Hunting was the preeminent recreational pastime of the aristocracy during the Middle Ages.
History
Hieratic formalized recreational hunting has taken place since Assyrian kings hunted lions from chariots in a demonstration of their royal nature. In Roman law, property included the right to hunt, a concept which continued under the Frankish Merovingian and Carolingian monarchs who considered the entire kingdom to be their property, but who also controlled enormous royal domains as hunting reserves (forests). The biography of the Merovingian noble Saint Hubert of Liège (died 727/728) recounts how hunting could become an obsession. Carolingian Charlemagne loved to hunt and did so up until his death at age seventy-two.
With the breakup of the Carolingian Empire, local lords strove to maintain and monopolize the reserves and the taking of big game in forest reserves, and small game in warrens. They were most successful in England after the Norman Conquest, and in Gascony from the 12th century. These were large sanctuaries of woodland—the royal forest—where populations of game animals were kept and watched over by gamekeepers. Here the peasantry could not hunt, poaching being subject to severe punishment: the injustice of such "emparked" preserves was a common cause of complaint in populist vernacular literature. The lower classes mostly had to content themselves with snaring birds and smaller game outside of forest reserves and warrens.
By the 16th century, areas of land reserved for breeding and hunting of game were of three kinds, according to their degree of enclosure and being subject to Forest Laws: Forests, large unenclosed areas of wilderness; Chases, which normally belonged to nobles, rather than the crown; and Parks, which were enclosed, and not subject to Forest Laws.OED
Terminology
A striking characteristic of medieval hunting was its devotion to terminology. All aspects of the hunt – each different animal to be hunted, in each year of its development, each of its body parts, each stage of the chase, each feature of the hounds' behaviour – had its separate term. Knowledge and (partly whimsical) extension of this terminology became a courtly fashion in the 14th century in France and England.
Medieval books of hunting laid huge stress on the importance of correct terminology, a tradition which was greatly extended during the Renaissance.
Malory and others attributed invention of the "fair terms" of hunting to the Arthurian knight Sir Tristram, who was seen both as the model of the noble huntsman and as the originator of its ritual: As he [Sir Tristram] grew in power and strength he laboured in hunting and hawking – never a gentleman that we ever heard of did more. And as the book says he devised good fanfares to blow for beasts of venery, and beasts of the chase and all kinds of vermin, and all the terms we still have in hawking and hunting. And therefore the book of venery, of hawking and hunting, is called Sir Tristram's. Therefore all gentlemen who bear old [coats of] arms ought to honour Sir Tristram for the goodly terms that gentlemen have and use, and shall until Doomsday, that through them all men of respect may distinguish a gentleman from a yeoman and a yeoman from a villein. (Modernised)
How hunts were conducted English and French accounts agree on the general makeup of a hunt—hunts were well-planned so that everyone knew his role before going out. The hunt par force required each participant to have a specific role. If someone slipped in his role, not only could he easily get lost, but it put the rest of the group in danger by exposure. A number of nobles hunted par force, for a multitude of reasons, but above all because it was considered the purest and noblest form of hunting. The ritual of the hunt was meant to heighten danger within a controlled context. Gaston III, Count of Foix (1331–1391), argued against hunters taking game in more efficient ways such as by bow and arrow or by setting traps, saying, "I speak of this against my will, for I should only teach how to take beasts nobly and gently" ("mes de ce parle je mal voulentiers, quar je ne devroye enseigner a prendre les bestes si n'est par noblesce et gentillesce"). Hunters like Gaston hunted not to kill the largest game, but rather for the process of the hunt, preferring ritual over efficiency. This mode of hunting was also important in the upbringing of noble youths. Boys at the age of 7 or 8 years began to learn how to handle a horse, to travel with a company in forests, and to utilize a weapon, practicing these skills in hunting groups. As a result, young men in the nobility and royalty were able to transfer acquired skills such as horsemanship, weapons management, wood-crafting, terrain assessment, and strategy-formation from the hunting grounds to the battlefield in wars. Hunting also cultivated their education, and taught them the importance of ritual and noble acts.
Equipment
The weapons used for hunting would mostly be the same as those used for war: bow, crossbow, lance or spear, knife and sword. Bows were the most commonly used weapon. Although the crossbow was introduced around the time of the First Crusade (1100), it was not generally used for hunting until the second half of the 15th century. Cudgels (clubs) were used for clubbing small game in particular by women who joined the hunt. "Boar spears" were also used. With the introduction of handheld firearms to hunting in the 16th century, traditional medieval hunting was transformed.
