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Falconry: 4000 Years Old
A swift bird, gliding high above the grassy plain, is the focal
point of a group of hunters scattered below. The falcon, its
identity betrayed by its size, speed, and shape appears as merely
a speck cutting across the sky like a shooting star. It suddently
tucks its wings and begins to dive, its stream-lined silhouette
growing slightly larger, until a flock of mallards on the small
lake take notice and begin frantically to disperse. But for one
duck, slightly too young and inexperienced, it is too late. The
peregrine has already chosen its feathered target, and the duck
is killed instantly as the peregrine slams its razor-sharp talons
into its flesh. The two birds fall to the ground together as the
men emit a muffled cheer and begin trekking toward the landing
site to recover the prey and the falcon.
This mystical scene has been repeated for thousands of years,
from the sands of Arabia to the mountains of East Asia or the
prairies of the American Great Plains. Little has changed
fundamentally in the sport -- or, as some would argue -- the art
of falconry since the practice first began around four thousand
years ago, somewhere between the Near and Far East. The sport has
been subjected to shifting popularity and restrictions, but
interest in it continues, and the intense relationship between
falconers and their birds remains extremely and mysteriously
strong.
Falconry Defined:
Falconry is generally defined as the capturing of quarry using
trained birds of prey. Several, more specific terms are used by
purists. For example, the term hawking is used when a hawk or an
eagle is used for the hunting, or even the broader term
austringer is used for one who hunts with hawks, eagles, or even
owls. The term falconry, some believe, should be used strictly
for hunting with falcons.
First Records:
The first defensible record of humans using birds of prey for
hunting comes from an Assyrian bas-relief dated in the early part
of the seventh century, B.C. References to falconry in China come
from as early as 680 B.C. in the kingdom of Ch'u, although one
Japanese work states that falcons were used as gifts to Chinese
princes during the Hsia Dynasty (206-220, B.C.), encouraged by
the Emperor Teng's fondness for hunting in the imperial forests
with falcons and dozens of that era's finest falconers. The first
record of falconry in Japan is reported around 720, A.D. In the
late sixteenth to seventeenth centuries samurai warriors received
a millitary manual that included a section of falconry.
The sport probably existed in Persia and Arabia at a much earlier
time than in Japan, although very few written records have been
found supporting that belief. An Arabic account holds that the
first falconer was a king of Persia, who watched a wild falcon
take a passing bird. He was captivated by the grace and beauty of
the bird and ordered his men to capture the raptor. According to
tradition, the king kept the bird at his side at all times and
learned many good lessons from the bird, perhaps most importantly
changing from a violent king to a wiser, calmer ruler.
Falconry Moves West:
As trade increased between Arabia, Europe, and the Far East, so
did the interest in falconry. It is believed to have reached the
Mediterranean aby 400 A.D., where an elderly author related his
desire as a youth to have "a swift dog and a splendid hawk."
Germanic tribes acquired the sport around the sixth century A.D.,
and by 875, A.D., it was practiced widely through western Europe
and Saxon England.
The period of 500 A.D. to 1600 A.D. saw the peak of interest in
falconry. It became a highly regulated, revered and popular sport
among nearly all social classes in Europe. In Western Europe and
Great Britain, falconry went beyond being a sport of royalty or
being practiced as a necessity. Instead, its popularity became
what sociologists would term a craze or fad, and became a status
symbol in medieval society.
The sport was most popular among the upper class citizens in
Europe, especially among the clergy, who were noted for their
fondness for falconry. Pope Leo X was an avid falconer, who went
on frequent hunting excursions with his birds. In some religious
orders, falcons were even taken into religious services, so much
so that nuns, many of whom during this time were rarely seen
without their falcons on their wrists, were reprimanded for
bringing their birds into the chapel by bishops, who complained
the practice interfered with the services.
Frederick II of Hohenstaufen:
The man considered by many to be the greatest falconry enthusiast
of all time was Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, Holy Roman Emperor,
king of Sicily and Jerusalem. His book, De Arte Venandi cum
Avibus (The Art of Falconry), took over thirty years to complete
and, as one of the first scientific works on the anatomy of
birds, has placed him as one of the founders of ornithology.
