202 APPENDIX 



Fawcons, wilde fowles to kill." And in O. Fr. sport- 

 ing literature one constantly reads of " Chiens bien, 

 affaities" (well-broken dogs); "oiseaux bien affaities" 

 (well-trained hawks). Roy Modus, Ixxix. ; Bormans, 

 p. 52 ; La Chace dou Cerf^ Jub. 157 ; T.M. vol. ii. 



P- 933- 



ALAUNTES, AUaunts, Cams J /anus ; Fr. a/am. 

 Also spelt a/andcj a /aunt, a//aundes, A/oundys (MS. Brit. 

 Mus., Egerton, 1995). See a/so Twici, p. 56. 



A strong, ferocious dog, supposed to have been brought 

 to Western Europe by a Caucasian tribe called Alains 

 or Alani. This tribe invaded Gaul in the fourth cen- 

 tury, settling there awhile, and then continued their 

 wanderings and overran Spain. It is from this country 

 that the best a/ans were obtained during the Middle 

 Ages, and dogs that are used for bull- or bear-baiting 

 there are still called A/anos, Gaston de Foix, living on 

 the borders of this country, was in the best position to 

 obtain such dogs, and to know all about them. His 

 description, which we have here, tallies exactly with 

 that written in a Spanish book, Lihro de /a Monteria, 

 on hunting of the fourteenth century, written by 

 Alphonso XL 



Alauntes were used as war dogs, and it was said that 

 when once they seized their prey they would not loose 

 their hold. 



Cotgrave (Sherwood's App.) says that the mastiff 

 resembles an Alan, and also Wynn in his book on the 

 "British Mastiff" (p. 45) says that he is inchned to 

 think that the Alan is the ancient name for mastiff, and 

 thinks it possible that the Phœnicians brought this breed 

 to the British Isles. He cannot have known the descrip- 

 tion given us of the Alan by the " Master of Game," 

 nor can he have been acquainted with the work of 

 Gaston Phoebus, for he says that the Alan is not men- 

 tioned among any of the earlier dogs of France and 

 Germany. There is ample evidence that they existed 



