What Was Medieval Hunting Like? 

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There is a hunting tradition, now dying, of hunting with hawks from horseback while using dogs to flush the pray. That's some impressive multi species coordination. Another animal used then and now for rabbiting is the ferret.

Your angle at the start of the video gives me very powerful 'I'm hunting wabbits" vibes.

One thing. "Royal forests" were not always forests, meaning woodland. They could be every kind of terrain. Another thing: Adult crows may not have been eaten, but "crow soup" made out of their eggs and newly hatched chicks was a thing here in Austria at least until the 60ies.

Hunting really could teach you almost everything about war; teamwork, logistics, camping, scouting, timing, bravery etc. We don't really have anything comparable in the UK today that covers so many bases.

Hunting birds were said to be extremely expensive. A notable example of this was the 14th-century trade for the ransom of the Duke of Burgundy, the son of Philip the Bold. Caught by the Ottoman Sultan Beyazid, a ransom of 200,000 gold ducats was offered to the Sultan for him. The Sultan turned it down and instead sought and was given twelve white gyrfalcons.

Large organized hunts were very important to the Mongols and were used as learning experience for war, coordinating the movements of large groups of people for an organized purpose "Over time, hunting and falconry became important cultural activities and great hunts were organized whenever there were major clan gatherings and important celebrations"

I'd love to see a video about medieval dogs. My own research in that area has been interesting, influenced by heraldry. Dogs are regularly seen in heraldry, and blazoned with such names as talbot, alant, hound, or just dog, but from what I've seen they tended to classify dogs much like they did horses - that is, based upon the use rather than breed specifics, at least before the 15th-16th centuries.

"A Kestrel For A Knave" - yes there were rules for the type of hunting raptor you could own based upon status.

I'm from a tiny village in the dales called Gilling. There was a famous Anglo Saxon sword found here. The church is also Anglo Saxon and a friend of my dad was doing some drainage work in the graveyard and found a big stone with a hunting scene carved on it. It was a man on horseback holding a bird of prey. A woman said it was Saxon and took it somewhere now no one knows where it is. It should've been left in the church for people to see

If someone's interested, there's this blog called The Medieval Hunt that has a variety of research on reenacting medieval hunting manuscripts including the gears you would use and even dogs. though this guy focus mostly on spear hunting.

Also for someone interested in Medieval Eastern European hunting, In The Knights of the Cross (1918) by Henryk Sienkiewicz he mentions that Polish nobles (notably Prince of Masovia) hunt in their private forests around their hunting-lodge with the help from a group of "Kurpie" people appointed as foresters, who are ethic groups from the Masovian forests and excellent hunters and experienced archers (and the Polish in the novel compare them with English longbowmen). Aside from normal games those high nobles also hunt bisons and aurochs to show-off. For minor Polish nobles and landlords in the novel they'd like to hunt boars in their own land with servants and dogs. Mostly, without the help of the Kurpie people, the Polish nobles tend to primarily use Crossbows, axe and boar/bear spears. Later in the book there's also Samoghitian lithuanians ambushing enemies in local forests, stating that they mimic crow calls before they attack, not sure if this is a hunting techniques that brought into battlefield.

Hunting restrictions: These also depend on how populated the country was. England and France have fairly restrictive laws, but medieval Hungary was very lax, to a point where hunting was allowed out of the box unless there were specific decrees, usually regulating highly-desirable animal species. I've even seen a decree somewhere (can't remember whether it was royal or local noble) that encouraged the commoners to hunt squirrels. Funnily enough, I've seen more regulations regarding fishing rather than hunting in Hungary, which does make sense, what with it being more landlocked and relying on rivers and lakes for almost all of its fish. Slings: I don't think there is much mystery for anyone who has tried to get good with a sling, it's an awful weapon to get good at. I've been slinging for over a year, and I'm still nowhere near as accurate with it as I am with a bow. And to top it off, it's really hard as well to increase your projectile speed while slinging - studies done with some of the people who use it to hunt small game today have these folks' mazimum range at about 80 meters, while military slingers had, according to Vegetius and few modern folks who are that good, top range of about 200 meters (or double of that if you are using sling bullets and not rocks). Slinging is a monumental amount of effort that you can just... avoid completely by using a bow or a crossbow.

