Dissertation on Birds of Prey and the Sport - the Falconry Heritage ...

The ways in which falcons and cranes appear in each canticle illustrate divine
order: those in Inferno have an element of chaos, the souls compared to them in
Purgatorio are training and on pilgrimage, while those in Paradiso are enlightened, and
have reached their goal. A distinction is made between the wild falcons and hawks of
Inferno and those domesticated in training in Purgatorio, or finished training in
Paradiso. Likewise, the cranes of Inferno fly in' a disorderly fashion, while those in
Purgatorio are migrating, like the souls in transit, and those in Paradiso are feeding and
rejoicing, like the souls enjoying full divine love.
maintenant crient et font esveillier leg autres por eschaper a sauvete. (Brunetto Latini, Li livres dozr
Tresol; I.V.165, ed. P. Chabaille (Paris: Imprimerie Imperiale, 1863), pp. 215-16.)
Translation: "Cranes are birds that fly in formation, like armed knights who are going to battle [...I and the
first one leads and guides and instructs with its voice, and all the others follow it and obey its instructions.
When the chieftain has grown hoarse and its voice is somewhat weak it has no sense of shame at being
replaced by another, and it goes back to join the others which are following [...I one out of twelve [sic] of
them watches over and protects the others as they sleep [...I all the while they hold a stone in their claw
which does not let them fall asleep [...I. When something dangerous arises, they immediately cry out and
awaken the others so they can escape to safety." (Trans. Paul Barrette and Spurgeon Baldwin, Brunetto
Latini, The Book of the Treasure [Li Livres dou Tresor] [New York-London: Garland Publishing, 19931,
122.)
Also, Hugh de Fouilloy expounds on the view of cranes as symbols of divine order and monastic living:
Grues dum pergunt, unam sequuntur ordine litterato [...I. 1110s autem significant, qui ad hoc student, ut
ordinate vivant. Grues enim ordine litterato volantes designant ordinate viventes. Cum autem ordinate
volando procedunt, ex se litteras in volatu fingunt. 1110s autem designant, qui in se praecepta
Scripturae bene vivendo formant. Una earum reliquas antecedit, quae clamare non desinit, quia
praelatus, qui primum locum regiminis obtinet, suos sequaces moribus et vita praeire debet, ita tamen
ut semper clamet, et viam bonae operationis sequacibus suis praedicando demonstret. Quae autem alias
antecedit, si rauca facta fuerit, tune alia succedit, quia praelatus si verbum Dei subjectis non praedicet,
vel praedicare nesciat, cum raucus fuit, necesse est ut alius succedat.
Translation: "While cranes are flying they follow one of their number in lettered order [...I. They
symbolize, moreover, those who strive to live by the Rule. Moreover, when they fly in formation they
fashion letters with their bodies as they fly: further, they denote moreover those who by righteous living
form within themselves the teachings of Scripture. A certain one of the cranes precedes the others, one
which cries continually, because a priest, who occupies a prime position in the care of souls, should lead
his followers by his manner and way of life, so that he still continually cries out and in his sermons
demonstrates to his followers the path of good behaviour. If (the bird) which leads the others,
however, should become hoarse, then another takes its place, because if one priest should not preach
the Word of God to those in his care, or cannot preach because he becomes hoarse, it is necessary that
another take his place," from The Medieval Book of Birds: Hugh of Fouilloy's Aviarium, trans. Willene
B. Clark (Binghamton: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 1992), 203-5.