Zusammenfassung
Zusammenfassung von Das Buch von St. Albans
Go deeper: the whole of Das Buch von St. Albans
About 3 h 30 min to read.Für wen es gedacht ist
This book suits readers who love falconry, hounds and the countryside, who enjoy medieval manners and curious lore, or who want to know where heraldry and hunting terms come from.
Worum es in diesem Buch geht
A hawk is a gift fit for an emperor, a king, an earl or a priest, and the bird you fly says who you are. Would you know which one is yours?
The Boke of Saint Albans was put together at Saint Albans in 1486 and carries the name of Juliana Berners. It joins three subjects of a gentleman's world: hawking, hunting and heraldry. Between them come lists of hounds, proverbs and curious names for groups of creatures. You get a lively picture of how people lived and ranked one another in the fifteenth century. It all starts with words, because before you handle a hawk you must learn to speak about her properly.
In dieser Zusammenfassung
- 1Speak the right word for every hawkFree
- 2Catching and taming a hawk takes gentle firmness
- 3A hawk's health shows in what she casts
- 4Rank and order show in names and lists
- 5Hunting begins with the names of deer
- 6The huntsman's calls and the master's lessons
- 7Gentility is traced to heaven and to Noah
- 8Reading a coat of arms means learning blazon
Punkt 1 von 8
Speak the right word for every hawk
The book opens with hawking, and its first lesson is about language. A gentleman must know how to keep a hawk, and he must also know how to talk about her. Hawks lay eggs but do not breed, and they fetch timber but do not build nests.
The rules go on at a steady pace. A hawk rouses and does not shake herself. She mantles rather than stretches. She jouks, which means dozes, and she does not sleep. She snites her beak and does not wipe it. Even praise has its form. You call a hawk fair and never great, and she has a beak and not a bill.
The body gets the same care. The author names the parts from the feet upward, the way a knight is armed. The back claws are talons, the inner claws pounces, and the long sengle is the key of the foot, because when it opens the whole foot opens.
These words train the eye as well as the tongue, because you cannot name a feather you have not looked at.
Naming exactly is a way of paying attention.
That’s 1 of 8 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Go deeper: the whole of Das Buch von St. Albans
About 3 h 30 min to read.About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 53,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 3 h 35 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 10 other languages
Questions about Das Buch von St. Albans
What is The Boke of Saint Albans about?
It is a fifteenth-century guide for gentlemen in three parts. The first covers hawking, with training, feeding and medicine for birds. The second covers hunting with hounds, and the third covers heraldry, including how coats of arms are described and who may grant them.
Who was Juliana Berners?
Juliana Berners, called Dame Juliana Barnes in the text, is the name attached to the book, especially its hunting verse. Few facts about her life are firmly known. The book itself shows the world of hawking, hunting and heraldry that she wrote about.
When was The Boke of Saint Albans written?
The text says it was translated and compiled together at Saint Albans in 1486. It gathers older material on hawking, hunting and arms. It is a real handbook from that time, meant to teach gentlemen the skills and words of their class.
What does blazon mean in the book?
Blazon means describing a coat of arms in precise words. The book teaches where to begin on the shield and how to name colors, lines, crosses and other charges. Each example is given in Latin, French and English.
Why does the book list odd names for groups of animals and people?
The lists, such as a siege of herons, an exaltation of larks and a boast of soldiers, show the playful side of the medieval love of correct terms. They teach proper speech and also entertain with jokes about trades and human types.
Cite this edition
Berners, Juliana. The Boke of Saint Albans. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-boke-of-saint-albans.
Berners, J. (2026). The boke of Saint Albans. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-boke-of-saint-albans (Original work published ca. 1486)
Berners, Juliana. The Boke of Saint Albans. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-boke-of-saint-albans.
@book{berners2026boke,
author = {Berners, Juliana},
title = {The Boke of Saint Albans},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-boke-of-saint-albans},
note = {First published ca. 1486}
}
