Le Venery and The Maistre of Game
These two hunting manuals show that the
word brocket was originally Northernnot
ContinentalFrench.
Their earliest surviving versions in Middle English
are in the Cotton Vespasian B 12 manuscript in the British
Librarythe source used here:
- Le Veneryi.e. 'Hunting'copied
about 1425 but written a century earlier by William
Twyty, chief huntsman of Edward II (1307-27); transcribed
by Wright and Halliwell (1845 esp p 151) and Tilander (1956
esp pp 45, 53).
- The Maistre of Game copied about 1410,
not long after being written by Edward III's grandson; more
accessible in Baillie-Grohman's 1909 edition: The Master
of Game by Edward, Second Duke of York (c 1373-1415).
Both were translations into English:
- the first of an Anglo-Norman
original written in England at the beginning
of the 14th C
- the second of a French original
written in Continental France at the end of the
14th C.
The word brocket occurred once or twice in the English
translations; did it also occur in these originals?
Yes, it did occur in the Anglo-Norman original of Le
Venery. The earliest surviving Anglo-Norman
copies are in 2 manuscriptsPhillipps
ms 8336 now British Library ms Add 46919 in London (Meyer
1884 pp 530-1; Busby 1984 p 33) and Gonville
and Caius College ms 424/48 p 92 ll 4ff in Cambridge (James
1907 pp 495-6). Both are in English hands of the first
half of the 14th C (Meyer 1907 p 522; Tilander 1956
p 7; Busby 1984 p 33). Sahlender (1894 p 7) mistakenly said
ms 424/48 was 15th C. There is also a 1910 Paris edition,
incorrectly called a French translation of the English (Tilander
1932 pp 14, 93). The beginning of the section on the
hart shows these 3 versions:
| London ms c
1350 |
Cambridge ms
c 1350? |
1910
Paris edition |
| Ore alom
al cerf e parlom de ly en ses degrés. fet a sauoyr
qe le premer an si est il veel. le secund an broket.
le ters an espeyard. le quart an sour. le quint
an grant sour. le sime an cerf de la premere
teste |
Ore aloms
a cerf / parloms de luy en ses degrés. ffeat assauoir
qe le premer an est veal. le second an est breket
[sic]. le tierce an esparard le quarte
an sour. le quinte an grant sour. le vj
mo an cerf de la premer teste |
Ore alom
al cerf, e parlom de ly en ses degrés. Fet a savoyr
que le premer an si [est] il veel; le secund an, brocket,
le ters an espeyard, le quart an sour, le quint an graunt
sour, le sinc an cerf de premere teste |
| |
Note:
William Twyty's name was mistakenly copied as Twici and
Twicha result of a century of written transmission.
breket for broket and esparard
for espeyard are similar examples. |
|
| In Modern
English: Let's now talk of the hart and his stages. Know
that the first year he is called a calf, the second year
a brocket, the third year a spayer, the
fourth year a soar, the fifth year a great soar and the
sixth a hart of the first head. |
This is the sole instance of the word brocket in
Le Venery.
No, the word brocket appeared nowhere in
Gaston Phoebus, written 1387-9, the
Continental French original of the Maistre of
Game. Most of the Maistre of Game was 'a careful
and almost literal translation of ... the
most famous hunting book of all times, i.e. Count
Gaston de Foix's Livre de Chasse, often
called, Gaston Phoebus' (Baillie-Grohman 1909 p xi). Following
are the 2 instances of brocket in the English, plus
the instance of brokes, compared with the relevant
passages in the earlier French:
| 1. Maistre
of Game f 25v 22 - 26r 3 |
Gaston Phoebus
f 17v col 1 31-37 |
| And
the first yere that thei bene calfed
thei bene called a Calf. the secounde yeere
a bulloke and that yere and so forth go
to Rutte the .iij. yere a broket
the .iiij. yere a staggard the .v. yeere
a stag the vj. yere an hert of .x and than
at arst is he schaceable |
Et
au premier an quilz naissent portent les boces. et au
secont an gettent leurs testes et froyent. et deslors
peuent engendrer. Cest bonne chasce que du cerf... |
| In
Modern English: The first year that [harts] are calved
they are called a calf, the second year a bullock, and
in that year they join the rut, the third year
a brocket, the fourth year a staggard, the fifth
year a stag and the sixth year a hart of ten and only
then can he be hunted (cf Baillie-Grohman 1909 p 29). |
And in the first year after they are born they carry
knobs. And in the second year they discard and rub their
antlers. Thereafter they can breed. The hunting of stags
is a wonderful thing to do...
|
| This was in a chapter describing
the hart and his nature, and the names of the stages are
clear English additionswith similarities to the
Anglo-Norman Le Venery.
The word brocket was not in the French
original. |
| 2. Maistre
of Game f 74r 14-19 |
Gaston Phoebus
f 57r col 1 29-33 ??? |
| &
therbi he may avise hym to know the difference
of the hertis feet. & ther shal wel
fynde that there nys no dere so yong
3if he be from a broket vpward that
is taloun nys more large & bettire & more
greet Argus thane hathe an hynde & comonly
lenger traces. |
&
trouuera quil nest nul cerf si iosne sil porte .vj. cors
ou plus qui nayt le talon plus large & meilleur et
plus gros os que na vne bische. |
| In Modern
English: [By obtaining various harts feet and impressing
them into different types of earth] he may observe and
realise the differences in harts feet. He will soon
find that all male deer from brockets
upward have larger and better defined heels and larger
ergots (dew claws) than hinds, and usually longer footprints
(cf Baillie-Grohman 1909 p 130). |
In Modern
English: And he will find that there is no stag so young,
if he carries six or more pointed antlers, who does not
have a broader and better heel and bigger bones than a
hind has (i.e. all young stags, with six or more pointed
antlers, are bigger in these areas than hinds). |
| This was in a section describing
the difference between the footprints of the hart and
hind: it is not difficult to distinguish between those
of a hind and a brocket. This shows again that the
word brocket was not in the French,
which described the young deer according to the tines
on his antlers. The English author of the Maistre
of Game had a word meaning a deer with antlers with
up to 6 tinesbrocket. The French one apparently
did not. |
| 3. Maistre
of Game f 33v 12-15 |
Gaston Phoebus
f 24r col 2 11-16 |
| and as
an hynde calf of the first yere bygynnethe to put
out his heued. In the same wise he putteth out
his smale brokes
or he be .xij. monythe old |
et ainsi
que les cerfs mettent leurs boces au premier an.
ilz portent ia les fuisiaux et broches
aincoys quilz ayent leur an. |
| In Modern
English: The head of a hind's calf begins to protrude
in its first year and before he is a full year he has
small spikes (cf Baillie-Grohman 1909 p 45). |
In Modern
English: And just like the stags they grow knobs in the
first year. They already carry ?dags and spikes
before they are a year old. |
| This was in a chapter describing
the roe and his nature. The English author did not simply
borrow the Continental
French word. |
|