The hunter would also need a horn for communication with the other hunters. In addition to this the hunter depended on the assistance of certain domesticated animals. Three animals in particular were essential tools for the medieval hunter: the horse, the hound and the hawk or falcon.
Horse
The horse was the most important animal of the great medieval household. The stables, also called the "marshalsea," would be separate from the rest of the household, and its head officer—the marshal—would be one of the household's senior officers. The marshal would have pages and grooms serving under him to care for the horses.
A large household would have a wide array of horses for different purposes. There were cart- and packhorses employed in the day-to-day work of the household, palfreys used for human transport, and destriers, or warhorses, a powerful and expensive animal that in late medieval England could obtain prices of up to £80. Although it had the necessary qualities, the destrier would not be used for hunting, due to its value. Instead, a special breed called a courser would be used. The courser, though inferior to the destrier and much smaller than today's horses, still had to be powerful enough to carry the rider at high speeds over large distances, agile, so it could maneuver difficult terrain without difficulty, and fearless enough not to be scared when encountering wild beasts.
Hound
The dog was essential for several purposes. Its good sense of smell made it invaluable in finding the quarry. It would then assist in driving the hunted animal and, when the animal was finally at bay, the dog would either be the instrument of attack, or distract the quarry while the hunter moved in for the kill. Different breeds would be used for different tasks, and for different sorts of game, and while some of these breeds are recognizable to us today, the dogs were nevertheless somewhat different from modern breeds.
Foremost among the hunting breeds was the greyhound. This breed was valued first and foremost for its speed, but also for its ability to attack and take down the game. Since the greyhound did not have much stamina, it was essential that it not be released before the quarry was in sight, toward the end of the hunt. Furthermore, greyhounds, though aggressive hunters, were valued for their docile temper at home, and often allowed inside as pets.
The alaunt, or alant, was a somewhat more robust animal than the greyhound, and therefore used against larger game, such as bears or boars. The alaunt was considered a reckless animal, and had been known to attack domestic animals, or even its owner. The mastiff was an even more rugged breed, and though also used on the larger game, was mostly considered useful as a guard-dog.
What all these dogs lacked was the ability to follow the scent of the quarry, and run it down. For this purpose the running-hound was used. The running-hound was somewhat similar to today's foxhound. This dog had, as the name indicates, excellent stamina, as well as a good nose. Another dog valued for its scenting skills was the lymer, a forerunner of today's bloodhound. Handled on a long leash, the lymer would be used to find the lay of the game before the hunt even started, and it was therefore important that, in addition to having a good nose, it remained quiet. Silence in the lymer was achieved through a combination of breeding and training. Other dogs used for hunting were the kennet (a small hunting dog, from ONF 'kenet', a diminutive of 'chien'), the terrier, the harrier and the spaniel.
The hounds were kept in a kennel, inside or separate from the main domicile. Here the dogs would have oak beds to sleep on, and often also a second level where the dogs could go when the ground level became too hot or too cold. Outside the kennel there would be grass for the dogs to eat whenever they had digestive problems. To care for the dogs would be a hierarchy of servants such as pages, varlets, aides and veneurs; the page being the lowest, often a young boy. Pages would often sleep in the kennels with the dogs, to keep them from fighting and care for them if they got sick. Though this might seem harsh by modern standards, the warm dog house could often be much more comfortable than the sleeping quarters of other medieval servants.
Hawks and Falcons
Medieval terminology spoke of hawks of the tower and hawks of the fist, which roughly corresponds to falcons and hawks, respectively. The female hawk was preferred, since it was both larger than the male and easier to train. A male saker falcon is approximately two thirds of the weight of a female; falconers call male peregrines tiercels, derived from the Latin word for "third". Hawks were captured all over Europe, but birds from Norway or Iceland were considered of particularly good quality.
Falconry, a common activity in the Middle Ages, was the training of falcons and hawks for personal usage, which included hunting game. Falcons and hawks have different physical makeups which affects their mode of hunting. Ducks, herons, and cranes were the common game hunted by falcons and hawks. The main differences between the two species of birds lies in their wings and tails. Falcons have long, narrow wings with a long tapered tail. As a result, they fly at incredibly high levels. To kill game, they elevate high up in the sky and then dive at their target. Their dives can go up to 200 mph. They utilized their talons on the downward dive to slash game. Usually their strikes kill the game with the first slash. Hawks, however, have shorter, rounder wings and longer tails. They glide along at lower altitudes. To kill their game, they glide toward their target and then use a burst of speed to close in. They utilize their talons to dig in and clutch onto their game until it is dead. As a result of their makeups, falcons and hawks were utilized by owners for different terrains. Falcons were used in open fields while hawks were used in marshlands and woodland.