Book summary
Trama e riassunto di Il libro di Sant'Albano
- 8 min di lettura
- 8 key ideas
- Audio a breve
A hawk is for an emperor, a goshawk for a yeoman, a sparrowhawk for a priest, so which bird would you fly?
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Il libro di Sant'Albano in breve
Riassunto: 8 min di lettura
- Tempo di lettura
- Circa 3 h 20 min2 h 40 min fast, 4 h slow
- Durata
- 48.200 parole
- Livello nella biblioteca
- Medio longer sentences, everyday words
- Prima pubblicazione
- 1486by Juliana Berners
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo ci vuole per leggere i classici · Aggiornato
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Il libro di Sant'Albano in short
The Boke of Saint Albans is a handbook for the gentleman's leisure and for his sense of rank. Its three books teach the care of hawks, the hunting of deer, hare and boar, and the reading of coats of arms. In each, the same habit runs through, which is that exact words mark a person who knows his craft.
What Il libro di Sant'Albano is about
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.
A chi è rivolto. 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.
The 8 key ideas
Key idea 1 · free to read
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.
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Catching and taming a hawk takes gentle firmness
The first section follows the young hawk from the egg.
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A hawk's health shows in what she casts
A large part of the hawking book is a doctor's handbook for birds.
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Rank and order show in names and lists
One short passage matches each bird to a rank.
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Hunting begins with the names of deer
The hunting part starts in verse, spoken by a teacher to her children.
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The huntsman's calls and the master's lessons
Hunting is also a matter of voice.
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Gentility is traced to heaven and to Noah
The third book begins with a bold claim.
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Reading a coat of arms means learning blazon
The last and largest section teaches how to blazon, which means to describe a coat of arms in words.
Read all 8 key ideas now
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Domande su Il libro di Sant'Albano
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.
Cita questa edizione
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}
}
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