Historical Falconry

Ancient biblical literature does not mention falconry. However, European medieval Jewish and Christian artists and commentators did depict biblical falconry. Examples are surveyed representing Jewish and Christian art of the High Middle Ages and Renaissance periods. Both Jewish and Christian art updated the biblical narrative to fit the medieval cultural environment, as well as employing different types of symbolism associated with falconry which were added to embellish the narrative. Representing Jewish art, the “First Nuremberg Haggadah” depicts Esau with a large hawk resting on his right hand; it is compared with a biblical commentary of French Jewish sages and with the Bayeux Tapestry. A young crowned Moses at Pharaoh’s court is depicted in the “Yahuda Haggadah” holding a hawk. In the “Hispano-Moresque Haggadah”, Pharaoh practices falconry at the riverside as Moses warns him of the upcoming plagues. An illustrated Provencal Jewish prayer-book includes a unique stylised manus dei, the Hand of God, with a bird resting on it, overlooking a hunting scene below.Examples from Christian art include the Crusader-era French “Morgan Bible”,
in which Absalom adopts a hawk from his group of companions as he begins a coup against King David. This iconography is compared with a contemporary and proximate iconographic motif in Jacquemart Giélée’s “Renart le Nouvel”. “Bible Moralisee” depicts the male lover of the Song of Songs with a hawk on his fist. The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon prefigures and parallels the Adoration of the Magi in Christian thought. A falconer is found in the entourage of heretical idolaters from afar, representing the Ecclesia ex gentibus, the Church of the Gentiles.

This paper analyses ancient Chinese falconry terminology focusing on the names for falcons. Based on linguistic evidence from Oracle Bone and Bronze inscriptions, it seems that falconry might have already existed within Chinese territory during the Shang dynasty (17th–11th centuries BCE). Although falconry may have been transferred from the Eurasian Steppe to China, no loanwords or other forms of linguistic communication exists between Chinese and other neighboring languages, especially prior to 220 CE. Some evidence for the communication between the Chinese and their nomadic neighboring cultures concerning falconry, however, can be found in later falconry termi- nology beginning in the 6th century CE, such as the transcription of a Sanskrit word for goshawk in Chinese.

This essay explores different intonations of the episode of the Female Shaman Eagle that is found in European versions of the Bear’s Son tale. It will be shown that a retelling of this episode can be detected in other myths and legends. It has left traces in the myth of Prometheus as summarized in Hesiod, as well as more explicitly in the legends surrounding the Caucasian hero Amirani. Further to the east the episode surfaces in tales recorded among the Tuvan people while evidence for the entrenchment of the episode along with its mythical ramifications in imagery can be identified in Iran. In the pages that follow we discover that the eastern reach of variants of the Bear’s Son tale takes us into Turkey, the Caucasus, south into Iran and even further to the east into the westernmost steppes of Mongolia. In all these geographic locations it is the figure of the Female Shaman Eagle that is highlighted and acquires mythic proportions, not just in narrative form but also as a highly esteemed bird of prey, celebrated in dance and expressed in striking visual imagery. In these materials the eagle in question is regularly identified as a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). In addition, these are zones in which there have been strong traditions of raising and training Golden Eagles as hunting companions.

While scholars may know that the 'sultan of Babylon' sent Frederick II a 'white parrot', few are aware of the existence of four sketches, indicating it was a Sulphur or Yellow-crested Cockatoo. As these were made two and a half centuries before what was thought to be the earliest European image of the Australasian cockatoo - in Andrea Mantegna's 1496 Madonna della Vittoria - the authors consider the events and shared interests that led the sultan to give this bird to Frederick and how it would have arrived on the Apennine Peninsula in the first half of the thirteenth century.
Published with Jukka Salo, Pekka Niemelä and Simo Örmä.

At first sight, the imagery on the gold pendant jewellery of northern Europe could be taken as depictions of falconry hunting: some gold bracteates from the Migration Period (5th–6th centuries AD) show a central motif with a large anthropomorphic head on top of a quadruped and, in addition, a small bird. Yet in comparison to other bracteate motifs and to all related images of their time, such an interpretation should be rejected – whether it is understood as a real or mythical scene. On other kinds of objects, clear portrayals of the use of birds of prey as hunting assistants are also lacking. Consequently, there is no evidence of the existence or even the knowledge of falconry in the Germanic North during the 5th and 6th centuries.

