CHAPTER III.The Subjects Treated.
In the rude civilisation of the fifteenth century, a year’s experience of which would send most of us to our graves, the mental occupation as well as the bodily recreation of our ancestors was almost confined to hunting and hawking. “Fishing with an Angle” came in as a bad third, being too tame a pursuit for men who were no men if not men of war. Mimic war—war on the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air—war which could be pursued in times of peace, and which yet required knowledge, patience, fortitude, and courage—this had great attractions, and we cannot wonder at the general popularity of these pursuits.
The first treatise in the following reprint is upon Hawking, a pastime essentially aristocratic from the great expense it entailed in the purchase, breeding, and maintenance of the birds. This, indeed, coupled with the diminution of game consequent on the progress of civilisation and the increase of the population, led to the gradual decadence of the sport, and nearly to its extinction in the eighteenth century, although, in very rare cases, falconry is even now practised.
As we have seen, one of the most difficult objects in hawking was to obtain an easy command of the proper vocabulary, and so at first start our author instructs us in “The manner to speak of Hawks, from the egg.” We must not say a young hawk is hatched, but‘disclosed;’ they do not breed but “eyer;” it was a want of culture in any falconer to say that hawks were building their nest, they “timbered” it. When the young could first leave the nest they were “Bowesses,” and when they could fly they were “Branchers,” and then was the time to catch and train them.
When the young were caught, which was with nets, the first thing was to “ensile” them, that is, to “take a needle and thread and sew up the eyelids,” so that they “see never a dele.” After a night and a day the threads were cut softly for fear of breaking the “lyddis of the ighen,” then they were fed with well-washed flesh, but kept awake the next night and day, after which they were supposed to be tame, or “reclaimed.”
The various diseases to which Hawks are liable are then explained, and medicines prescribed for them. Some of these are very absurd and some contradictory. Then comes a variety of terms for every movement and habit, for every limb or part of the body, and for almost every feather in the plumage. In this minute description the author begins at the feet of the bird and so works upwards, as when “Knyghttis been harnesside.”
Next we are instructed how important it is to be careful of the manner of guiding the Hawk the first time it is ready to “nomme a partridge;” how to reward her by giving her the head and neck, after which on no account is she to fly again till she has “rejoiced,”i.e., sharpened her beak and shaken her feathers. More medicines follow, among which is how to get rid of “lies” (lice). “Take a piece of rough blanket and hold it to the fire till it is quite hot; wrap the hawk therein, and without hurting hold her ‘softely and stylly’ in your hands, and all the vermin will creep into the cloth.” A happy thought this!
The “Gesse,” or strip of leather by which the Hawk is held when carrying her on the hand, is next described, together with the creance or long line. More medicines still, and then how to treat Hawks when “in mew,” or moulting, a matter of great importance. To promote“mewing” give the flesh of a kid, a young swan, and especially rats flesh; stewed adders are also strongly recommended, or chickens which have been fed upon wheat soaked in broth of vipers.
Gout seems a common disease in various parts of the Hawk’s body, which may be known by swelling and “ungladness;” also rheum and fever and blains and agrum, which last is cured by a red-hot silver needle thrust into the nostrils. Botches in the jaw should be “kutte with a knyfe.” More terms follow for various habits and actions, the last paragraph being upon the variety of Bells used for Hawks. There should be two, one a “semytoyn” (semitone) below the other. “The Bells of Melen (Milan?) were the best, but,” says the author, “there be now used Dutchland bells, of a town called durdright (Dordrecht), and they be passing good, sonowre (sonorous) of ringing in shrillness, and well lasting.”
The whole ends with a list of various species of Hawks and their appropriateness to the various stations of life, among which are—
An Eagle for an Emperor.A Gerfalcon for a King.A Peregrine for an Earl.A Merlyon for a Lady.A Goshawk for a Yeoman.A Sparehawk for a Priest.A Muskyte for “an holiwater clerke.”
An Eagle for an Emperor.A Gerfalcon for a King.A Peregrine for an Earl.A Merlyon for a Lady.A Goshawk for a Yeoman.A Sparehawk for a Priest.A Muskyte for “an holiwater clerke.”
An Eagle for an Emperor.A Gerfalcon for a King.A Peregrine for an Earl.A Merlyon for a Lady.A Goshawk for a Yeoman.A Sparehawk for a Priest.A Muskyte for “an holiwater clerke.”
An Eagle for an Emperor.
A Gerfalcon for a King.
A Peregrine for an Earl.
A Merlyon for a Lady.
A Goshawk for a Yeoman.
