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RECREATIONS 619
grants of 'free warren*, which gave to the tenant an exclusive
sporting licence to hunt and shoot over his estates outside the
bounds of the forest anything except the protected beasts, be^
came more and more frequent until by the middle ofthe four'
teenth
century the majority of manorial lords seem to have
enjoyed this right. Further, in the later middle ages sporting
licences were more freely given and more generous. Thus in
1384 Richard II gave to the dean of St. Martin le Grand *on
account ofthe affection we bear to him*, a very comprehensive
permit
for life
to hunt and kill with greyhounds and other hounds and with weapons
(cum artillariis) harts, hinds, bucks, hares, and all other wild beasts capable
of being hunted with dogs and bows, and rabbits with ferrets and otherwise,
also to catch and kill as he knows best pheasants, partridges, plovers, quails,
larks, and all other birds of the warren in our forests, chases, parks, woods,
and warrens; and also to catch all kinds offish throughout England, Wales,
and the county of Chester, on condition that he does so in measure and
season and by view of foresters, parkers, and other the king's ministers, who
are to permit him to hunt, hawk, and fish and carry the same away at
pleasure (Pat. Roll 1381-5, p. 408).
Hunting, as we have said, was essentially an aristocratic
sport. Nevertheless, poaching at all times, despite the severity of
the penalties imposed by the forest law, was a popular pastime
ofthe masses not merely for the purpose ofstocking the larder,
but for the sport ofthe thing. This is evident from numberless
cases brought before the forest courts and from the tales of
Robin Hood and similar romances. Moreover it was increasing
(free hunting and fishing were among the demands of the
rebels of 1 3 81) to the alarm ofthe privileged
classes. So action
was taken in die parliament of 1 3 89-90.
Forasmuch as divers artificers, labourers, and servants, and grooms [the
preamble declares] keep greyhounds and other dogs, and on the Holydays,
when good Christian people be at church, hearing Divine Service, they go
hunting in parks, warrens and connigries of lords and others, to the very
great
destruction of the same.
A property qualification was therefore required to keep hounds,
to use ferrets, nets, or 'other engines for to take or destroy deer,
hares, or coneys, or other gentlemen's game* (PL 135 V). The