THE BEASTS OF THE FOREST 29 



80 fallow deer died of murrain in the Wiltshire forests of 

 Melksham and Pewsham, namely, 27 bucks, 33 does, and 

 20 fawns ; but in the second year of his reign the far greater 

 number of 340 perished, and in the third year 140. In 1489, 

 and again in 1493, an unusual number of both red and fallow 

 deer were found " dede of murrayn in Epping forest." The 

 most appalling case is that of Clarendon forest, in 1470, when 

 2,209 died of murrain in the one year. 



The ROE DEER were the most graceful and the smallest of 

 British cervidce, a fully grown buck only standing twenty-six 

 inches high at the shoulder. It must have been quite common 

 at all events in the south of England in early days, as is 

 proved by the scientific series of explorations carried out by the 

 late General Pitt-Rivers in the Romano-British villages round 

 Rushmore, Wilts. The roe or roebuck is mentioned in forest 

 proceedings under the interchangeable terms of capriolus or 

 cheverellus, the latter being Latinised from the French chevreuil. 

 A roe killed in 1251 in Rockingham forest is entered, as Mr. 

 Turner points out, as cheverellus in the forest inquisition, and 

 as capriolus in the corresponding eyre roll. The writer of the 

 Feudal History of Derbyshire has made nonsense of the 

 various forest presentments for the killing of roebucks in the 

 Peak, by translating capriolus "wild-goat." The killing of 

 a wild-goat in this forest would have been a work of merit, and 

 certainly not deserving presentment. 



In the full records of the Derbyshire eyre for the Peak of 

 1251, the killing of a roebuck is presented, and at the next 

 eyre, 1286, five such cases are recorded. These Derbyshire 

 instances help to clear up a matter of some importance in the 

 history of England's forests. In the thirteenth century there 

 is no doubt that there were in general four, and only four, 

 beasts of the forest ; these were the red deer, the fallow deer, 

 the roe deer, and the wild boar. In a charter of 1212, King 

 John granted to the monks of Lenton the tithe of all his 

 venison taken in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The word 

 " venison " (venacio} was applied in mediaeval days to the beasts 

 of the forest, and is in this case defined as the red deer, fallow 

 deer, and wild boar. From this it has been supposed that the 

 roe was not considered as a beast of the forest in all counties. 

 Mr. Turner, in his valuable work on Forest Pleas, commenting 



