SOCIAL STATE OF ENGLAND : EICHAED II. — HENRY VII. 29 



which has at all times been prominently associated with the 

 inhabitants of this country, though latent in those days of 

 civil strife, was not extinguished. Unfortunately, the field of 

 battle in a great measure supplanted the pleasures of the 

 hunting-field ; consequently it is impossible to give any 

 succinct account of the progress of the chase in a general way, 

 or of the Royal Buckhounds and their Masters during the 

 fifteenth century. We are unaware of any records or similar 

 documents to which we can apply for information relating to 

 details of the hunting establishments of the fourth, fifth, and 

 sixth Henrys, of the fourth and fifth Edwards, of Richard III., 

 or of Henry VII. ; nevertheless, there is little doubt that those 

 royal venatic establishments were sustained as efliciently as 

 the disjointed times and adverse circumstances permitted. It 

 is to be presumed the Hereditary Masters of the Buckhounds 

 continued to fulfil their normal duties, provided always the 

 holder of horn was loyal to the reigning sovereign. But to 

 act thus he must have been a partisan of the House of York or 

 of the House of Lancaster in turn, as the White or the Red Rose 

 faction ruled the realm. To do so he would, have to adopt the 

 policy of the Vicar of Bray, which would be repugnant to the 

 hot Norman blood of the lords of Beaurepaire. Bearing in 

 mind these discordant circumstances, and in the absence of 

 any precise information on the point, it can only be assumed, 

 with all reserve, that the succeeding Hereditary Masters of the 

 Buckhounds, who are mentioned in the preceding chapter, 

 continued to exercise their functions until that time, when 

 George Boleyne, Viscount Rochester, was appointed Master of 

 that portion of the Royal Buckhounds appertaining to the 

 Household, by his brother-in-law, in December 1528. 



But, as previously mentioned, sport with the Royal 

 Buckhounds in those unsettled times must have been very 

 intermittent. The same may be said with regard to the 

 numerous packs that were found to be dispersed throughout 

 the country. The great feudal barons and the lord abbots 

 emulated kings and princes in the extent and efiiciency of the 

 hunting establishments which they kept up. The appalling 



