INTRODUCTION 



The "Master of Game " is the oldest as well as 

 the most important work on the chase in the 

 English language that has come down to us from 

 the Middle Ages. 



Written between the years 1406 and 141 3 by 

 Edward III.'s grandson Edward, second Duke of 

 York, our author will be known to every reader 

 of Shakespeare's "Richard IL," for he is no other 

 than the arch traitor Duke of Aumarle, previously 

 Earl of Rutland, who, according to some historians, 

 after having been an accomplice in the murder of 

 his uncle Gloucester, carried in his own hand on 

 a pole the head of his brother-in-law. The 

 student of history, on the other hand, cannot 

 forget that this turbulent Plantagenet was the 

 gallant leader of England's vanguard at Agin- 

 court, where he was one of the great nobles who 

 purchased with their lives what was probably the 

 most glorious victory ever vouchsafed to English 

 arms. 



He tells us in his Prologue, in which he dedi- 

 cates his " litel symple book" to Henry, eldest 