«Il volo della mente» indaga le implicazioni filosofiche, letterarie e artistiche della falconeria nel Medioevo in prospettiva mediterranea: accanto e insieme alle testimonianze del mondo mediterraneo, sono prese in considerazione anche alcune tra le più significative espressioni culturali della civiltà islamica. Tale scelta metodologica ha come scopo non di suggerire una (improbabile) dipendenza dell'una cultura dall'altra, quanto piuttosto di mostrare l'individualità di ciascuna all'interno di una prospettiva unitaria.
Gli otto capitoli in cui è suddivisa l'opera affrontano diversi aspetti della storia delle idee, delle pratiche sociali, della simbologia politica, della letteratura e delle arti visive in relazione alla falconeria. Questa viene intesa come pratica sapienziale di ammaestramento e non, come generalmente s'intende, quale intrattenimento sportivo. Attraverso tale processo educativo inteso a condurre l'io naturale e "inconscio" verso e oltre se stesso, è sempre il potenziale di realizzazione dell'esistenza terrena, in prospettiva sia immanente sia trascendente, a essere indagato.
Al centro del libro sta il triangolo, attualissimo perché ancora irrisolto, dei rapporti tra Federico II, il mondo islamico e Dante. L'orizzonte all'interno del quale questi rapporti si iscrivono è quello della diffusione dell'avicennismo (e pertanto del neoplatonismo) in area mediterranea,  fenomeno alla divulgazione del quale i sovrani normanno-svevi apportarono un contributo decisivo.
Le illustrazioni incluse nell'apparato iconografico sono oggetto di analisi approfondita nel testo. Oltre a provvedere un supporto visivo concreto in relazione all'argomento trattato, esse intendono anche, e forse soprattutto, mostrare come immagini e parole siano le due inseparabili facce di ogni elaborazione culturale.

Falconry is usually considered to have appeared in China beginning in the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE). It became an important part of royal hunts in Medieval China (roughly 6th–12th c. CE). Two different types of royal falconry existed in China between the 6th and 14th centuries. These differed most obviously in their timing and setting – but most importantly in the role of falconry in the royal hunt as a whole. The present paper argues that falconry at the beginning of this period was primarily a form of entertainment, but later became an important part of political life. Government management of falcons and falconers, the practice of falconry by the royal family, and the influence of falconry and reactions to falconry are all examined in this paper, which concludes with a discussion of the differences between the two types of royal falconry and the implications of those differences.

A origem do nome do arquipélago dos Açores é um dos assuntos mais intrigantes sobre a história destas ilhas Atlânticas.
Das muitas teorias apresentadas ao longo dos tempos, a que defende a identificação errónea da espécie de ave de rapina, encontrada nestas ilhas, milhafre (Buteo buteo rothschildi) pelo Açor (Accipiter gentilis), esteve por trás da origem do nome do arquipélago, é presentemente a mais apoiada. Neste trabalho, recorreu-se a informação histórica compilada ao longo dos últimos séculos, com os dados biológicos e comportamentais das aves de rapina. Quando alinhadas cronologicamente as fontes escritas sobre o tema consegue-se perceber que as descrições iniciais da ave de rapina como de Açor no arquipélago, dão lugar a apenas citações vagas sobre a existência e desaparecimento desta ave na região, culminando com a negação total da existência das mesmas, justificando-se este facto com a ocorrência de um erro de identificação da ave.
Finalmente, a biologia e comportamento das espécies em apreço, Açor e Milhafre, também ajuda a perceber que o Açor, mais do que o milhafre, seria a espécie encontrada neste arquipélago pelos primeiros descobridores.

ABSTRACT
The origin of the name of the archipelago of the Azores is one of the most interesting issues about the history of these Atlantic islands.
Of the many theories presented over the years, the one that defends the erroneous identification of the bird of prey species, commonly found in these islands, common buzzard (Buteo buteo rothschildi), by a hawk-like species, was behind the origin of the name of the archipelago, is presently the most supported.
In this work, we used the historical information compiled over the last five centuries, with the biological and behavioral data of birds of prey. When the historical written sources were chronologically aligned it was possible to see that the initial descriptions of the presence of a hawk-like species in the archipelago give rise to only vague quotations about the existence and disappearance of this bird in the region, culminating in the total denial of existence of them, justifying this fact with the occurrence of an error of identification of the bird.
Finally, the biology and behavior of the species in question, hawk and the common buzzards, also helps to realize that the hawk, more than the buzzard, would be the species found in this archipelago by the first discoverers.