A Sparehawk for a Priest.
A Muskyte for “an holiwater clerke.”
The second treatise is upon Hunting, and has a short preface, which probably came, like the first, from the pen of the Schoolmaster.
The work is all in metre, and evidently intended for boys to learn by heart. It begins by telling “my dere chylde” the various kinds of beast to be hunted; the changes of name they take as they grow older; the variety of horns; how to skin and dismember; the various cries and noises to be used; the seasons of hunting various beasts.
Then follow instructions how to hunt the Hare, and what to say to the hounds, who must always be addressed in French, as “arere!” when he enters the kennel-door; “this is the first word, my son, of venery.” “Sa sa cy auaunt,” “Sweff mon amy sweff,” and other similar cries are noted down, some to be shouted twice only and some thrice,the chief cry being “So how.” The knowledge of when and how often these cries should be used was most important, as their proper use would bring “worship among all men.” Here, apparently, in the midst of one essay, another is interpolated, and we are treated to a portion of some old dialogue like “The Master of the Hunt,” in which the “Man” asks all sorts of questions and the “Master” replies. It might indeed be dubbed “The Hunter’s Catechism.” This occupies eight pages, and then we fall back upon the original rhyme again and the instructions of the Dame to “my childe,” ending with the “Explicit” of Dam Julyans Barnes. Some leaves remaining to be filled up, the moral and other sentences, as already described at page 21, were added.
Perhaps the third treatise upon Coat Armour and the Blason of Arms is the most interesting portion of the book. The quaintness of some of the explanations is very amusing, and many people will find more points of sympathy, both historical and technical, with this than with the others.
The headline, “Incipit Liber Armorum,” gives us at once the title of the manuscript from which the text was compiled. “Heraldry Run Mad” might indeed have been an appropriate title for this, as well as all similar tractates; for the author, in his anxiety to honour the science, does not scruple to take the reader back historically not to Noah only, but to Adam, whose spade, he tells us, was the first shield in Heraldry, and who was the first to bear Coat Armour. The argument, if it may so be called, is:—All “gentilnes” comes from God; there were originally in heaven ten Orders of Angels bearing Coat Armour, but now only nine, Lucifer with “mylionys of aungelis” having fallen out of heaven into hell and other places. As a bondman might say that all men come from Adam, so might Lucifer say he and his angels came from heaven.
Cain, for his wickedness, was the first churl, and all his offspring were churls also by the curse of God. Seth, on the other hand, was a gentleman by his father’s blessing; Noah, too, was a gentleman by nature, but of his three sons, “Sem, Cham, and Jafeth,” Cham, forhis unfilial conduct, was made “ungentle.” The address of Noah to his three sons is curious, and is thus supplemented:—
“Of the offspring of the gentleman Japhet came Abraham, Moses Aaron, and the prophets, and also the King of the right line of Mary, of whom that gentleman Jesus was born, very God and man, after his manhood King of the land of Judah and of Jews, a gentleman by his mother Mary, and Prince of Coat Armour.”
Some say that Coat Armour began at the siege of Troy, but it was of far greater antiquity than that, and was founded upon the nine Orders of Angels, who were crowned each with a diadem of precious stones—the Topaz (truth), Smaragdus (hardihood), Amethyst (chivalry), Loys (powerful), Ruby (courageous), Sapphire (wisdom), Diamond, a black stone (durable), Carbuncle (doughty and glorious). These represent Gentleman, Squire, Knight, Baron, Lord, Earl, Marquis, Duke, and Prince. Here we probably have the origin of the shape of various crowns and coronets. Everything is treated in nines, and the nine virtues and nine vices of gentleness follow, with nine rejoicings, nine articles that every knight should keep, and nine manner of gentlemen, in which we learn that the Evangelists and Apostles were all gentlemen of the right line of that worthy conqueror, Judas Machabeus, who in course of time had fallen to labour, and so were not called gentlemen. The four doctors of the Church—St. Jerome Ambrose, Augustine, and Gregory—were also gentlemen of blood and of Coat Armour. There are nine differences of Coat Armour and nine quadrats, all of which are explained. The “Blasyng of Arms” comes next, the preface to which is by the author, and not by the printer. It begins with the varieties of the Cross as borne in arms, each being illustrated by a rude woodcut printed in its proper colours, and the blason, or technical description of each is given in Latin, French, and English. All varieties of arms follow, with the mysteries of bends, engrail, borders, chequers, balls, cakes, rings, &c., offering but little which can be quoted, but forming an interesting and useful book of reference.
Fleuron