As an American in the South Western U.S. I find this absolutely fascinating. Thanks for this window into the European land use, social status and hunting.

When you mentioned that deer would generally be found on noble land, I thought I'd chime in as someone who regularly hunts deer here in the States: deer are well known for adapting to human behavior and, notably, avoiding places where they're able to be hunted, to the point where some people claim that deer have worked out both when hunting season starts and in which areas they'll be fair game. Exactly the degree to which they're able to tell where and when they'll be safe, who could say, but you'll often find deer just hanging around in the outskirts of small towns or just behind "no hunting" signs, completely unconcerned by the people around them, where if you come up on them in the field they'll usually bolt as soon as they know you're there. It wouldn't shock me a bit if it turned out that the deer of medieval England collectively learned to stay in noble land where they'd be hunted only occasionally whether there were any other difference between that land and the land right next to it or not.

I'd love to see a series of these, the falconer, the bear armor, all of it. Maybe one on hunting swords as well, I remember windlass or cold steel made a German hunting sword that was very interesting but is discontinued

As a falconer (or more accurately Austringer) myself, I'd love to see a video about historical falconry, it's so often glossed over how important falconry was in medieval society and it can be difficult to find in depth writing on the subject. The best book I've found on the subject was "The Kings and their hawks" You also forgot one important animal used in hunting, ferrets! Ferrets are domesticated polecats that have been used to flush rabbits out of their warrens for the last two and a half thousand years. They also happily work alongside dogs and hawks.

Me, headed to Alaska soon: “I would be very interested in learning about bear hunting armor.”

Well, I can say goshawks were often referred to as a "Cook's Bird". There's a certain level of tenacity in em that allows them to regularly acquire meat for the stew pot. Like crawling into thick brush or small holes to get a rabbit.

Only Matt would call a 30 minute video “quick.” lol Hawks - I live just south of Atlanta, GA and my neighbor has to stand over her little dog when they’re outside to keep the hawks from snatching her. They are no joke!

I remember reading somewhere there was a special ritual involved in butchering a deer in the Middle Ages with respect to special utensils employed and the distribution of parts, etc. I came away with the idea that the entire aspect of hunting by the nobility was highly ritualized. Might be a good topic for presentation.

I'd love more about medieval hunting, any of the topics (or all of them) you mentioned would be great

Spearing boar from horseback was a popular sport where the terrain allowed, however in dense forest cover it would be very difficult and dangerous (in not impossible) to pursue game on horseback. Similarly, sight hounds (greyhounds, wolfhounds, deerhounds, etc.) were popular in relatively open country, while scent hounds were/are more useful in dense forests and swamps. Finally, it's worth mentioning that ferrets were used for hunting. PS) I believe Gaston Phoebus wrote that he had a number of horses killed by boars while hunting. If I remember correctly, he favored the use of the sword from horseback for boar, as he considered it an especially challenging and dangerous method.

Anything about hunting would be awsome. I d love to hear in deepth all of the topics you mentioned. Thanks for sharing

I see the sling thing about it not being called a weapon; the medieval equivalent of the ATF's ruling on Black Powder firearms to not be considered a gun.

Slings were used in war in the medieval period, albeit more rarely as time went on. There were slingers at the battle. Just off the top of my head, I can think of Tortona (a siege), Falkirk, and Najera. It’s possible (and especially in the early medieval, likely) slings we’re used in many battles but rarely mentioned. Whenever peasants participated, slings could have been involved. However, anyone that could afford anything else probably went with that. A bit of speculation on my part, but I think warfare in the later medieval period was continually shut off to the poorest, and coupled with cheaper equipment the sling went on the decline. But Najera (and I think a battle or so with England and Scotland from around this time) shows that pockets of usage in war continued until relatively late. The last usage of slings in war in the west was the siege of Sancerre in 1572, where they had the nickname “arquebuses of Sancerre”. However, there usage by this point was a surprise as opposed to general usage. There is a drawing from Russia around the 1600s of a battle with a lone slinger among the combatants, which we can probably imagine would have been around the last usage of it in war.

