls of Parl., vol. v. p. 16).
The "Boke of Curtasye" (fourteenth century, Percy Society, iv. p.
26), gives us information which quite agrees with the payments entered
in the Wardrobe and other accounts of the King's hunting
establishment. And under the head of _De Pistore_ we find the baker is
told to make loaves for the hounds:
"Manchet and chet to make brom bred hard
ffor chaundeler and grehoundes and huntes reward."
Chet, a word not in use since the seventeenth century, meant wheaten
bread of the second quality, made of flour more coarsely sifted than
that used for manchet, which was the finest quality.
Brom bread was oaten bread, and probably was very much the same as a
modern dog biscuit.
One of the ancient feudal rights was that of obtaining bran from the
vassals for the hounds' bread, known as the right of brennage, from
bren, bran.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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