Tips from Henry VIII's personal 14C gardening manual

From tasty lettuce to prize pumpkins - top tips from Henry VIII's own gardening manual.

Illustration from Ruralia Commoda.

Henry loved jousting, he dissolved monasteries, and he got married a lot of times; but Henry VIII was also a keen gardener. Here are five top tips for horticultural success from his personal gardening manual:

1 Planting lettuce and radish seeds inside a ball of goat manure will result in the tastiest crop

2 Make sure your grafting knife has a ring or hole in it so you can hang it from your girdle

3 The garden should be surrounded by suitably high walls to keep out unwanted visitors

4 The best garden seat is one formed of turf, that's flowering and most pleasant

5 The trick to growing prize pumpkins and gourds is to use the ashes of human bones as a fertiliser

Henry's manual actually was written during the 14C and given to him by his chaplain. Known as Ruralia Commoda it is presently on display at The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace.

From the BBC here

1600 Florence Villa Gardens - Villa di Pratolino

Villa di Pratolino by Giusto Utens (Flemish artist, 1558-1609) who painted a series of 14 lunette glasses of villas & their gardens near Florence,  for the 3rd grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I, in 1599–1602.  The Villa di Pratolino was a Renaissance patrician villa in Vaglia, Tuscany, Italy. It was mostly demolished in 1820: its remains are now part of Villa Demidoff, 12 km north of Florence, reached from the main road to Bologna. The villa was built by the solitary Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany in part to please his Venetian mistress, the celebrated Bianca Capello. The designer of villa and gardens was his court architect Bernardo Buontalenti, who completed it in a single project that lasted from 1569 to 1581; it was finished enough to provide the setting for Francesco's public wedding to Bianca Cappello in 1579. In its time it was a splendid example of the Mannerist garden. Francesco had assembled most of the property, which was not a hereditary Medici possession, by September 1568, and the construction was begun the following spring. The garden was laid out along a perfectly straight down-slope axis passing through the center of the villa, which stood midway. Down the central descent, the visitor still walks under a cooling arch of fountain jets, without getting wet. Michel de Montaigne, one of the earliest visitors to leave a description of Pratolino, saw it in 1581, and considered it to have been built, he thought when visiting Villa d'Este, "precisely in rivalry with this place". A long description was published by a Florentine, Francesco de' Vieri, in 1586. Giusto Utens included a view of the southern half of the villa complex among his series of lunettes containing bird's-eye views of the Medicean villas, painted in 1599. Though the villa and its fountains were kept in repair, after Francesco's death it was deserted. 

By the Renaissance, artists began to paint secular scenes including landscapes, breaking away from the dominant religious art of medieval painters. Partly out of interest in the natural world & partly out of nostalgia for classical Greece & Rome, paintings became valued as symbolic & allegorical objects & as depictions of earthly success & status. The period in Europe was the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages & modern history. The relationship between man & nature was evolving as Francis Bacon (1561-1626) promoted man as "the minister & interpreter of nature." Images began to depict natural landscapes & more formal garden settings, where man was obviously using his intelligence, wealth, & power to shape & control the nature around him for sustenance & for pleasure. Thus, the Renaissance garden became as much as symbol of the owner's wealth & culture as his house or art collection.

Henry VIII uses Piero de’Crescenzi’s c 1306 Liber ruralium commodorum (On the Rural Arts) to plan his gardens

From The Telegraph UK By Gordon Rayner, 23 Jan 2015

Henry VIII's horticultural manual revealed

The world's oldest gardening manual, part of Henry VIII's library...

Portrait of Henry VIII at the National Maritime Museum

"He was certainly an expert on dead-heading, but Henry VIII’s gardening tips would also have included fertilizing squashes with the ashes of cremated humans and planting lettuce in a ball of goat manure, a new exhibition reveals. The Tudor king’s personal copy of the world’s first gardening manual, believed to be the inspiration for the lost garden of Whitehall Palace, is to go on display at Buckingham Palace. Written more than 700 years ago, the Latin text includes instructions on how to lay out a “royal garden,” including instructions on building walks and bowers “where the king and queen can meet with the barons and lords when it is not the rainy season.”

