MS M.1044, fols. 107v–108r

Gaston III Phœbus, Count of Foix
1331–1391

Livre de la chasse

Paris, France
ca. 1406–1407
381 x 290 mm

Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983

MS M. 1044
Page description: 

Bagging Hares in Purse Nets
Phoebus devoted five chapters to various ways of catching hares in nets. This chapter describes how, two hours before daybreak, nets were to be strung between fields where hares were likely to pasture, usually quite close to their covert, or thicket, which provided them with cover. Two grooms, after attaching small bells to a long rope, would then place it in a wheat field facing their covert. When they tinkled the bells, the hares would be driven into the open green meadow, the nets, and the waiting hunters. Phoebus did not regard hunting hares with all sorts of cords as particularly noble, saying he would rather see them around the necks of those who use them.

Credits: 

Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern