#hawking

"When (Benedict´s) characters become obsessed with something."

Hawkeye

SOCIETY — 148/262 — Hunting

Hunting always provided sustenance and furs, mainly for the lower nobility. For the aristocracy, refined court hunting became more of a pastime, as hunting was significantly cheaper than tournaments, while providing similar excitement. It became a favorite diversion, with hunts for wild animals using dogs being almost ritualistic. Hunting weapons were the same as those used in warfare: bows, crossbows, javelins, and hunting knives. Dogs were used to track and scare the game and then chase it until the exhausted animal stood its ground. Only then did the hunters (following on horseback to the sound of the dogs’ barking) arrive to kill it with arrows or spears. The final kill on the ground was done with a sword or hunting knife. Falconry (originally a pastime from the Orient), and hunting with other specially trained birds of prey (hawks and goshawks) was more of a fashionable activity and could be pursued by women as well. For the lower classes, hunting in the lord’s forests was strictly prohibited under severe penalties (with the exception of hunting hares).

TRIVIA

— Falconry was not merely a refined aristocratic amusement but a highly structured and politically significant hunting practice. Falcons, especially the rare gyrfalcons from Northern Europe, were among the most coveted birds of prey in medieval Europe. The Teutonic Knights played an important role in the capture and trade of gyrfalcons. Due to their presence in the North European breeding and hunting grounds of gyrfalcons, they had control over most of the export of the highly prized bird, which were often used as diplomatic gifts to rulers and even as currency.

Falconry and hawking were so important that no less than thirty-three Latin hunting texts are known, which are preserved in sevebnty manuscripts. Most of them deal with falconry, and the oldest ones are ail collections of remedies to cure the hawk: for example, what to do when a hawk gets a cold or is wounded after having been bitten by another animal.

In the instance of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II (1194 - 1250), chronicles record a loss of a decisive battle at Parma (1248) because he had left his camp to go out hawking exactly at the time when the besieged made a forceful attack.

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