This is a short intellectual biography of my father, Hans J. Epstein, focusing on his interest in falconry, via medieval history, and later his interests in naturalism (mostly lepidopterology). It is also of interest in terms of some of his contacts in the US, figures like Ernst Mayr, and Bill Cottrell.

At the end of a discussion on the permissibility of carrying living beings on the Sabbath day and of selling horses to gentiles, the Talmud daringly proposes that ‘this horse is a bird specialist’. An incredulous objection is responded to: falconers do indeed have such a horse! The Talmud then attempts to deduce whether Persian noblemen in full dress regalia on horseback are considered ‘bound’ and immobile, in which case sale of horses to them would be prohibited.
The Talmudic commentaries of R. Hai Gaon in Babylonia, and of Rashi and RI ha-Zaqen in Medieval are analyzed critically. It appears that some of these sages were keenly aware of falconry in their surroundings but probably did not practice it intimately. With the sparse Jewish settlement in 13th century France and technological developments enabling widespread use of horses for agricultural power, the prohibition on selling falconers’ horses to gentiles was stricken. Despite employing a common Persian loanword, this Talmudic source does not provide clear evidence for early Persian falconry, but rather, of Jewish acquaintance with falconers from somewhere in the Sasanian Empire.

Horse forehead pendants that depict a bird of prey and other images are typical grave goods
of horsemen graves of the Sambian Peninsula of the 10th/11–12th centuries – today’s Kaliningrad region
of Russia (former East Prussia). The article gives an overview of the main forms of these artefacts
against a background of possible iconographic influences and analogies. For the first time, the typological
dating, based on the correlation of the dates of artefacts found together with forehead pendants,
are compared to the 14C AMS dating of either the same or neighbouring cremation graves with such
pendants.

A singular figurative bas-de-page panel executed in micrography at the end of the Book of Ecclesiastes appears in Vatican Urb. Ebr. 1 fol. 817r, dated to 1294 in the German Lands. The panel depicts a complete hunt scene with a mounted figure blowing a horn, a falcon, and four hounds. Elsewhere, I have argued that mounted falconers executed in figured micrography are a representation of the Messiah. Reading the forming micrography in its entirety reveals the utilized text is an Okhla we’Okhla compilation that has no relevance to the main text. Analyzing the choice text in regards to the iconographical content indicates not only an intricate and learned manipulation by the scribe but also illuminates an encapsulated message of repent and redemption designed to engage the reader in visual and textual deciphering regarding the coming redemption of Israel.

The Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archeology (ZBSA) in Schleswig, northern Germany, presents its second falconry book, co-edited by the New York University Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The publication, which is written in English, addresses falconers and scientists worldwide. The two volumes contained in a slipcase have c. 1000 pages. With its roughly 1000 illustrations, the publication is the ultimate picture book about falconry history and related motives and is, so far, unique.

In this paper the meaning and the functions of birds of prey depicted on Greek and Roman coins are discussed. First of all it is stated that, in contrast to modern states and rulers, ancient gov- ernmental authorities did not present such birds on their coins in order to propagandise their efforts in the field of nature protection. It is rather that, by representing such birds, the coins of ancient city states and monarchs reflect their political and religious identities. Hawks and eagles are mostly linked with guardian deities, especially with Artemis and Zeus. In particular coins showing Zeus with his eagle as well as his eagle alone, perhaps in the role of the supreme god’s manifestation, servant or messenger, are omnipresent. In some cases such coins are superb works of art. It may have notably been this linkage of birds of prey with the Greeks’ and Romans’ major deities that, in antiquity, widely protected these birds against attacks, let alone extinction. However, this may also have been the reason why birds of prey in Greek and Roman culture were not used for falconry. Only the decline of the traditional Greek and Roman religion and the descent of these gods into insignificance opened up new possibilities for using such birds for public hunting.

Resumen:  El objetivo de este estudio es comprender  algunas de las motivaciones que han llevado a cometer delitos contra la propiedad a lo largo de la Historia. Para ello, se  pone el acento tanto en la naturaleza de los bienes codiciados como en las circunstancias que envolvieron los conflictos en torno a su posesión, desvelando aspectos de interés material y también otros que van más allá, hacia un plano simbólico, siendo el acto de apropiación un medio de expresión, al que por otro lado se presta el propio bien, en este caso las aves de cetrería, aún objeto de deseo en la Península Ibérica a fines del siglo XVI e incluso inicios del XVII.
Palabras Clave: Delitos contra la propiedad, Acción simbólica, Cetrería, Nobleza, Siglo XVI.