Frederick's obsession with falconry often disrupted his ability
to maintain effective leadership. He once lost an important
military campaign because he decided to go hawking instead of
continuing the siege of a fortress. His crusade in 1228, in which
he brought back many experienced falconers from Arabia and Syria,
added greatly to his knowledge and experience in falconry.
Falcons were so highly valued that they were worth more than
their weight in gold when used as coinage in ransom negitiations.
During one particularly bloody crusade in the late fourteenth
century, the Ottoman Sultan Beyazid captured the son of Philip
the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and turned down Philip's offer of
200,000 gold ducats for ransom. Instead, Beyazid wanted and was
given something even more precious: twelve white gyrfalcons.
The birds were also used as offerings of peace. In 1276, the king
of Norway sent eight gray and three white gyrfalcons to Edward I
as a sign of peace. Three hundred years later, in 1552, Czar Ivan
IV and Queen Mary I exchanged a gyrfalcon and a pair of lions
after Russia and England established diplomatic relations.
During the Hundred Years' War, the English often took their
falcons with them when they crossed the Channel. According to one
historian, Edward III had thirty falconers with him when he
invaded France. So important were falcons in England that the
first laws aimed at protecting birds of prey were created there.
The punishments for harming falcons were often very strict. To
destroy a falcon's eggs meant one year's imprisonment; to poach a
falcon from the wild was reason enough for the criminal's eyes to
be poked out.
In all societies where falconry was popular, harming them, their
aeries, eggs, newly hatched young or eyasses, was viewed as a
greater or lesser crime, with corresponding penalties, so much so
that some allege the beginning of wildlife conservation in the
Western world may have been created during this period.
Punishements for stealing trained raptors were also severe. A
bishop of Ely excommunicated the thieves who stole his falcons
that he left in the cloister of the church in the fourteenth
century.
The first documented English falconer was the Saxon king of Kent,
Ethelbert II, in the eighth century, followed by Alfred the Great
and Athelstan in the ninth century. Up to that point, the species
used for falconry were basically limited to the more common
native species, but after the Norman Conquest in 1066, new raptor
species, such as the gyrfalcon and new subspecies of the
peregrine were introduced in England, and for the next six
centuries falconry steadily increased in popularity.
Soon nearly everyone from the baker to the king became falconers.
The average citizen usually kept more common birds less suited
for falconry, such as sparrowhawks and goshawks. The "long-winged
hawks," or more specifically, falcons such as gyrfalcons, and
peregrines were reserved for the nobility because they were
better suited for falconry and, to medieval Englishmen, appeared
more noble than other species.
So important was falconry to English society that one could
rarely walk down the streets of medieval England without seeing
someone with his or her falcon perched on hand on wrist. A
fourteenth-century lady was advised by her husband to take her
bird everywhere with her, including church, so that it would
become accustomed to people.
Falconry remained popular among royalty until the reign of George
III. The Stuarts were particularly fond of the sport, and Henry
VIII was perhaps the most important falcon advocate since
Federick II. By ancient tradition, the king of England is
presented with a falcon at the time of his coronation by the Duke
of Athol and Lord Derby, and the office of royal falconer, called
Master of the Mews, still exists today.
The majority of birds used for falconry were trapped in elaborate
bow nets set along raptor migration routes in Holland. The art of
falconry was passed from generation to generation in a number of
Dutch families, and slowly the economy of a small village,
Valkenswaard, grew to become solely reliant upon trapping birds,
making falconry accessories, and on manning and training of
birds.
Each fall, falconers from the courts of every feudal lord and
king in Europe would travel to Valkenswaard for a spirited
medieval auction, bidding against each other for the best
specimens caught that year. The village had a monopoly on the
falconry market up until the last of the famous Mollen family of
falconers died in 1937, virtually bringing the falconry business
in Europe to a halt. Curiously, the birds could have been trapped
just as easily in the English moors, but no one believed it
possible or attempted it.
Strictly speaking, however, the smaller falcons, such as kestrels
and sparrowhawks, had little use in procuring food for its owner,
since their normal prey consist of insects, small songbirds, and
occasionally a mouse or vole. Since the larger birds
traditionally caught larger prey in the wild, they were used to
capture larger animals for the falconers. Tiercels were used to
capture snipe and partridge; gyrfalcons for rook and heron, which
when more common centuries ago were considered delicacies.