"The leather-bound volume was part of the king’s library, which acquired it on the death of its previous owner, Richard Rawson, the king’s chaplain and advisor on his divorce from Catherine of Aragon in 1543. Written between 1304 and 1309 by Petrus de Crescentiis, a lawyer from Bologna, the Ruralia Commoda contained advice on how to grow giant leeks, how to produce cherries without pits and growing different colored figs on the same tree.

"It tells gardeners that “cucumbers shake with fear at thunder,” while a squash will bear fruit after precisely nine days if planted in the ashes of human bone and watered with oil. To get the tastiest lettuces, the manual recommends planting lettuce seed together with a radish, nasturtium and colewort inside a ball of goat manure.

The leather-bound manual is illustrated with woodcuts 

"Its instructions for planning a royal garden are equally precise. It should occupy a plot of at least 20 acres, its size and perfection an expression of a king’s status, wealth and mastery over the environment. It should include fragrant herbs because they “not only delight by their odour, but…refresh the sight.” A bench made out of turf and flowering plants, a highly fashionable feature at the time, was a must. The overall effect was that “the king will not only take pleasure, but…after he has performed serious and obligatory business, he can be renewed in it.”

"The book was acquired by Henry at around the time he built the Great Garden at Whitehall Palace, which burned down in 1698. A portrait of Henry, Jane Seymour and their children Edward, Mary and Elizabeth by an unknown artist, which shows the newly-planted garden in the background, is to be displayed next to the book. Vanessa Remington, curator of the exhibition, said: “This is no coffee-table book, but a real, thumbed-through and annotated gardening manual, showing that its various owners referred to it time and time again. Although it is impossible to know, it is tempting to think that Henry VIII may have sat in his library and looked through it for inspiration.”

The Maze at Hampton Court

"Henry laid out the gardens at Hampton Court (pictured) and Whitehall Palace at the time he acquired the book. Neither Tudor garden survives. The hedge maze in this photo is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges. Hedge mazes evolved from the knot gardens of Renaissance Europe. Early garden mazes began to appear in the 16C. These initial mazes were constructed from evergreen herbs, but, over time, box became a more popular option due to its robustness. Italian architects had been sketching conceptual garden labyrinths as early as 1460, and hundreds of mazes were constructed in Europe between the 16C-18C.  Initially, the hedge maze was not intended to confuse, but to provide a unicursal walking path. Puzzle-like hedge mazes featuring dead ends and tall hedges arrived in England during the reign of King William III of England. It was possible to get lost in the much-admired labyrinth of Versailles, built for Louis XIV of France in 1677 and destroyed in 1778. This maze was adorned with 39 hydraulic sculpture groups depicting Aesop's fables. The oldest surviving puzzle hedge maze, at Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, England, was built for King William in the late 17C. Its distinctive trapezoidal shape is due to pre-existing garden paths running alongside the maze. 

"The 11in x 16in volume is illustrated with woodcut prints, including a drawing of the supposedly deadly mandrake root, resembling a naked man with leaves growing from his head. Ms Remington said: “What is really appealing about it is that on the one hand it is full of sensible advice about how to prevent soil drying out, about grafting and pruning, that we still do today, and on the other it contains quirky tips that are very much of that era. It shines a new light on Henry, a different aspect of his king-making, one that we haven’t really got any other evidence of.”

"The manual, which has never been translated into English, stayed in the royal library until 1757, when it was transferred to the British Library, and later went through several private owners before being re-acquired for the Royal Collection by Queen Victoria."

Pietro de' Crescenzi (c 1233-1320) Gardens - Illuminated Manuscripts

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 6 On herb gardens (folio 157)   These workers are maintaining raised beds. De Crescenzi noted that these hot beds were constructed by putting fresh dung in a pit & either putting soil over it & planting in the soil, covering over the plants with a shelter in inclement weather.