Great video again! I was wondering if hawking would be mentioned and expecting slings to be left out, but no, they got covered. The does and don'ts of fishing could have had a spot in this video. A little note on seeing wolfs as pests and eradicating them, we still have an ongoing war with grey squirrels in Britain. My dad used to collect a bounty on them when he was a child and I believe it's still legal to kill them and is encouraged by the government.

More on hunting with a sling please!

You have me much more excited about Falconry, Hounds, and hunting armour.

It wasn't hugely popular in England for obvious reasons, but hunting with cheetahs actually happened quite a bit in North Africa and parts of Asia, since cheetahs aren't generally aggressive toward humans and are easily tamed.

This was really interesting as a general overview of the Medieval Hunting mindset. Saw a love short video, just the other day on the English Heritage RU-vid channel about 'Falconry Through the Ages' (from the Romans to the Victorians) presented by the 'Raphael Historic Falconry' re-enactment team. They really know their stuff and back it up with documented historical facts 👌🏼.

Matt, have you come across many historical accounts of medieval hunting? It would be very interesting to hear some. In particular it would be interesting to hear some accounts that illustrate the dangers involved in medieval boar or bear hunting. Future video perhaps? Fascinating stuff and great video as always. Thanks

In eastern Europe, the Rus use a type of spear who called rogatina. It was a huntingspear for large animals, like bear, vicent, auroch etc. Rogatina was on the short side, and heavy shaft and "point". These spears were also used in wars. Here in Sweden we ate crows and so, but not adults, only hatchlings prefeareble than they still was in the nests.

hunting is 1 of the many activities that can nurture people to become more intelligent and resilient making them more adaptable to changes in the long run

One of my favorite videos of yours I think! I would love follow up videos talking about the historical dog breeds used as well as more content on historical falconry

So I can actually say for certain that the lugs on a boar spear do in fact work, as I was present when a Cold Steel boar spear was used to finish off a wild pig. The lugs did keep the spear head from over penetrating. I understand if some people have negative opinions on this but for the sake of “context”, in west Texas wild pigs are a major nuisance that have become so intrusive on destroying crops and destroying the food sources of native animals like mule deer, that they are allowed to be hunted year-round.

You missed Ferreting! There's a great image of women ferreting from the 14th Century Queen Mary’s Psalter. For more about poaching I recommend two articles by Jean Birrell. "“Peasant Deer Poachers in the Medieval Forest” and "Aristocratic Poachers in the Forest of Dean: their methods, their quarry and their companions". Also the wikipedia page on Medieval Hunting is a pretty good overview.

Very good content, loved it and a good addition to your channel👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

Very interesting! Also would be interested in videos on the many tangents you couldn't cover in this one.

As a Canadian, all "unowned" wilderness, of which there is a fucking lot of, is considered Crown Land. You can basically hunt, fish, collect wood, etc. so long as you pull a permit. That being said, it's pretty hard to police a significant percentage of Earth's landmass....

There's actually significant evidence to suggest that there are more wild trees in the world today than there was in the medieval period due to alot of modern agriculture and manufacturing needing less cleared land than medieval agriculture.

Very interesting! I'd def enjoy more content on the topic, its always nice with videos about the world where all these weapons you go on about where used in.

Would absolutely love to see more videos about hunting in these times possibly even in different areas like India or East Asia

It's interesting to think that Rabbits were specifically introduced by nobles in warrens for the purpose of hunting by nobles, and that peasents may not have been able to hunt them as is supposed. Also interesting is how pigeons (rats of the sky) are just domesticated doves bred for eating purposes that are now endemic to england.

Very interesting Matt! Thank you A question though that has been bothering me for a while: You say that the avarage englisch "peasant" only had one bow due to financial difficulties. I've heard this mentioned more often, but it strikes me as almost impossible. Seeing they had almost every peasant training from a young age in the Form of archery, I would say the avarage family had at least 6+ bows.. We can't just start with a 180# draw weight, so at the age of, let's say 10,they would probably start out with 20#, then 40# and change to heavier and heavier till they reach war bow poundage of 160#+ Also calculating that in a family a bow -could- last a few generations if used carefully, they should have many varieties of bows in different poundage right? So wouldn't they just use the lighter bows for hunting?

