Illustrated story about the hunting of noble ladies from a medieval castle
So our ladies got bored and decided to go hunting. Miniature from the Taymouth Book of Hours, 1325-1350. South East of England, British Library, London
“She held her left arm bent at the elbow, covered with a scarlet velvet glove, and on her hand sat a small brown falcon, disheveled and soiled, and the woman stroked and caressed him as she walked.”
"White Company" by Arthur Conan Doyle
"White Company" by Arthur Conan Doyle
History and culture. Middle Ages. What did women do in the Middle Ages? Of course, their occupations were connected with their social position, and if one took care of the pigs, then the other sat at the window in the castle and listened to the singing of the minstrel. Well, when she didn’t listen, what activities and entertainment could she have? By the way, talking about the "women's activities" of the Middle Ages will not only be very interesting and instructive, but will also become a tribute to the readers of our site. And the fact that we are all about men, but about men ... But the role of women in society at all times has been exceptionally great, simply because of the masculine nature of our society, it is still not sufficiently disclosed. Therefore, today we will deal with this topic. Moreover, based on the mass of beautiful illustrations from Teymouth's Book of Hours, published in England around 1325-1335. Well, it was named after Teymouth Castle, where it was preserved after the Earl of Bridalbane bought it either in the XNUMXth or in the XNUMXth century. Then Henry Yeats Thompson, the owner of an extensive collection of illustrated medieval manuscripts, became the owner of the Book of Hours, which he sold or donated as his posthumous gift to the British Library. So today this manuscript is kept in the British Library's Manuscripts Department in the Yeats Thompson Collection, where, by the way, everyone can get acquainted with it today, since it is digitized!
Recall that the books of hours were collections of prayers and usually contained psalms, prayers and corresponding illustrations explaining them. They resembled the Psalter in content, but were more concise in form and, in addition, were of a more secular nature. That is, it was possible not only to pray on them, but also, as in the modern calendar, to subtract something interesting from them. This Book of Hours also includes illustrated stories about Bevis of Hampton and Guy of Warwick, and under the Matins of the Virgin Mary somehow turned out to be as many as fifteen scenes with a story about a girl kidnapped by ... a wild man! That's really, really, a combination of "something else"!
And here there is almost a whole story in illustrations, telling how noble ladies from castles entertained themselves with hunting, an occupation that seemed to be purely masculine, but, as we will see in the future, very popular with women too!
Recall that women, representatives of the nobility, could hunt, and no one forbade them to do so. However, it was fitting for a noble lady to hunt with a bird of prey. By the way, let us once again recall the hierarchy of birds of prey, which were allowed in the Middle Ages to have representatives of different classes of society.
So, the emperor could hunt with an eagle, the Irish gyrfalcon was appointed the royal bird, princes and lords in England consoled themselves with hunting with a peregrine falcon, the baron was assigned a buzzard, the "knight of one shield" - a saker, and his squire could hunt with a lanner. Noble ladies, depending on their country of residence, could hunt with a gyrfalcon or a hawk. But the peasants were not so offended either: a free English peasant was allowed to hunt with a goshawk, a priest could indulge in hunting with a sparrowhawk, and even a serf, a serf, and he could quite legally hunt with a kestrel!
That is, the ladies from the castle had every right to have fun hunting with birds of prey. And they used it, but how ... but at the same time they did not deny themselves the pleasure of hunting with a bow and arrows, and even with common snares. Well, about how it all looked exactly at that time far from us, let us be told by the miniatures from the Taymouth Hours manuscript, 1325-1350. South East of England, British Library, London.
And they rode in a saddle (chair, knightly and very comfortable) quite like a man, and one of them shot a bow straight from a horse!
They also had hounds with which they poisoned hares
Having obtained game with the help of a dog, she was necessarily given her insides
Dogs of different breeds were used, and, like birds of prey, a bell was tied around their neck so that they could be found by sound
When hunting rabbits, the main thing was to drive them out of the hole!
Having obtained a lot of tasty animals, it was possible to return
And you could put snares near the hole ... Run a dog into the hole ...
And now the rabbit is beating in the snares. The peasants, by the way, hunted in exactly the same way, only they launched into the rabbit hole not a dog, but ... a weasel!
But the ladies knew how to use a bow!
The miniature clearly shows that the arrow has a blunt tip. That is, they shot right in the head. And the question is - why? It takes place in the summer, the skin is not suitable for fur. That is, it was specially conceived so as not to spoil the prey with the sight of blood? Interesting…
And then they knitted like this. Clean, pretty...
And the stupid rabbit did not expect that he would also be hunted with a bird of prey. Which, by the way, sits on a portable perch, which, after the lady, was carried by her falconer
Apparently, the rabbit managed to avoid the danger (or it has already been successfully hunted), so the lady releases the gyrfalcon to the duck!
Here the end of the duck has come!
Having caught a duck, the proud huntress returns with prey
And loyally offers prey to a senior lady in position ... And she graciously answers: “Take it for yourself, dear!”. Such ostentatious mercy was characteristic of the gentlemen. Smart, of course!
Here our ladies met an evil boar in the forest. And in the medieval forests at that time there were wild boars, wolves, and bears. And although there were no men nearby, the boar had a hard time at all. This fragile-looking woman took, and stuffed a horn into his throat!
Moreover, with the joint efforts of the ladies-hunters, they even killed a deer (apparently, with an arrow from a bow, and more than one!) And they began to gut and skin one of them
Only the picture is missing: “Tired, but satisfied and with booty, the ladies returned to their castle!”
True, one more question remains, which historical science is not able to solve, namely: who patronized the production of this "Book of Hours" of a clearly feminist orientation or owned it? According to one suggestion, the patroness of the creator of this manuscript was the "French Wolf" Isabella of France, the wife of Edward II, herself, or that this book could be written for one of their daughters, say, Joan of Tower, as an instruction.
It is possible that the original alleged owner of the manuscript was Philippa of Hainaut, wife of Edward III, son of Isabella and Edward II. The fact is that in addition to the quality of the illustrations, gold leaf was used for its design, which directly indicates the aristocratic origin of the customer or customer. It is known that Philippa in October 1331 paid the artist Richard of Oxford for two Books of Hours at once. So one of them could very well have been the Book of Hours from Teymouth! In addition, some of the miniatures have bilingual inscriptions, including inscriptions in Middle English, Latin and French, although the bulk of the texts are written in Anglo-Norman. And during this period of time in England, Anglo-Norman was most often spoken by the wealthy and royal families.
Information