Piero de’Crescenzi’s 12 book treatise, the "Liber Ruralium Commodorum" (On the Rural Arts) is the most important work on agriculture & gardens written during the middle ages. Piero de Crescenzi wrote "Liber Ruralium Commodorum" in 1305.
Book 1 - the best location & arrangement of a manor, villa, or farm
Book 2 - the botanical background needed to raise different crops
Book 3 - building a granary & cultivation of cereal, forage & food 
Book 4 - on vines & wine-making
Books 5 & 6 - arborculture &horticulture, including 185 plants useful for medicine & nourishment
Book 7 - meadows and woods
Book 8 - on gardens
Book 9 - animal husbandry & bee-keeping
Book 10 - hawking & hunting
Book 11 - a general summary of the book
Book 12 - a calendar of duties and tasks, month by month. 

Italian attorney & land-owner Crescenzi relied heavily on Roman agricultural principles, although he supplemented these traditions with contemporary medieval ideas natural sciences & medicine. Crescenzi took much of his information from Roman authors, such as Cato, Columella, Varo, & Palladius. Crescenzi’s treatise surveys building, managing, & maintaining an agricultural estate & even devotes an entire book of his treatise to pleasure gardens, before the development of villa gardens in the Renaissance. By the late 15C, his work was widely available in manuscript & print editions & was owned by many in the lavish villas around Rome, Florence, & Venice. 

Manuscript copies of Ruralia Commoda were popular (over 100 copies are known), making it an excellent candidate for the new technology of printing. The editio princeps appeared in 1471- in Latin, un-illustrated, it was printed by Johann Schüssler of Augsburg. Another 36 incunable editions exist, most printed in Germany. The treatise remained one of the most popular works of its kind until the 17C, when the Aristotelian precepts on which it was based were nearly smothered by the empirical methods of more recent developments in science.

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French.  Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 5 On trees (folio 112v)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 5 On trees (folio 112v) b   Crescenzi advised: "Trees are to be planted in their rows, pears, apples,  & palms, & in warm places, lemons. Again mulberries, cherries, plums, & such noble trees as figs, nuts, almonds, quinces, & such-like, each according to their kinds, but spaced twenty feet apart more or less."

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 7 On meadows and groves (folio 201v) For decorative features using trees, Crescenzi suggests willow & popular trees, densely planted with other plants & vines, "cut out into the shape of towers & crenellations." 

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 8 On pleasure gardens (folio 205v)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 10 On hunting (folio 265r)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. Illuminator - Master of Fitzwilliam MS. 268 - 1470-1485 - French. Le livre des prouffis champestres et ruraux, Book 11 On regulating a rural operation.  Piero de' Crescenzi gave advice on breeding pheasants, which he believed were more noble & more beautiful than any other bird in the garden or farm.  He also wrote that garden parks often were stocked with wild beasts. 

He advised, "Of the gardens of royal personages & powerful & wealthy lords. And inasmuch as wealthy persons can by their riches & power obtain such things as please them & need only science & art to create all they desire. For them, therefore, let a great meadow be chosen, arranged, & ordered, as here shall be directed. Let it be a place where the pleasant winds blow &  where there are fountains of waters; it should be twenty 'Journaux' or more in size according to the will of the Lord & it should be enclosed with lofty walls. Let there be in some part a wood of divers trees where the wild beasts may find a refuge. In another part let there be a costly pavilion where the king & his queen or the lord & lady may dwell, when they wish to escape from wearisome occupations & where they may solace themselves."

"Let there be shade & let the windows of the pavilion look out upon the garden but not exposed to the burning rays of the sun. Let fish-pools be made & divers fishes placed therein. Let there also be hares, rabbits, deer & such-like wild animals that are not beasts of prey. And in the trees near the pavilion  let great cages be made & therein place partridges, nightingales, blackbirds, linnets, & all manner of singing birds. Let all be arranged so that the beasts & the birds may easily be seen from the pavilion. Let there also be made a pavilion with rooms & towers wholly made of trees...”

14C Italian manuscript Treatise on Rural Economy by Pietro de' Crescenzi (c 1233-1320)

14C Italian manuscript Treatise on Rural Economy by Pietro de' Crescenzi (c 1233-1320)

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09  Title page of a vernacular translation of the De agricultura of Piero Crescentio, printed by Capcasa in Venice in 1495

15C In the Gamepark - Hunting for Romance or Game?

