Our Hunting Laws Rooted in Medieval England
by Lloyd C. Irland
Medieval kings and feudal landholders tightly controlled rights to hunt on their land. Rules were detailed, making Maine’s book of hunting and fishing regulations look pretty skimpy by comparison. King John, mentioned last month, was not one to allow business to interfere with hunting.
On his unsuccessful 1203 military expedition to Normandy, he brought along 60 hunting dogs and their keepers. German Emperor Frederick II, a very busy man, found time to write a treatise on falconry. We may think the control of weapons by the nobility was to protect against rebellions; it may have had a much more prosaic origin – to protect their monopoly of the hunt.
In England, Forest Law, applicable in the Royal forests, defined three categories of game: beasts of the forest or venery, beasts of the chase, and beasts of warren. In addition, unwanted predators were counted as “vermin of the warren.” The “beasts of the forest” were the hart (a red deer stag), hind, hare, boar, and wolf. These were collectively termed “venison.” In the Royal forests, the nobles could hunt, but only “in view” of a forest officer and only when traveling through the forest on royal business. Grazing pigs or cattle during the rutting or calving seasons was forbidden. Protecting livestock against wolves was often an obligation of feudal lords. By the late 17th century, it was moot: Wolves had been extirpated in England. Hunting the boar was dangerous – the hunter was expected, once it was cornered by the dogs, to dismount and dispatch the boar with a knife. Illustrations have come down to us in bestiaries.wise.
The “chase” was a designated area with specific hunting rights. Various lords had them; the hunting rights were transferable. The chase had no special laws, only the common law. Abbots and bishops prized their hunting rights as much as did the secular lords. “Beasts of the chase” were red deer and roe deer, fox, and marten. A “warren” was an area designated for small game, usually provided with a barrier – often a dense coppice – and actively managed. “Beasts of warren” included the roe deer, hare, coney (rabbit), pheasant, and partridge. Warrens might be developed, with permission, in the King’s forests, or on the lands of the nobles, or of free villages or communes. The king’s officers rigorously policed development of anything like a warren that would impede the movement of game or the huntsmen.
At the triennial Forest Eyres, the courts enforcing the Forest Laws, Sir John Manwood’s treatise identifies some 80 separate offenses that might be tried there. Many dealt with hunting, protecting habitats, or hindering movement of the game. The accused were judged by juries of 12 sworn knights. The knights also served as “regarders” making detailed periodic audits of all activity and revenue on the Royal forests (the original FSC certifiers?) The heavy burden of these duties must have cut into their time for hunting, feasting, and jousting. Magna Carta and later charters promised to lighten these burdens.
If a deer were found wounded or recently dead, it was to be brought to the nearest hospital provided to the poor, the head and skin delivered to the nearest village, and an investigation was conducted. Being caught in the woods as if equipped for the hunt, or with dogs, was an offense unless cleared with a forest officer first. Hunting seasons were tied to the church calendar, and included, for hart and buck, the Feast of John the Baptist, June 24, or Midsummer; for fox, Holy Rood Day, Sept. 14; and for boar, Christmas to Candlemas. Some nobles were obsessive trophy collectors. Castles and manor houses still have walls covered with boars’ heads and antlers, often labeled with the prominent person who killed it and the date.
Some hunting customs and usages persist. In Germany, ownership of firearms and the right to a hunting license are rigorously controlled. A forester with a master’s degree told me that he would have to do a good deal of studying to pass the exam for a license. Bavarian state foresters are trained as hunters. They often hunt as part of their duties to manage overpopulations of deer. Hunting while on duty – how cool is that? They clean and butcher their own kills; next to the local forest office stands a small building where the carcasses hang to cool. In some areas, the hunter keeps the head or the antlers, and the landowner sells the carcass. In Regensburg, you can dine on wild boar from the Prince’s nearby forest – where the silviculture revolves around maintaining a large boar population.
Some customs have changed. Today, the prince’s buddies shoot as the boar are driven past a stand. No more knife fights. Americans of European stock haven’t brought with them the custom of wild game as a commercial product. Vast areas are overrun with deer, which are damaging the forest, in Maine and elsewhere, but you can’t get a venisonburger at the local diner. A medieval knight on a time travel visit would have a hard time understanding this.