Goshawks were trained to capture hare, rabbit, pheasants, and
other large game birds.
The original purpose of falconry, using birds to capture quarry,
was slowly replaced among the nobility by another purpose or
function. Falconry provided an opportunity for kings and lords to
host other nobles for grand hunting parties, each of which
instantly became a topic for invidious comparison. The kings of
England and France, the Russian czars, and the Holy Roman
Emperors all maintained extravagant falconry establishments,
often utilizing the skills of hundreds of the country's finest
falconers. For the nobility, falconry practiced on a magnificent
scale became an essential element in establishing and maintaining
personal and national prestige.
As time went on, commoners and lords alike took their birds to
the field simply because it had become a matter of what
sociologists today term "conspicuous consumption." One of the few
basic instincts, if any, that man has left is the motivating
desire to strive toward attaining a higher status in society. In
modern society, many accomplish this by acquisition of name-brand
clothing, lavish jewelry, expensisve automobiles, large and
elegant homes, or similarly scarce commodities. In medieval
England, falconry served the purpose of "conspicuous consumption"
quite well.
When the English no longer truly needed falcons to provide food
for them, this considerably expensive sport provided a means
through which they could validate their current social status, be
noticed by those higher up on the social ladder, in the hope of
being recognized and accepted as equals, or at least as higher
than they were in reality.
Then as now, however, most falconry enthusiasts found their
options limited by either cost, custom, or regulation to certain
species of birds of prey. In spite of this, the sport still
enjoyed the status of one of the most popular pastimes in all of
England. Nearly everyone who could afford one had a falcon of
some type. In class-conscious British society, one's position in
the system of social stratification determined the particular
specie and even the gender of the falcon one could own. As a
result, the individual birds seemed to take on the nobility of
their owner. A list of the respective birds and who could possess
them in medieval England, as recorded in The Boke of St. Albans,
written by Dame Juliana Barnes, prioress of Sopwell nunnery in
1486, attests to the rigidity of the rules of ownership.
According to the prioress, keeping a falcon above one's station
was considered a felony and duly regarded as an act of rebellion
against an inflexible social order. This illegality may have been
effective as a deterrent in part because it was made more
difficult and expensive for birds to be obtained by those other
than persons decreed as appropriate owners. The Boke of St.
Albans relates that the typical punishment of cutting off the
hands of people who kept birds above their social rank also
served as an excellent deterrent to the crime.
Falconry was expensive. In addition to the initial high price of
the bird, maintaining a healthy falcon was costly. The birds
required intricate housing, which consisted of cages known as
mews, in addition to all the accessories such as hoods, jesses,
bells, and lures with which the birds were trained. Since the
birds were only permitted to eat a few choice parts of the prey
they captured while in the field with their masters, falconers
were required to feed the birds a balanced diet on a daily basis.
Strips of beef were not enough. Whole animals would have to be
fed to the birds in order for them to get the required nutrients.
The typical dinner of a captive falcon consisted of young
chickens or mice, with the size and number dependent upon the
type of falcon and activity level of the bird. A large, active
falcon, such as a gyrfalcon, would require during the hunting
season up to several times more food than would a small kestrel,
even during the inclement weather of winter and early spring.
Clearly, the larger the bird, the more likely the owner was to be
of higher social rank, meaning that these are people who were
able to afford all the accessories and foods required to maintain
the birds. Those lower in social station would have respectively
smaller birds, reflecting the less amount of money the birds
would require.
By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, falconry began to
decline in popularity due to the discovery of the shotgun.
Additional reasons for the decline have been attributed to the
new agriculltural practices in which forests were cleared for
farmland, and the general disintegration of the feudal system in
Europe. Unfortunately, the unprecedented reverence for birds of
prey was replaced by the slaughter of the birds and destruction
of their nests as they began to be viewed as vermin, especially
in the first half of our own century, competing for food with
gun-toting hunters.
Falconry was a pastime well-suited to medieval England. A hobby
considered both a sport and an art, yet serving the practical
purpose of procuring food, rightfully assumed a high poisition in
the lives of people throughout the world. Tracing its roots
through Europe and Asia, falconry flourished in cultures rich in
tradition, and in many places continues today to be as socially
important as it was a thousand years ago.
