Gardens Evolving thru Time: Hunting & Fishing

Showing posts with label Hunting & Fishing. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

18C Allegories of Spring - Love & Bird Nests

1796 Spring Published by George Thompson London

This depiction of Spring shows a family on a river bank. The man is holding a fishing rod and displying a fish caught on the line, while the woman opens a wicker basket full of others. The little girl stands holding a basket of flowers, while the little boy kneels in the foreground, feeding birds in a nest in his hat. Behind them a team is ploughing in the background to right.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

Harvesting - Nobleman goes hawking, while his peasant haymakers work his land

Nobleman going hawking, while his peasant haymakers work his land behind him, from the Golf Book (Book of Hours, Use of Rome), workshop of Simon Bening (1483-1561) Netherlands (Bruges), c. 1540, Additional MS 24098, f. 24v

William allocates English Lands 1066

After his coronation in 1066 William the Conqueror claimed that all the land in England now belonged to him. William retained about a fifth of this land for his own use. The rest was distributed to the those men who had helped him to defeat Harold. In return for these lands (fiefs), the 170 tenants-in-chief had to provide men for military service. The number of knights (horse soldiers) tenants-in-chief had to provide depended on the amount of land they had been given. In order to supply these knights, tenants-in-chief (also called barons) divided some of their land up into smaller units called manors. These manors were then passed on to men who promised to serve as knights when the king needed them. William gave a quarter of the land in England to the church. Bishops, abbots & priors that were granted land also had to promise to supply knights. For example, in exchange for his Mild flie archbishop of Canterbury had to provide sixty knights when the king wanted them. When William granted land to his tenant-in-chief an important ceremony took place. The tenant-in-chief knelt before the king, placed his hands between the king's & said: "I become your man," swearing on the Bible to remain faithful for the rest of his life. The tenant-in-chief would then carry out similar ceremonies with his knights.

It is the custom in England, as in other countries, for the nobility to have great power over the common people, who are their serfs. This means that they are bound by law & custom to plough the fields of their masters, harvest the corn, gather it into barns, & thresh & winnow the grain; they must also mow & carry home the hay, cut & collect wood, & perform all manner of tasks of this kind.
Jean Froissart, Chronicles (c. 1395)

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

15C Forests, Chases, & Gameparks for Hunting by the Elites

Hunting deer, 15C Illuminated Manuscript

In the Middle Ages, hunting was an activity for elites. Hunting was the privilege of the nobility, closely linked to land ownership. When agriculture emerged in the Neolithic era, active livestock farming relegated hunting to a secondary role. Hunting became primarily a defensive practice aimed at protecting farmers’ crops from hungry or destructive wild animals. While crops & livestock farming covered people’s basic dietary needs, hunting offered a wider choice of meat to the privileged classes. Noblemen performed necessary management of their lands & the peasants in their employ. They raised funding for military expeditions & social events, practiced horseback riding, hunting, & hawking. Hunting had a dual symbolic & social significance. Being invited to hunt with the King was one of the court’s great honors. In Europe, laws were devised to regulate hunting on royal territory. The elites could show off their abilities as warriors through hunting. More than a pastime, it was an important arena for social interaction, essential training for war, & a gauge of nobility. Local lords maintained & monopolized the gameparks & the taking of big game in forest reserves & small game in warrens. These large sanctuaries of woodland—essentially the royal forest—where populations of game animals were kept & watched over by gamekeepers. Here the peasantry could not hunt, poaching being subject to severe punishment. The lower classes mostly had to content themselves with snaring birds & smaller game outside of forest reserves & warrens. By the 16C, most areas of land reserved for hunting of game were of 3 kinds, according to their degree of enclosure & being subject to Forest Laws: Forests, large unenclosed areas of wilderness; Chases, which normally belonged to nobles rather than the crown; & Parks, which were enclosed & not subject to Forest Laws.

The Book of the Hunt of King Modus & Queen Ratio after 1455

Piero de' Crescenzi (1233-1321) wrote of Hunting in Book 10 of his Liber ruralium commodorum 1304-09. He advised that the gamepark should be stocked with hare, roe deer, red deer, wild boar, rabbits. He recommended the English, French, & Spanish hare specifically. He wrote of hunting dogs & their dietary recommendations for each season & even times of the day to feed them. Those participating in "the hunt" lived with unique vocabularies, customs, & ancient rituals.

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)