14C-15C Manuscripts  The Hague, MMW, 10 F 33

1600 Florence Villa Gardens - Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens & Fort Belvedere

Palazzo Pitti, the Boboli Gardens & amp; Fort Belvedere by Giusto Utens (Flemish artist, 1558-1609) who painted a series of 14 lunette glasses of villas & their gardens near Florence,  for the 3rd grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I, in 1599–1602. Annexed to the Palazzo Pitti Museum complex, the Boboli Garden is one of the most famous formal 16C Italian gardens & a veritable open air museum, with a unique architectural plan & dozens of statues hiding amidst the multicoloured plants. The garden has a triangular plan, with two, steeply sloping orthogonal axes, which terminate in the Bacino di Nettuno (fountain of Neptune). The creation of artificial grottoes was an introduction of Mannerist style to Italian, & then to French, gardens of the mid 16C. Two famous grottoes in the Boboli Gardens of Palazzo Pitti were begun by Vasari & completed by Ammanati & Buontalenti between 1583 & 1593. The lemonscent is always in the air, as the Boboli gardens has a great collection of old lemon plants in terracotta pots. In the winter the lemon plants are brought to the 'limonaia' where they are protected against the winter cold. The Boboli gardens lie directly behind the Pitti Palace & were created for the Medici when they moved in during 1550. They really are spectacular because of the mixture of art & gardens sitting together, side by side, in harmony. The gardens laid out behind Santa Felicita in Oltrarno by the Borgolo family, the name from which Boboli is thought to derive, were bought in 1418 by Luca Pitti. In the mid-15C Pitti commissioned the construction of a grand palace, which is believed to have been designed by Luca Fancelli,with the help of his master Filippo Brunelleschi. In 1549 the property was bought by Cosimo I’s wife Eleonora da Toledo, & became the Medici family’s city residence. Niccolò Tribolo was engaged to design the gardens, & it is probably he who excavated the hill to create the Amphitheatre, a highly successful creation in both perspective & functional terms. It created the garden’s first perspective vista (running north- west /south-east), a prospect that began at the main entrance to the palace & continued across to the hill & all the way to Forte Belvedere. When Tribolo died, work continued under the direction of Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511-1592) & subsequently Bernardo Buontalenti (1555-1635). In the 17C Giulio Parigi (1568-1635) & his son Alfonso devised the second perspective vista,which was to run at right angles to the first, in the direction of Porta Romana.The triangular garden has two orthogonal axes which meet roughly at the Fountain-Basin of Neptune; the steeply sloping avenues run across the central walk & are organised as a series of terraces with smaller avenues, footpaths, sculptures or landscaping elements leading to specific garden features: glades, enclosed gardens or buildings.The visit begins at the fountain featuring the statue of a dwarf riding a tortoise, sculpted in 1560 by Valerio Cigoli (1529-1599). Opposite the entrance is the Buontalenti Grotto,a series of three communicating chambers: the first, with stucco-work decorations, is characterized by pastoral scenes executed by Bernardino Poccetti (1542-1612); the second contains a marble statue group depicting the abduction of Helen by Paris, sculpted by Vincenzo Rossi da Fiesole (1525-1587); the third, frescoed by Poccianti, has a fine fountain by Giambologna (1529-1608) depicting Venus emerging from the water after bathing. Beyond the statues of the Dacian Prisoners, the route through the gardens continues and, next to the rising avenue, passes the Jupiter Garden with a seated statue of Jupiter & the adjoining Madama Garden. The avenue leads up to the grand Amphitheatre & the Artichoke Fountain, whose large octagonal basin is decorated with numerous statues & crowned by a bronze artichoke by Francesco Susini. The great horseshoe-shaped sweep of the amphitheatre was possibly originally conceived as a piece of landscaping, & in 1599, was embellished with steps (still in existence) topped by aedicules with niches containing bronze statues & terra-cotta urns.