Simple entirely wooden crossbows are widely available, because they can be made by anyone even with only a knife. Tod of did a lot of videos on those. Dark age's crossbow: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SI4BCLLTDjA.html

I love these types of vids it's almost like real world building 😆 you really do start to see the medieval world in so much more detail

I’d love to see a video series on these different topics!

This was great. I am now in New Zealand where "pig hunting' with 'pig dogs' is very popular, so some things don't change. They also hunt goats which strikes me as even more bizarre. How were the hunting forests managed to prevent them from just becoming inpenetrable, especially to people charging about on horses?

Definitely a subject to broaden out, I know this is scholargladiatoria and not the filed sports channel, but I think hunting with dogs worth doing as it tends to be overshadowed by the glamour of falconry. If you get a chance watch 'The Eagle Huntress'.

Correction: no one in the Medieval Era used the "precursors to greyhounds." Greyhounds have been a stable and established breed of coursing sighthounds since ancient times. The first dog whose name is known to us today was a royal greyhound who was awarded the right to be barried in a small pyramid in the royal necropolis because he had saved the Pharaoh's life. Now, greyhounds were used as the precursors to *many* other breeds with most regions of Eurasia having their own version of the greyhound-based coursing hound (Salukis, Afghan hounds, etc.), and kinds of hunting dogs were made by crossing with greys to produce a wider range of use by increasing stamina, scent ability, and or stockiness (all of which greys are abismal at to the sacrifice of speed). The Longdog, for example is a term for any hunting dog crossed directly with a grey to form a hybrid sighthound. Some of these descendants of greys could be owned in Medieval times by people who were not legally permitted to own greys themselves.

Another fascinating and superbly researched video with terrific graphics and dialogue. I learn something new from the channel everytime I watch. Thank you.

Growing up, my Italian grandfather lived with us and would set rat traps in the backyard to catch birds. We would occasionally come home from school to find a pot full of plucked and skinned birds ready to be made into "stufato del cacciatore," hunter's stew. I'm in my 70's so this was about 60 or so years ago.

The last duel movie had a hunting scene with a ton of hunting dogs, the young nobility going through a rite of passage I would definitely like a video just about the dogs

Loved this topic, always keen to learn more too. Lots to be said on fishing, lots of creeks and lakes out there in addition to the ocean of course. The equipment for it can be cheaper and more readily available to even the most modest of peasant too, just some line, a hook (even just a small sharp bone), and the bait can be as simple as an earthworm! If you want to get fancy, get yourself a chunk of moldy bread, maybe dipped in blood for certain types of fish.

Loved the discussion about the lives of common folk. One question lingers in my mind which is if a farmer managed to catch a fox (or other fur animal) would they be more inclined to use it for clothing or try to make a profit off it?

Super fascinating video, I'd love to see more on this topic. A video about how dogs were used in history would be really interesting, too.

Hey Matt, what about crowd being used by lower classes for hunting, and possibly even delivering messages on the battlefield? You mentioned doves and pigeons but not dovecotes and messenger birds (with the excess eaten). Then there is rabbits need in warrens to hunt or harvest for food and pelts by the nobles. Just a few more ideas for videos 😁

Wonderful intro. I agree, we need more on. All of your suggestions sound wonderful. I would also like to learn about types of hunting cats employed. Were there ever any black panther leopards?

I like the first painting of the person "thumping" (as it's called in American bowhunting) the bunny

Great video. I would love to hear more about the role of dogs in hunting. How different breeds were used.

I'd be interested in a video about hunting on horseback with dogs and another video about the dogs themselves.

In Italy, at least in the XV century(but probably before) and up to XIXth there were Papal appointed wolf-hunters, called "luvàri"("wolfers").

In Sweden/Norway hunting didn't really become regulated until the late middle-ages, and only "högvilt" (high wildlife. Mostly Deer and eventually Moose) were reserved for the nobility (outside the very limited royal hunting parks which were never the size that english royal forests were). Boar, hare, squirrel etc weren't regulated until the 18th century (and in many areas the tax could be paid in animal skins). Bow, crossbow, spear and later rifle and shotgun...but mostly traps (fairly deadly traps of the style that would have made Rambo proud, logfalls and "self-spears",. Laws included specific penalties for someone being killed by moose/bear trap. 3 Thalers in silver fine for who ever set the trap).