Résumé: L'objectif de cette étude est de comprendre quelques-unes des motivations qui ont amené à commettre des délits contre la propriété tout au long de l'Histoire. Pour cela, l'accent sera porté sur la nature des biens convoités autant que sur  les circonstances qui entouraient les conflits autour de leur possession dont il s’agira de découvrir les intérêts matériels et symboliques. De cette façon, l’acte d'appropriation était un moyen d'expression au même titre que l'objet approprié en lui-même, ici les oiseaux de fauconnerie si convoités dans la péninsule ibérique à la fin du XVIe siècle et même le début du XVIIe siècle.
Mots-Clé: Delits sur la proprieté, Action symbolique, Fauconnerie, Noblesse, XVIe siècle.

Abstract: The objective of this study is to understand some of the motivations which have led to crimes against property throughout history. With this purpose, the attention is focused on the nature of the coveted goods and also on the conflicts involved in the possession of these goods. This will reveal aspects of material interest as well as others, such as aspects of symbolic interest. The act of appropriation is a means of expression - in this case the ownership of falconry birds, which were objects of desire in the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the XVI century as well as the beginning of the XVII century.
Key words: Crime against property, Simbolic action. Falconry, Nobility, The sixteenth century.

על ידי קוף: קופי האדם והקוף הבזייר בהלכה, אגדה ואמנות
הקוף מצוייר רבות באיורי שוליים בכתבי יד מימי הביניים, בהם גם כתבי יד עבריים. ה'מעשה קוף' כולל פעולות של בני אדם כגון בזייר. נעיין באופן השוואתי באומנות היהודית אל מול האמנות הכללית וכן בהקשר ההלכתי והאגדי של הקוף, שבו הוא מוגדר לעתים כבן אדם משונה.

In 2010, UNESCO inscribed falconry on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. In recognition of UNESCO's decision, New York University in Abu Dhabi made the study of the millennial practice of falconry enter its academic fields of Heritage Studies and the broader Humanities to which they belong. Whilst falconry is certainly good in practice, it is also good theoretically too, for it is much more than a hunting story. It is also an excellent prism through which to explore and analyse how we humans use birds of prey (and non-human species in general) to understand and define ourselves, our civilisations and our aspirations across a range of ethnic, religious , historical and geographical differences. This short essay presents an ongoing research project which aims to establish a digital collection at NYU Abu Dhabi, drawn from artistic representations of various falconry cultures and create for them narrative contexts based on artistic and historical research. This academic endeavour unveils, more generally, how the array of convergent practices characteristic of the rapidly developing field of Digital Humanities-the practice of humanities research in and through information technology-can play an inaugural role to further falconry scholarship , create new forms of knowledge and explore technology's impact on falconry-based disciplines.

El objetivo de este estudio es comprender  algunas de las motivaciones que han llevado a cometer delitos contra la propiedad a lo largo de la Historia. Para ello, se  pone el acento tanto en la naturaleza de los bienes codiciados como en las circunstancias que envolvieron los conflictos en torno a su posesión, desvelando aspectos de interés material y también otros que van más allá, hacia un plano simbólico, siendo el acto de apropiación un medio de expresión, al que por otro lado se presta el propio bien, en este caso las aves de cetrería, aún objeto de deseo, como símbolo de representación social, en la Península Ibérica a fines del siglo XVI e incluso inicios del XVII.
Palabras Clave: Delitos contra la propiedad. Acción simbólica. Cetrería. Nobleza. Siglo XVI.

Résumé: L'objectif de cette étude est de comprendre quelques-unes des motivations qui ont amené à commettre des délits contre la propriété tout au long de l'Histoire. Pour cela, l'accent sera porté sur la nature des biens convoités autant que sur  les circonstances qui entouraient les conflits autour de leur possession dont il s’agira de découvrir les intérêts matériels et symboliques. De cette façon, l’acte d'appropriation était un moyen d'expression au même titre que l'objet approprié en lui-même, ici les oiseaux de fauconnerie si convoités dans la péninsule ibérique à la fin du XVIe siècle et même le début du XVIIe siècle.
Mots-Clé: Délits sur la propriété. Action symbolique. Fauconnerie. Noblesse. XVIe siècle.