By the Renaissance, artists began to paint secular scenes including landscapes, breaking away from the dominant religious art of medieval painters. Partly out of interest in the natural world & partly out of nostalgia for classical Greece & Rome, paintings became valued as symbolic & allegorical objects & as depictions of earthly success & status. The period in Europe was the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages & modern history. The relationship between man & nature was evolving as Francis Bacon (1561-1626) promoted man as "the minister & interpreter of nature." Images began to depict natural landscapes & more formal garden settings, where man was obviously using his intelligence, wealth, & power to shape & control the nature around him for sustenance & for pleasure. Thus, the Renaissance garden became as much as symbol of the owner's wealth & culture as his house or art collection.

Picnics & the Hunt in the 18C Gamepark

Food historians tell us picnics evolved from the elaborate traditions of outdoor feasts enjoyed by the wealthy. Medieval hunting feasts & Renaissance-era country banquets probably were the earliest picnics.

1737 Carle or Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765) After the Hunt

"Picnic. Originally, A fashionable social entertainment in which each person present contributed a share of the provisions." The OED traces the oldest print evidence of the word picnic in the English language to 1748. The word was known in France, Germany, and Sweden prior to becoming an English institution. 
---Oxford English Dictionary [Clarendon Press:Oxford], 2nd edition, Volume XI (p. 779)

1738 Carle or Charles-André van Loo (1705-1765) The Picnic after the Hunt

"The earliest picnics in England were medieval hunting feasts. Hunting conventions were established in the 14C, and the feast before the chase assumed a special importance. Gaston de Foiz, in a work entitled Le Livre de chasse (1387), gives a detailed description of such an event in France. As social habits in 14C England were similar to those in medieval France, it is safe to assume that picnics were more or less the same."  
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 602)

 1737 Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743)  The Hunting Party Meal

"The French might have invented the word "picnic," pique nique being found earlier than "pic nic." It originally referred to a dinner, usually eaten indoors, to which everyone present had contributed some food, and possible also a fee to attend. The ancient Greek "eranos," the French "moungetade" described earlier, or modern "pot luck" suppers are versions of this type of mealtime organization. ...Picnics derive, also, from the decorous yet comparatively informal 16C "banquets"...which frequently took place out of doors."
---The Rituals of Dinner: The Origins, Evolutions, Eccentricities and Meaning of Table Manners, Margaret Visser [Penguin:New York] 1991 (p. 150-1)

1740 Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743) Picnic after the hunt

"Picnic. An informal meal in which everyone pays his share or brings his own dish,' according to the Littre dictionary. That was probably the original meaning of the word, which is probably of French origin (the French piquer means to pick at food; nique means something small of no value.) The word was accepted by the Academie francaise in 1740 and thereafter became a universally accepted word in many languages. From the informal picnic, the outdoor feast developed...Weekend shooting parties and sporting events were occasions for grand picnics, with extensive menus and elaborate presentation."
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely updated and revised edition [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001 (p. 883)

1600 Florence Villa Gardens - Villa Medici di Colle Salvetti

Villa Medici di Colle Salvetti by Giusto Utens (Flemish artist, 1558-1609) who painted a series of 14 lunette glasses of villas & their gardens near Florence,  for the 3rd grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinando I, in 1599–1602.  This villa was owned by the Medici family 1464-1738. This villa in at the center of a wide agricultural estate filled with farms & amp; fields & amp; woods. It was enlarged in 1571. A wide, fenced garden adjoins the villa. The garden Seems to be divided into flower beds, herb & amp; vegetable plants, & amp; orchards.  By the Renaissance, artists began to paint secular scenes including landscapes, breaking away from the dominant religious art of medieval painters. Partly out of interest in the natural world & partly out of nostalgia for classical Greece & Rome, paintings became valued as symbolic & allegorical objects & as depictions of earthly success & status. The period in Europe was the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages & modern history. The relationship between man & nature was evolving as Francis Bacon (1561-1626) promoted man as "the minister & interpreter of nature." Images began to depict natural landscapes & more formal garden settings, where man was obviously using his intelligence, wealth, & power to shape & control the nature around him for sustenance & for pleasure. Thus, the Renaissance garden became as much as symbol of the owner's wealth & culture as his house or art collection.