How many English laws were there that mandated bow-ownership and archery in medieval England? I've only read about two 16th century laws of the sort (ironically decades to a century after the Hundred Years War ended): a 1511 law requiring men have bows and practice shooting and a 1541 law mandatng bows and arrows for shooting game. Were there other laws from earlier periods?

I didn't realize swords were actually used in hunting. Those boar swords look like they'd be nice for half-swording :) I wholeheartedly agree that the average person is best off with a weapon that is general-purpose. Much better to know you're prepared for both hunting and war when you can really only afford one weapon. And if you can afford more, it's still nice to be able to train extensively with one particular weapon. I'd probably just use the most powerful bow that I could comfortably draw. And I agree with the old sentiments about what animals are good for meat. Predators and scavengers are not good eating or safe eating. (Pigs being the interesting exception, but only if cooked properly.) If we could convince more people of that, we might have fewer plagues ;)

I have a question. You mention dogs and birds of prey being used for hunting, as well as mentioning the small game that was commonly hunted near the end of the video. When did the practice of ferreting begin to develop? I was under the assumption that individuals had been using ferrets in order to hunt rabbits and other such games for a while. But I haven’t found any mention of it from the Middle Ages in the limited research that I’ve done.

@ Scholagladitoria, ' Four and Twenty Blackbirds baked in a Pie ' is not a refference to actual Blackbirds. It's actually a refference to a King or some other Powerful Person, killing 24 people who were either Judges or Bishops.

Very interesting subject. I have never seen anyone cover it. Hunting is something that the modern person does not understand how Hunting was done in history. Given the culture here in the United States person really don't realize the historical part of Hunting. This is especially true with not understanding how it affected animal population. Hunting had a massive affect on animal population and there are far more game animals now than they used to be because of the way game regulations and management programs have affected population and health. People in the United States rarely realize that Hunting and fishing products have a special tax that pays for biologist to care for animals and manage them in a similar way to a rancher and us specific strategies to keep animals not just health but to try to increase breeding of higher quality animals. They also target population ratios to food supply and keep animals healthy and not do damage the environment. Animal population was far lower when Europeans arrived in the New World and declined until modern times. Interst in Hunting increased with the world wars when people returned from the world wars with experience with firearms and also many were able to bring back fireams from the wars. Some of these were trophies from the war that had been brought back from Europe and some people simply chose not to return their firearms. The bolt action rifles were also put on the market as surplus providing inexpensive firearms for many people to get into the sport. Predators have always carried a fear factor that is overblown. There is also the resentment of how they endangered domestic animals. Since they compete with hunters for game there is still a strong stigma. Now that Predators are getting protection and even wolf reintroduction is is still a a sorce of friction today with both sides probably not being totally clear on how Predators realy fit into the ecosystem. Predators do have a much larger impact than most people think. An adult wolf or mountain lion will usually need about a deer per week but since their whole focus is to get enough food often will take down as much pray as possible and the actual kill count can be several times higher. The traditional bowiers Bibles have a nice look at Hunting vs War bows. Hunting biws on average tended to be in the 50lb range vs war bows tend to be at least 70lbs. I believe that the basic reason for this is really a simple mechanic. When Hunting one has to be very careful about movement and sound. It is common for animals to "jump the string" meaning that the sound of the string slapping the bow will cause the animal to jump and even with a close shot the animal can move several inches and the inpact will not be in the target zone and can result in a wounded and lost animal. It is important for the hunter to be able to pull the bow at times when the animals vision is hidden or in another direction. This means the hunter may have to hold a bow at a partial or full draw for some time. After 50 lbs this is going to require much higher than average strength. A war bow on the other hand will probably focus on increased range and penitration and especially in open battle stealth becomes far less important than the increased capability.

