MS M.1044, fols. 42v–43r

The Training of a Huntsman
Phoebus recommended huntsmen begin training at the age of seven as a page of hounds as one was thought to retain more at that age than age twelve (the age at which his education commenced). He held that "what a man learns in his youth he will hold best in his old age." A good master–—one who loves and is knowledgeable about hounds–—was also considered crucial. The page was given a list of the names of the hounds, which he should also have been able to recognize by sight and hue. In the miniature, the master instructs a group of students, none of whom appear to be seven years of age. Two of them, including a bearded man, hold parchment scrolls containing the names of dogs they were to learn by heart.