228 PROCEEDINGS COTTESWOLD CLUB 1914 



There were four Verderers for every Royal Forest, and 

 they were elected then as now, by the votes of all the Free- 

 holders in the County within which the Forest lies. Every 

 Freeholder in the whole County can vote, and the Sheriff 

 must, in case of a contest, keep open the poll as long as he 

 thinks reasonable. 



There is a great similarity between the form of appoint- 

 ment of a Coroner and that of a Verderer, the former having 

 to hold an inquest when any of the King's subjects has met his 

 death by violence or mischance, and the Verderer having to 

 investigate the circumstances if one of the King's deer was 

 found " killed or sore wounded." If the deer was killed by an 

 arrow, the Verderer was allowed to retain the arrow as his 

 perquisite. 



A Verderer is described as "A judicial officer of the King's 

 Forest, chosen by the King's Writ in the county in which the 

 Forest is, men of good account, ability and living, wise and 

 discreet men, well learned in the laws of the Forest." 



Their duties were to have charge of the vert and venison, 

 as to which Man wood says, " Every Forest hath two ornaments 

 which doth grace and decorate the same, and which are, as it 

 were, the only beauty of a Forest, and the want of either of 

 them doth in short time not only deface or blemish a Forest, 

 but doth make a Forest to be no Forest at all. The first of 

 which ornaments is called vert, and the second is called veni- 

 son." He then wanders off into a lengthy disquisition as to 

 the relative importance of vert and venison, and proves to 

 his Own complete satisfaction that the former is the more 

 important, because vert can thrive and flourish without veni- 

 son, but venison is dependent upon vert for its very existence ; 

 a superiority which is also indicated by the fact that a Ver- 

 derer's symbol was an axe. 



" Vert " apparently consisted of everything green that 

 in any way contributed to the sustenance of venison ; and 

 " venison " included the five beasts of venery — the Hart, the 

 Hind, the Hare, the Boar and the Wolf, and also the five beasts 

 of the chase — the Buck, the Doe, the Fox, the Martron, and 

 the Roe. Beasts and fowl of warren were apparently not 

 included. 



