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620 MEDIEVAL ENGLAND
qualification for a layman was lands worth 40*. a year, for a
clergyman a benefice worth .10 a year. The penalty which the
justices ofthe peace were authorized to impose was one year's
imprisonment (Statute 13 Ric. n, c. 13).
The forest law in the course of time had been considerably
relaxed. Indeed, when towards the end ofthe sixteenth
century
John Manwood published his classic treatise, the forest system
was already in a state of confusion and decay. It had been
gradually superseded by the game laws of which the Act of
1 3 Richard II may be regarded as the first. The harshness ofthe
forest law has often and rightly been condemned; but it is
doubtful whether the system to which it gave way was more
considerate to the peasant and the poacher. It is little/remenv
bered that by an Act of 1828 (9 Geo. IV, c. 69), which rex
mained unrepealed for a great part of Queen Victoria's reign,
a poacher who took even a rabbit at night was liable in certain
circumstances to transportation for seven years.
Like hunting, falconry was a favourite sport of kings and
gentry. The birds in general use were the gerfalcon ('the noblest
of birds'), the peregrine, the goshawk, the sparrowhawk, the
lanner, and the saker; and all are mentioned in English records.
The last two species came from the countries bordering on the
Mediterranean; the chiefsource of supply ofthe others, which
were much more commonly used in England, was Norway,
and they were generally obtained at the great fair of St. Botolph
at Boston (Lines.), though they sometimes came as gifts from
the Norwegian kings. They were flown to cranes, herons,
partridges, and to small ground game, such as hares and
rabbits.
Falconry was a
highly technical and scientific art,
and much was written on the
subject. The earliest treatise
known in western Europe was written by an Englishman, the
well known Arabic scholar, Adelard ofBath. The book itself
is disappointing, for it chiefly deals with the ailments of the
birds and the methods of curing them accordingto theprescrip/
tions of early medical lore; but he tells us that he derives informa/
tion fiom King Harold's books. Harold son of Godwin was
evidently a keen falconer, for more than once he is represented