The Art Of Medieval Falconry

A beautifully illustrated tour of the visual culture of medieval falconry in Europe and beyond. Medieval falconry was not just about hunting; the practice also signified sovereignty, power, and diplomacy. In The Art of Medieval Falconry, Yannis Hadjinicolaou describes the visual culture that sprang up around these practices, tracking how imagery, equipment, and even the birds themselves moved through the medieval world. Indeed, Hadjinicolaou shows that falconry has been a global phenomenon since at least the thirteenth century. This beautifully illustrated book offers a unique glimpse at how cultures across the globe adopted and adapted the visual culture of medieval falconry.

The gentlemen of medieval and Renaissance Europe had three all-consuming passions: warfare, courtly love, and hunting with a hawk or hound -- and the philosophy behind the last of the trio really encompasses them all. Hunting, the sport of kings, served as training for battle, a rite of manhood, and a powerful ritualistic pastime. In vivid and engrossing detail, here are all the appropriate methods for hunting deer, boar, wolves, foxes, bears, otters, birds, hares . . . even unicorns! A dazzling diversity of sources (poems, ballads, letters, court directives, royal accounts, gamekeepers' handbooks, psalters) illustrate how hunting and hawking appear throughout medieval art and literature as metaphors and motifs for everything from romance to combat.

Gentle verse and sweeping, majestic artwork set imaginations soaring in a handsome and illuminating ode to the ancient art of falconry. Join a young girl and her father, the falconer at a medieval castle, as they experience the joys of taking a goshawk out for a training flight. The girl leads readers through all the preparations and equipment needed for the flight — from the hawk’s hood and bells to the falconer’s gloves — culminating in a dramatic demonstration of the hawk’s hunting skill. Bagram Ibatoulline’s masterful illustrations capture the vivid details and beauty of a day spent hawking, while Danna Smith’s poetic storytelling will make readers long to experience the art and sport of falconry firsthand.

De Arte Venandi cum Avibus was written shortly before the year 1250 by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Sicily and Jerusalem, in whose court, with its remarkably cosmopolitan and highly intellectual life, may be found the real beginning of the Italian Renaissance. In spite of its title, it is far more than a dissertation on hunting. There is a lengthy introduction dealing with the anatomy of birds, an intensely interesting description of avian habits, and the excursions of migratory birds. Indeed, this ancient book has long been recognized as the first zoological treatise written in the critical spirit of modern science. The sumptuous volume now in hand is, however, the first translation into English of the complete text, originally divided into a prologue and size books. Together, the translators and editors, have at last made available this classic work and have adorned it with notes, comments, bibliographies, and glossary. They have produced a work of great value to zoologists--especially the ornithologist--and also to everyone interested in the history of science and in medieval art and letters.

Perhaps the equivalent of polo-playing today, the sport of falconry was the preserve of the wealthy and royalty, regarded as both a suitable and enjoyable leisure activity, and as a source of status and prestige.

A Stanford University Press classic.