Richard Fought like a Boar?
Richard Fought like a Boar?
2013-01-12 18:07:24
I found this information on boars/boar hunting recently in the basic reference, "Life in a Medieval Castle," by Joseph & Francis Gies, 1974, page 126.
"Although the hart could be a dangerous quarry, the wild boar, usually hunted in the winter, was more formidable. A wily enemy, he would not venture out of cover without first looking, listening, and sniffing, and once his suspicions were aroused no amount of shouting and horn blowing would lure him from his narrow den.
"The boar-hunting dog was a alaunt, a powerful breed resembling the later German shepherd. Even when dogs and hunters caught the boar in the open, his great tusks were a fearful weapon.
"'I have seen them kill good knights, squires and servants,' wrote Gaston de la Foix in his fourteenth-century *Livre de la Chasse* ("Book of the Hunt). And Edward, Duke of York, in the fifteenth-century treatise *The Master of Game* wrote, 'The boar slayeth a man with one stroke, as with a knife. Some have seen him slit a man from knee up to breast and slay him all stark dead with one stroke.'
"'An old boar usually stood his ground and struck desperately about him, but a young board was capable of rapid maneuvers preceding his deadly slashes."
In case anyone is interested, this book also has extensive information on falconry, taken from the most famous of the medieval period -- *De Arte Venandi cum Avibus* ("The Art of Falconry") by Emperor Frederick II.
"Although the hart could be a dangerous quarry, the wild boar, usually hunted in the winter, was more formidable. A wily enemy, he would not venture out of cover without first looking, listening, and sniffing, and once his suspicions were aroused no amount of shouting and horn blowing would lure him from his narrow den.
"The boar-hunting dog was a alaunt, a powerful breed resembling the later German shepherd. Even when dogs and hunters caught the boar in the open, his great tusks were a fearful weapon.
"'I have seen them kill good knights, squires and servants,' wrote Gaston de la Foix in his fourteenth-century *Livre de la Chasse* ("Book of the Hunt). And Edward, Duke of York, in the fifteenth-century treatise *The Master of Game* wrote, 'The boar slayeth a man with one stroke, as with a knife. Some have seen him slit a man from knee up to breast and slay him all stark dead with one stroke.'
"'An old boar usually stood his ground and struck desperately about him, but a young board was capable of rapid maneuvers preceding his deadly slashes."
In case anyone is interested, this book also has extensive information on falconry, taken from the most famous of the medieval period -- *De Arte Venandi cum Avibus* ("The Art of Falconry") by Emperor Frederick II.
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