Abstract: The objective of this study is to understand some of the motivations which have led to crimes against property throughout history. With this purpose, the attention is focused on the nature of the coveted goods and also on the conflicts involved in the possession of these goods. This will reveal aspects of material interest as well as others, such as aspects of symbolic interest. The act of appropriation is a means of expression - in this case the ownership of falconry birds, which were objects of desire in the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the XVI century as well as the beginning of the XVII century.
Key words: Crime against property. Symbolic action. Falconry. Nobility. The sixteenth century.

Abstract: The early 7th century AD cremation burial at Rickeby in mid-east Sweden (Vallentuna), excavated in 1980, is rightly famous. The funeral pyre of a high status warrior (40–50 years old), his precious belongings and numerous animals, including a variety of birds among which were five raptors, was directly covered by a grave mound. The excavation, carried out in a very accurate manner, allows the reconstruction of the situation on the funeral pyre before the fire was lit, which is understood here as a three-dimensional painting/still life embodying, amongst other things, no less than three different “kinds of falconer”.

European and Mediterranean types for the mounted falconer develop simultaneously in a number of different locations in a tangle of intersecting traditions that may or may not be connected to hunting practice. These images have local meanings, but are also linked by a substrate of common late roman imageries and by the intrinsically elite nature of falconry. Thus, though different specific meanings cling to the image of the mounted falconer in different contexts, it also communicates a basic set of associations across geographical, linguistic, confessional and political borders, associations that broaden with each encounter into a palimpsest of shared meanings.
                                            ***
La iconografía europea y mediterránea del cetrero montado se desarrolla simultáneamente en varios lugares diferentes en una maraña de tradiciones cruzando, tradiciones que pueden o no estar relacionadas con la práctica cinegética. Estas imágenes tienen significados locales, pero también están unidas por un sustrato de imágenes romanas tardías comunes y por el carácter intrínsecamente elitista de la cetrería. Así, aunque se adhieren diferentes significados específicos
en distintos contextos a la imagen del cetrero montado a caballo, también
comunica un conjunto básico de asociaciones a través de fronteras
geográficas, lingüísticas, confesionales y políticas, asociaciones que se amplían con cada encuentro en un palimpsesto de significados compartidos.

Raptors and other predators emit venom from their talons or nails according to the late stam layer of the Babylonian Talmud. This unique source has no parallels in Ancient or Medieval medical literatures. Its Medieval and Modern receptions, ranging from pride to embarrassment, are analyzed critically and in comparison with Islamic law in the context of hunting, especially falconry.

espanolEl objetivo de este estudio es comprender algunas de las motivaciones que han llevado a cometer delitos contra la propiedad a lo largo de la Historia. Para ello, se pone el acento tanto en la naturaleza de los bienes codiciados como en las circunstancias que envolvieron los conflictos en torno a su posesion, desvelando aspectos de interes material y tambien otros que van mas alla, hacia un plano simbolico, siendo el acto de apropiacion un medio de expresion, al que por otro lado se presta el propio bien, en este caso las aves de cetreria, aun objeto de deseo, como simbolo de representacion social, en la Peninsula Iberica a fines del siglo XVI e incluso inicios del XVII. EuskaraHistorian barrena jabetzaren kontrako delituak egiteko zer arrazoi egon izan diren jorratu nahi da azterlan honetan. Horretarako, halako gutizia eragiten zuten ondasunak zein ziren aztertu da, bai, halaber, ondasun horien jabetza dela-eta piztutako liskarrak nondik nora jazotzen ziren ere; hala, ikusiko...

Apart from looking at documentary evidence to trace the history of falconry in the Maltese Islands, the significance of falconry in Malta is also discussed by analysing the etymology of Maltese names of birds of prey and popular expressions involving birds of prey. The paper also looks at earliest known references to migration in Malta from the 1600s, where birds of prey are mentioned. The research shows that falconry in Malta existed before 1239. Falcons from Malta were very much esteemed as in 1240, Emperor Frederick the Great sent a team of at least 39 men with horses to Malta for two whole months to trap falcons for him. This implies that the practice of falconry was already well established in 1239 and this ties in with the issue of bird names and language. The fact that there are several names of clear Semitic origin for birds of prey, as well as expressions in Maltese involving birds of prey, continues to prove that a strong bond with these birds existed for a very long time. The research also shows that a degree of politics seems to have surrounded the appointment of falconers and lobbying seems to have taken place. Falconers in the Middle Ages in Malta were well paid and enjoyed several privileges.