In the Gamepark -1568 Hunting for Ladies & Gentlemen

Anonymous woodcut of 1568 Étienne Delaune (French artist, 1518-1595) Labours of the Months - Men & Women Hunting in a Gamepark

A Little British Hunting History in Gameparks & the Wild

In Britain, hunting with hounds was popular in Celtic Britain, before the Romans arrived, using the Agassaei breed. The use of running hounds to track prey dates back to ancient times. When the  Romans brought their dogs to Britain in the 1st century, Britons were already hunting with Agassaei hounds.

1603 Robert Peake the Elder (c. 1551–1619) Henry Frederick (1594–1612), Prince of Wales, and Sir John Harington (1592–1614) on the hunting field

1633 Anthony Van Dyck William Fielding, 1st Earl of Denbigh England, Shooting

England 1680 John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett by John Closterman (British artist, 1660-1711)

The Romans brought their Castorian and Fulpine hound breeds to England, along with importing the brown hare (the mountain hare is native) and fallow deer as quarry. Wild boar were also hunted.  The most dangerous prey was the wild boar, which was hunted only by men, usually on foot, with dogs and spears. 

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684–1734) East View of Newsterad Abbey, Nottinghamshire

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684-1734) A Hunting Piece Going-a-Hunting with Lord Biron's Pack of Hounds

 Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684-1734) A Warwickshire Hunt with Hounds

Peter Tillemans (Flemish artist, 1684-1734) Foxhunting in Wooded Countryside

England 1732 Huntsman with Horse by John Wootton (British artist, 1686-1765)

Norman hunting traditions were brought to Britain when William the Conqueror arrived in 1066, along with the Gascon & Talbot hounds.  The earliest known attempt to specifically hunt a fox with hounds was in Norfolk, in the East of England, in 1534, where farmers began chasing down foxes with their dogs as a form of pest control.

England 1733-36 Viscount Weymouth's Hunt - Mr Jackson, the Hon. Henry Villiers and the Hon. Thomas Villiers, by John Wootton (British artist, 1686-1765)

Packs of hounds were first trained specifically to hunt foxes in the late 17th century, with the oldest such fox hunt likely to be the Bilsdale Hunt in Yorkshire. In 1660, after the restoration of the monarchy, hunting grew as a sport: the first dedicated foxhound packs emerge but the game remained prime quarry (the hunted).  In England, a forest was not defined as wild, impenetrable woodland, but rather royal property managed by officials called foresters. Their job was to protect the "vert and venison" - the deer and the plants they rely on for food and cover.  John Manwood wrote in 1598 Treatise on the Lawe of the Forests, "A forest must always have beasts of venery abiding in it, otherwise it is no forest: and if there be no beasts of forest, nor beasts of chase in the same, then may men fell their woods that they have within the forest and destroy their covers" 

England 1733-36 Viscount Weymouth's Hunt - Thomas, 2nd Viscount Weymouth, with a Black Page and other Huntsmenby John Wootton (British artist, 1686-1765)

The Bilsdale Hunt was established in 1668, by George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham.  By the end of the 17th century, many organized packs were hunting both hare & fox in Britain.  Sight hounds, (sometimes called gazehounds) including greyhounds and Irish wolfhounds, were prized for visual acuity & speed, crucial when coursing, in which the prey is sighted, stalked silently, pursued, and taken down.

England 1740 The Shooting Party by John Wootton (British artist, 1686-1765)

The Quorn Hunt was founded in 1696, by Mr Thomas Boothby of Tooley Park, Leicestershire. Tooley Park lies about eight miles southwest of Leicester, just to the north of the Hinckley road. The hunt takes its name from the village of Quorn, where the hounds were kennelled from 1753 to 1904. Shotguns were improved during the 18th and 19th centuries, and game shooting became more popular. 

England 1744 Clotworthy Skeffington, 1st Earl of Massereene by Sir Joshua Reynolds (English painter, 1723-1792)

To protect the pheasants for the shooters, gamekeepers culled vermin such as foxes and birds of prey almost to extirpation in popular areas, and landowners improved their habitats for game. 

England 1744 The Honorable John Spencer & His Son, the 1st Earl Spencer with their Servant, Caesar Shaw by George Knapton (English painter, 1698-1778)

British Game Laws were relaxed in 1831, which then allowed anyone to obtain a permit to take rabbits, hares and gamebirds.