I remember a paper from the BMJ from many years ago about boar hunting in Melanesia and the horrible injuries people got from it. All these years later the quote is still in mind "Most exsanguinated on the spot. Those who survived to surgery had wounds which were long, wide, deep, jagged, septic and required delayed closure." Westerners on holiday hunting with shotguns tended to die. Locals carried several spears and hunted with dog packs. The dogs were trained to control the boar by latching onto .... errr... the parts that distinguish it as a boar.

Speaking of different types of (medieval/ancient era) horse types - could you do an introduction video on them? Maybe not necessarily super in depth, but enough to get a lay of things.

Enjoyed this Matt. I was hoping you would tell us about the "havoc".

"Ah, my Geordie never stole nor cow, nor calf He never hurted any Stole sixteen of the King's royal deer And he sold them in Bohenny"

Regarding the claim at 20:00, slings remained battlefield weapons used in large numbers in medieval Europe until at least 1386. Castilian armies fielded thousands of slingers at that point. Jean Froissart described Castilian slingers at Nájera 1367 as wounding & unhorsing many, & even breaking (denting?) helmets. English archers did defeat these slingers, but they performed reasonably well according to Froissart. In the 16th century, slings in the Americas impressed some Spanish observers & slings saw use at the siege of Sancerre in 1572.

Hunting was done for pelts, too, and trapping is somewhat a subset of hunting, but I consider them both similar, at least. I've had many a surprise meal by setting snares, camping and hunting. Excellent for supplementing the diet.

I"d like to see a video about these "dangerous forests." you always see a scene in them in all the medieval movies. I'd like to know how much truth there is to that.

I learned all I know from Sir Hans Capon

Always be interested in medieval hunting and would like to get into hunting.

Thank you for this. Super interesting. So many tangents to elaborate on.

Eagles used to Hunt wolves and Mountain goats??? I wanna know more ablut that for sure lol. A deeper video into medieval dogs would be nice too. Also the bear fighting armor please.

"Of course you don't need a war bow for hunting. What, do you think deer are wearing Kevlar vests?" - Lord Bidet of Whittenhouse

According to some chronicles slings were being used for war in the 14th century in Spain.

Liked mentioning of my country Croatia. We indeed have wolves and actually every kind of indigenous European wildlife.

Happy hunting Matt

It’s always sad to reflect on medieval hunting looking at the lack of wild habitat available to animals today

I think the only thing that change is the weapons. Because tracking animals or reading terrain it's pretty much the same from then till now

Now that Snapjelly might be back, maybe he can give a little look into the Dutch perspective on Medieval hunting/poaching.

Hunting bows are often shorter. The one in the picture seems to be around 120cm. People propably owned more than one bow. It's not hard to make one especially if you are living in time before plastic.

Crown land in Canada is still nearly 90% of all land today and nearly all of it is forest used for hunting. We have some of the best hunting in the world because of it.

I'd love to see what bear hunting armor looks like :)

Could you do a video on medieval criminals like bandits and such?

Great video and I'm looking forward to any of those videos that you may pic. I think if I had to pick something is either how they hunted bears or how they used the hunting sword on game. Now there is one hunting animal you did forget to mention. The ferret. The ferret were often used to hunt rabbits and various small games by dropping them down a whole and chase the animal out the other hole where a cage was placed. They were also used in a weird Scottish sport but that's a different story.

Not just food & sport but also skins and various other parts. -Edit: I see you got to that at the end. Cool video.

I would be interested in how various furs were used in clothing. For example in Game of Thrones the Stark cloaks are depicted with large fur collars. Was that an accurate depiction?

Has a long time watcher and minimal commenter, I had to comment on this one. While it was I assume, initiated because of your currant sponsor, this is one of your best videos of late. Thanks for all the content, it all has value.

Yes! More bear armor! More boar swords! Modern falconers! Huzzah!

Very fascinating info! Thank you!

" You gobble good red meat, and we get bread and cheese. The laws can't touch you and there's no crime you can be punished for, and we can shoot a dear and have our eyes put out." Sean Connery in Robin and Marian.

Fascinating subject matter, Mr. Eastland. Thank you my good man.

Interesting to note that the Charter of the Forest stipulating hunting rights of Parks and Commons was seen as so integral that it was issued as a companion to Magna Carta