Medieval Hunting by Richard Almond Publisher: Sutton Publishing ISBN: 0 7509 2162 5 Available only from the author (01748 824266) at a reduced price of £14.00 instead of the rrp of £20.00. Richard will sign copies and write a personal message if required.

Richard Almond worked in Further Education as a senior lecturer in History and English. He is now a freelance writer and historian, including part-time tutor in Medieval History at the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge. He has written a number of articles on medieval hunting and Art History for Past and Present; Medieval History; Medieval Life; BBC History; History Today; and Deer: The Journal of the British Deer Society.

About the Book

Hunting was a major economic and leisure activity throughout the European later Middle Ages, and while it has been featured in studies of romantic and narrative literature, hunting has largely been ignored by modern medieval historians. Richard Almond’s book brings vividly to life the universality and centrality of hunting to medieval societies, both as an economic necessity and as an expression of medieval humanity’s almost atavistic sense of oneness with nature. It also offers a historical perspective on the current debates concerning hunting, which frequently appear in the media today.

Medieval Hunting dispels some of the myths and misunderstandings about hunting, including the view that it was chiefly an aristocratic pursuit, and a male one at that. Richard Almond shows that hunting (in which he includes fishing, hawking and poaching) was enjoyed by all classes, and by women as well as men. Using a variety of sources, including hunting manuals and treatises, Books of Hours, Psalters and tapestries, as well as pictures of hart and boar hunting, ladies ferreting conies, peasants netting larks and unusual camouflage techniques such as disguising oneself as woodcock, the author offers a detailed and captivating picture of a pre-urban world from which the modern age has much to learn in terms of land use and conservation.

Lively, informative and richly illustrated, this unique study is essential for medieval and social historians, and also has much to offer those interested in the countryside and modern field sports.