England 1748 George Rogers and His Wife, Margaret, and His Sister, Margaret Rogers by Francis Hayman (English painter, 1708-1776)

The practice of hunting in England, at the time the American Colonies were settled, was legally restricted to the gentry.

England 1748 Lady Mary Churchill at the Death of the Hare by John Wootton (British artist, 1686-1765)

England 1748 Thomas Nuthall (1715-1775) and Hambleton Custace (1715-1757)  with a very small bird by Francis Hayman (English painter, 1708-1776)  c. 1748

Virtually all of the land was owned in large parcels by the wealthy, who preserved them from generation to generation by bequeathing their entire estates intact to the oldest son through the law of primogeniture.

Britain 1749 Windham Quin of Adare, Co. Limerick, Ireland by Stephen Slaughter (English painter, 1697-1765)

Though hunting was primarily a masculine activity, women also participated as spectators and hunters. Elizabeth I of England (ruled 1558–1603) hunted avidly. On one occasion her hunt consisted of repeatedly firing a crossbow into a paddock filled with deer, killing three or four of them. The slaughter was accompanied by tunes played by the queen's musicians one of whom reportedly placed the crossbow into her hands.

England 1750 Mr. & Mrs. Andrews by Thomas Gainsborough (English artist, 1727-1788)

Royal gamekeepers made sure that royal forests were continuously stocked.  Sometimes deer had to be imported to maintain population levels. One hundred head were sent from Haughton Forest to Windsor Forest in 1711, for example.

England 1750 Richard Gwynne of Taliaris and Tregib

Over on the continent, in densely populated parts of Europe, game reserves were walled or fenced off to keep game in and poachers out. Palaces served as hunting lodges for monarchs.

England 1752 A Sportsman by Edward Haytley (British painter, fl 1740-c1762)

Commoners were usually prohibited from owning hunting dogs of their own. Instead, some were required to board a European nobleman's dogs & make them available whenever the owner wanted to hunt, with only part of the costs defrayed by the owner.  Scent hounds were valued for their sense of smell. They were generally used in a pack, known as a cry of hounds. Some breeds have a bell-like bark or yell; others are known for deep, booming barks.  Gervase (or Jervis) Markham (c 1568-1637) suggested a method for making a cry of hounds have more pleasant music, "If you would have your kennel for sweetness of cry, you must compound it of some large dogs that have deep solemn mouths, and are swift in spending, which must as it were bear the base of the consort. Then a double number of roaring and loud ringing mouths which must bear the counter tenor. Then some hollow, plain sweet mouths, which must bear the mean or middle part. ... Amongst these you may cast in a couple or two of small, single beagles, which as small trebles may warble amongst them. The cry will be a deal more sweet."

England 1754 John Orde, His Wife Anne, and His Eldest Son William by Arthur Devis (English artist, 1712-1787)

In Europe, peasants might also be called on to perform during the hunt as beaters or carters of slaughtered animals. They could only watch as the privileged hunters ran their horses through the fields, destroying the peasants' own crops.

England 1755 Major John Dade, of Tannington, Suuffolk by Thomas Gainsborough (English artist, 1727-1788)

Hunting retained its aristocratic character at the end of the 18th century in Europe, and would only be opened to commoners with the French Revolution.

England 1760-70 The Death of the Hare” by Unknown

For commoners, there were few restrictions on catching marginally edible fare such as badgers or starlings, but they were usually barred from hunting prime edible game animals such as wild boar & deer. Some resorted to poaching to provide meat for their diet or to sell at market.

England 1761 Sir Humphrey Morice by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Italian-born artist, 1708-1787)

Poaching was illegal in early modern Europe, but it was not uncommon.  Account books show numerous fines for illegal capture or killing of game.

England 1762 Francis Noel Clarke Mundy of the Markeaton Hunt by Joseph Wright of Derby (English painter, 1734-1797)

In rare cases, poaching was a capital offense, but in most of Europe, the most widespread punishment was a stiff fine.

England 1763 Jacob Morland of Capplethwaite by George Romney (English painter, 1734-1802)

In 17th-century England, it was not at all rare for gentry to poach on the lands of their neighbors. Most historians assume that forest officials were often bribed to look the other way.

England 1763 Self Portrait with His Father & Brother by John Hamilton Mortimer (British painter, 1740-1779)

The Black Act in England in 1724, among other things, made deer-stalking in royal forests a capital crime. The numbers of animals taken in the areas affected by the Black Act were small.

England 1764 Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni (Italian-born artist, 1708-1787)

It is impossible to say how frequently poachers were caught in early modern Europe or how important game was for the livelihoods of villagers in the vicinity of forests.

England 1764 James and Mary Shuttleworth with One of Their Daughters by Joseph Wright of Derby (English painter, 1734-1797) 

To protect fields and woodlands from poachers, gamekeepers were employed who patrolled noblemen's properties and provided selective hunting for the owners.

England 1765 Charles IV as Prince

By law, no one was allowed to own a gun, unless he possessed substantial freehold property or was given special permission.

England 1765 The Third Duke of Richmond Out Shooting with his Servant by Johann Zoffany (German-born painter, 1733-1810)

Legal shooting was not even a choice for the average citizen. By the 1740s, this restrictive practice led to hunting being considered a symbol of wealth, and field shooting “on the wing” had become a popular sport for the well-to-do.

England 1765 Thomas Nuthallby Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland (English painter, 1735-1811)

England 1768 The Repose After Shooting by George Stubbs (English painter, 1724-1806)

England 1768 Two Gentlemen Going Shooting by George Stubbs (English painter, 1724-1806)

England 1768 Two Gentlemen Shooting by George Stubbs (English painter, 1724-1806)

Britain 1769 Thomas Graham, Baron Lyendoch by David Allen or Allan (Scottish artist, 1744-1796)

England 1769 William Hulton with Gun-Dog and Shotgun by Henry Pickering (British artist, fl 1740-c 1771)

England 1770 A Sportsman, by Henry Walton (British painter, 1746-1813)

England 1770 Hunter

England 1774 Sir Edward Hales, Baronet, of Hales Place, Hackington, Kent by Philip Mercier (German-born painter, c 1689-1760)

England 1776 Sir John Nelthorpe, 6th Baronet, Lincolnshire by George Stubbs (English painter, 1724-1806)

England 1779 A Sportsman & His Son by Francis Wheatley (English painter, 1747-1801)

England 1780 Carrow Abby Hunt by Philip Reinagle (British painter, 1749-1833)

England 1780 Gilbert McHutchin by William Williams (British & American artist, 1727-1791)

Britain 1780 John, 4th Duke of Atholl, and his Family by David Allen or Allan (Scottish artist, 1744-1796)

England 1780s attributed to Thomas William Coke (English painter, 1752-1842)

England 1782 Sir William Elford, by James Northcote (English painter, 1746-1831)

England 1784 Joshua Walker, of Clifton House by John Russell (English artist, 1745-1806)

Britain1785 John Cockburn Ross by Alexander Nasmyth (Scottish artist, 1758-1840)

England 1785 Sir Thomas Gascoigne and Sir Walter Vavasour with a Priest and Servants

England 1786 Mr. and Mrs. John Custance of Norwich by Sir William Beechey (British painter, 1753-1839)

England 1787 The Countess of Effingham by George Haugh (British artist, 1755-1827)

You might be interested in finding

George Turberville, The Noble Art of Venerie Or Hunting: Wherein is Handled and Set Out the Vertues, Nature, and Properties of Fifteene Sundry Chaces : Together with the Order and Manner how to Hunt and Kill Euery One of Them, 1575

Gervase Markham, Country Contentments  Or, The Husbandmans Recreations: Containing the Wholesome Experience, in which Any Ought to Recreate Himself, After the Toyl of More Serious Business. As Namely, Hunting, Hawking, Coursing with Grey-hounds, and the Laws of Leash, Shooting in the Long-bow Or Cross-bow, Bowling, Tennis, Baloon; the Whole Art of Angling; and the Use of the Fighting Cock. 1611