The Master of Game

The Master of Game

"Buck Hunting with Running Hounds" (1904 edition)
Author	Edward, Duke of York
Country	England
Language	Middle English
Subject	Medieval hunting
Publication date	1413, 1904

The Master of Game is a medieval book on hunting written by Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York, between 1406 and 1413, of which 27 manuscripts survive. It is considered to be the oldest English-language book on hunting. It was reprinted in 1904 with a translation into modern English, an essay on medieval hunting, and a foreword by then-American President and noted hunter Theodore Roosevelt.

Written between 1406 and 1413 by Edward, second Duke of York, The Master of Game is mostly a translation of an earlier work by Gaston Phoebus entitled Livre de Chasse, and is considered to be the oldest English language book on hunting. Edward held the position of master of game during the reign of Henry IV and in a prologue dedicated the book to Henry, Prince of Wales, later to become Henry V, as a set of instructions on how to proceed with the hunt. Although The Master of Game is mostly based on the earlier work, Edward added an additional five chapters which dealt with English hunting, including comprehensive coverage of hunting for deer and hare in the English style.

Several chapters from the previous work were also omitted, including sections on the ibex and the reindeer which were not relevant quarry for medieval Englishmen. Other chapters omitted included those on trapping and the conduct of hunts in France.

The work was reprinted in 1904, with several additions, including a foreword by Theodore Roosevelt who at the time was President of the United States and completed by hunter William Adolf Baillie Grohman. It reprinted the French illustrations incorporated in the 1904 edition, and also added an appendix to explain the meaning and terms of medieval hunting customs. At the time it was republished, only nineteen copies of the original text were known, two of the best preserved copies were on the shelves of the British Library and one in the Bodleian Library.