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"Man has emerged from the shadows of antiquity with a peregrine
on his wrist," wrote the famous bird artist and naturalist, Roger
Tory Peterson. The ancient art and sport of falconry has
flourished for the milennia around the globe, and in some regions
is as important a sport today as it was three thousand years ago.
In few areas, however, was falconry as important a part of
everyday life as it was in medieval England. Here falconry was a
pastime which did not quickly become popular, then, fad-like,
suddenly disappear. Instead, it reigned as the most popular sport
for more than four centuries.
Although falconry is a sport using trained raptors to capture and
kill wild game, unlike most sports in which animals are used to
hunt, the birds used to hunt are wild rather than domesticated,
in the same way some greyhounds are still used to hunt wild
rabbit like hunting dogs. Perhaps better analogies -- and more
realistic in an important way -- are the ancient use of trained
cheetahs for hunting in Asia, or the use of cormorants to fish in
the Far East; both practices, like falconry, harness the hunting
abilities of wild-captured predators to benefit their human
captor/trainers. Because breeding raptors in captivity is a
complex and expensive process that had not been successful until
recently, when modern ornithology enabled breeding raptors to
become simpler and less expensive than it had heretofore been.
The use of falconry, however, was not a primary means of
obtaining food for medieval citizens. Not even among the nobility
did falcons, hawks, eagles, or osprey provide other than a small
percent of meat for the larder. Instead, nets, snares, and other
traps were not only more efficient, but also less expensive and
time-consuming.
Maintaining a bird's health was a hugely expensive proposition.
Thus, falconry, hawking, and the like were usually reserved for
the nobles who had suffiecient time and money, plus personnel
available to pursue this ancient sport. Those lower on the social
ladder could participate, but used smaller birds that were more
numerous, less expensive, less productive of table-fare, and as
effective as a means of conspicuous status-striving as could be
afforded by their less affluent owners.
Falconry became so pervasive in European society that elements of
the sport were found nearly everywhere. In The Lisle Letters,
collected, annotated, and published in a six-volume set by Muriel
St. Claire Bryne, correspondence into and out of the household of
Lord and Lady Lisle reveals how thoroughly falconry permeated
various realities of life in medieval and Renaissance households
of the gentry. Not only was it both sport and an important
hunting enterprise, it was also an importantt symbol of respect
and friendship between nobles. It marked the beginning of new
relationships, solidified existing bonds between friends,
kinsmen, and political allies, and by its absence, that something
amiss in the exchange. Acceptance of falcons sometimes signaled
troubled social ties, or the mending of ties once broken, but
then repaired. Consider the rich significance of a letter dated
December 18, 1533, in which Anthone Brusset wrote to Lord Lisle
as follows:
"Sir, I have received your letter of the fifteenth day of this
month by a falconer called Guillaume Arquin, and in furtherance
of your request I have given him leave to buy some hawks in
Flanders for a certain good friend of yours, and when he shall
return, whatsoever birds he may have brought, I shall let them
pass without paying any dues, for honour of you, and if there be
any other thing in which I may do you service I will be heartily
glad to perform it."
While it is uncertain who Anthone Brusset was, his respect for
Lord Lisle's position and authority, and his hopes for continued
good will are clearly shown.
Other letters, such as one from Sir William Kingston to Lord
Lisle on September 26, 1533, reveal the amount of time spent with
the birds:
"The King hawks every day with goshawks, and with other
hawks, that is to say, lanners, sparhawks, and merlins,
both afore noon and after, if the weather serve."
The higher nobility, however, did not spend their time training
birds themselves. They often had dozens of falconers employed in
various locales to train them, keep them healthy, and exercise
them for ready sport whenever varied species of raptors might be
available, appropriate, or in vogue for hunting whatever game
happened to be the current enthusiasm of a nobleman and his
guests. Such retained falconers accompanied their masters on both
diplomatic missions and military campaigns, brief and extended,
local and foreign, irregardless of the level of inconvenience and
expense.
