Page:VCH Hertfordshire 1.djvu/401

 SPORT ANCIENT AND MODERN 1 county of Hertford has from the earliest times of British his- tory been an important centre of sport. It contained many large forests which formed ideal strong- holds for all beasts of the chase. Hunting is the oldest form of sport. In the earliest times dogs were used for chasing wolves and other beasts of prey, as well as to catch animals suitable for food, such as deer, hares, rabbits, etc. The earliest treatise in England on hunting was written in French by William Twici, huntsman to Edward II. which was referred to as having been seen by Strutt in the Cotton Library at the British Museum. The next, called The Maister of the Game, was written by the Duke of York, son of Edward III. who was noted for his skill and delight in hunting and hawking. After which we have the well-known work on hunting and hawking, called The Bake of St. Albany written by Dame Juliana Berners, a prioress of Sopwell nunnery, which was printed and published at St. Albans in the year 1466, therefore one of the earliest books printed in England, and certainly the earliest printed book on sport. Whether or no it was really written by a lady, the author exhibits great knowledge of the art of hunting and hawking, and it was undoubtedly written and printed by some one connected with the abbey of St. Albans, to which Sopwell nunnery was a cell. Britain has ever since remote ages been justly celebrated for her hardy race of hunters and for the excellence of her sporting hounds. Elizabeth's celebrated minister, Lord Burghley, was a sportsman with a keen eye for a good hound, and hunted in this county. Writing from Theobalds, in 1580, to Leicester, he thanks him for a hound, observing, ' she maketh my hunting very certain ; she hath never failed me, and this last week brought me to a stagg which my- self had stricken with my bow being forced to soyle when with the help of a water spaniel your good brache helped to pluck her down.' In pre-Norman times the nobles were less restricted in sporting on their own lands than they were after the Conquest, for William I. introduced game laws of a much more stringent nature and arrogated to himself the entire right of hunting, not only in his own forests but over all the lands of his sub- jects. Sporting rights, hampered by many restrictions as to the number of days and the head of game, were but sparingly granted by him to a few of his most powerful sub- jects, both lay and clerical ; and the break- ing of the forest laws was punishable by severe penalties. William the Conqueror granted ' free warren ' (i.e. the right of taking hares, conies, partridges and pheasants) to the abbots of St. Albans, Ely and Westminster, over many of the manors in Hertfordshire ; indeed, the abbots of St. Albans claimed the right of ' free warren' over all the lands they possessed. The king's claims to the sporting rights over the lands of his subjects became in course of time a great hardship, as owners of property never knew when the king would swoop down and take possession of their property without compensation. The ' Charta de Foresta,' which was granted by John's suc- cessor, was therefore hailed with delight by the people of England, and was almost of as much benefit to them as the ' Magna Charta ' had been. It limited the king's right of hunting over other people's land to the king himself, instead of allowing him to pass on his right to the nobles, abbots and other gentlemen of his court. It also provided compensation to the people whose lands were forcibly taken from them in order to form a chase or hunting forest. 345