Paid falconers and other servants in the service of the nobility
and to certain gentry traveled across the Channel to purchase
falcons for their employers. George Boleyn, Lord Rochford, wrote
Lord Lisle toward just such a purpose requesting passage for his
servant in October, 1533:
"This my letter shall be to desire you to be good lord
unto this bearer my servant, William Atkins, insuring
him your favour to pass in Flanders with such small
baggage as he shall bring with him; which when he hath
sold it at the most, with the same money buy for me
certain hawks; praying your lordship also that at his
return from thence that he may have passage with the
first that shall come over..."
Clearly, such cooperation between nobles was not solely due to
common love of falconry, but based on political reasons as well.
In today's world, government officials give favors to companies
who contribute to their campaign funds; in medieval Europe,
nobles gave falcons and other related favors in hopes that the
favor would eventurally be repaid.
Master falconers were often paid extravagant amounts of money to
work for kings and other nobles. The still extant office of
Master of the Mews was a position created for the king's best
falconer, who obtained, trained, and groomed the king's falcons,
and kept them in constant readiness for hunting. In Asia, Marco
Polo reported in 1276 that when Kublai Khan went hunting, his
hunting party was comprised of more than five hundred raptors
tended by ten thousand falconers. While these numbers are
probably grossly exaggerated, they doubtlessly reflect Marco
Polo's awed impression, thus containing an element of
psychological truth which helps gain a broader pciture of the
popularity of falconry in the medieval world.
In sum, falconry and hawking exhibit a social history that bodes
well for its furture. Originating in Asia and Arabia, where it
served as a practical necessity and reached a high level of
refinement as an economic necessity, as a sport, and as an art.
These activities spread to England by diffusing first to Europe
and then crossing the Channel. Although it played a minor role
there in the economic system as a means of sustinence, its major
functions were as activities elaborated upon and enjoyed by the
nobility and those who wished to emulate their lifestyle, insofar
as possible. Falconry developed, evolved into a highly visible
social activity for several centuries, and then prepcipitously
declined with the advanced urbanization and onslaught of the
Industrial Revolution.
Falconry continued to be practiced, however, by enthusiasts who
can now be found in most of the world's nations. These
magnificent creatures, at first free in the wild, came to be used
in a symbiotic relationship between bird and trainer that
continues to this day. After their zenith as a sport and art
practiced primarily by the nobility, and their nadir during a
brief period when they were viewed as vermin and their future as
a species seemed endangered, falcons and falconry not only
survive, but thrive; the result of a model of cooperation between
falconry enthusiasts and those who wish to protect the survival
of raptors as a species and the existential integrity of the
world of nature from which falconry emerged.
The Golden Age of falconry ended several centuries ago. Soon
after the invention of firearms, falconry quickly declined in
popularity, although it never completely disappeared. In many
countires in the Middle East and parts of Asia falconry remains a
popular sport of the nobility. Middle Eastern falconers, who can
back their interest with virtually unlimited wealth from the oil
industry, have been the primary supporters of the falconry
market, often purchasing birds both legally and illegally caught.
A controversial American federal investigation, dubbed Operation
Falcon, revealed that some Saudi Arabian falconers were willing
to spend more than $100,000 for a wild-caught bird.
In the early twentieth entury, there was a resurgence of interest
in falconry in some European countries. Since World War II,
falconry has dramatically increased in popularity in the United
States. Farsighted conservation and animal-rights minded American
falconers, however, encouraged and helped formulate and pass very
strict federal and state regulations by which all falconers must
abide. It protects the birds, respects the integrity of our
natural world and, with governmental assistance, self-polices the
practice of falconry in the United States. For example, novice
falconers must apprentice with a Master Falconer for two years
and pass rigid examinations before enjoying the privelege of
being allowed more freedom in the species they can fly and more
autonomy in their practice of the sport. For the same reasons and
to achieve the same goals, the number and species of birds taken
from the wild and their care in captivity are also strictly
controlled.
Falconers today increasingly turn toward captive-bred raptors for
hunting birds. This practice has seen the "invention" of
interesting falcon hybrids and to an increased number of species
used for falconry. Falconers can now use species with limited
natural range, such as Harris' hawks, which have excellent
agility and an instinctive tendency to hunt cooperatively. In
fact, groups of Harris' hawks in the wild are called packs. Today
Harris' hawks are among the most popular birds used in American
falconry.
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Social Rank & Appropriate Bird
as Delineated in The Boke of St. Albans
* Emperor: Golden Eagle, Vulture, & Merlin
* King: Gyrfalcon (male & female)
* Prince: Female Peregrine
* Duke: Rock Falcon (subspecies of the Peregrine)
* Earl: Peregrine
* Baron: Male peregrine
* Knight: Saker
* Squire: Lanner Falcon
* Lady: Female Merlin
* Yeoman: Goshawk or Hobby
* Priest: Female Sparrowhawk
* Holywater clerk: Male Sparrowhawk
* Knaves, Servants, Children: Old World Kestrel
Glossary of Falconry Terms
* Aerie: the nest of a falcon or other raptor.
* Austringer: to purists, someone who flies hawks, eagles, and
owls.
* Brancher: young bird taken just as it was beginning to stray
from the nest, but before it learned how to make extended
flights.
* Cadger: a person who carried falcons to the field on a
perch, or cadge, hanging from the neck.
* Eyass: a chick taken from a wild nest or aerie and raised in
captivity.
* Falcon: strictly speaking, a female peregrine falcon.
* Falconer: a person whom a falcon has concluded is its best
meal ticket and a good guide to where to search for prey.
* Gerkin: a male gyrfalcon.
* Gyrfalcon: a female gyrfalcon.
* Haggard: a young bird that has reached its full plumage.
* Hawking: hunting with hawks and eagles instead of falcons.
* Hen: a female hawk or eagle.
* Intermewed: term applied to a bird having its first molt
taking place in captivity.
* Jesses: leather straps attached to birds' legs.
* Mantling: attitude when bird protectively huddles on kill
with wings and tail spread and defies being touched.
* Mews: a multi-unit housing facility for falcons, hawks, etc.
* Musket: male sparrowhawk.
* Passager or passage bird: a young bird taken into captivity
during its first migration.
* Stoop: a swift dive from high altitudes by a falcon intent
on capturing prey.
* Tiercel: a male peregrine falcon.
Borrowed Words
Falconry terms were at one time used only in the language of the
nobility, who actively pursued the medieval art and sport. Modern
falconers -- relatively few in number -- continue to use these
terms with reference to falconry. Some of the words, though, have
found their way into modern English and are in common usage,
although the modern meaning is far different from the original.
The word codger, used today to describe an elderly person, can be
traced back to the falconry term, cadger, or a person who carried
a portable perch called a cadge for a falconer. Most cadgers were
old falconers and, in time, a corruption of this came to be used
to describe elderly persons.
Callow, which is a nestling raptor whose feathers are still in
the blood-quill stage, is now used to describe someone who is
young or untested.
When raptors drink, it is called bowsing. A bird that drinks
heavily is called a boozer. the term used to describe the same
tendency in humans.
Bibliography
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Nature, Art, Myth, and Literature. New York: Crown
Publishers, 1975.
* Bert, Edmund: An Approved Treatise on Hawkes and Hawking.
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* Byrne, Muriel St. Claire, Ed.: The Lisle Letters. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1981.
* Comte, Suzanne: Everyday Life in the Middle Ages. Trans. by
David Macrae. Geneva Editions Minerva, S.A., 1978.
* Glasier, Phillip: Falconry and Hawking. Newton Center, MA:
Charles T. Branford Co., 1979.
* Green, Carl R., & William R. Sanford: The Peregrine Falcon.
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* Hull, Jeff: The Raptors of the World. The Atlantic Monthly.
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* Madden, D.H.: A Chapter of Mediæval History. Port
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* Mitchell, E.B.: The Art and Practice of Hawking. Boston, MA:
Charles E. Branford Co., 1962.
* Newton, Ian, Ed.: Birds of Prey. New York: Facts on File,
1990.
* Robinson, Jerome B.: Hunting with Hawks. Field and Stream.
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* Savage, Candace: Peregrine Falcons. San Francisco: Sierra
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* Silverstein, Alvin, Virginia Silverstein, and Robert
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* Tennesen, Michael: Flight of the Falcon. Toronto, Ontario:
Key Porter Books, 1992.
* T.S.: A Jewell for Gentrie. London: 1614. Norwood, NJ:
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* Wallace, David Rains: Life in the Balance. New York:
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