IXTRODUCTION ii 



prcux cJicralicr is accorded a magnificent funeral by his 

 grateful master Richard II., and, in St. Edmund's Chapel in 

 Westminster Abbey, a stately tomb, round which still runs 

 in contracted form the inscription : ' Hie jacet Bernardus 

 Brocas Miles T. T. quondam camerarius Anne Begine Anglie 

 cujus anime propicietur Deus. Amen.' It is unfortunate that 

 no solid foundation is apparent for the legend that Sir Bernard 

 bore the crest, used by him in seals as early as 1361, and still 

 extant, of a Moor's head wearing an Oriental crown, in con- 

 sequence of vanquishing a Moorish king in battle.' Possibly 

 he fought among those knights of renown who did battle with 

 Moors ' for the good of their souls ' in the open space between 

 the two camps at Algeciras, when besieged by Alfonso of 

 Castile in 1344. At any rate, the tradition was so well 

 known in Addison's time that the attention of Sir Boger de 

 Coverley was drawn when in the Abbey to the tomb of ' the 

 lord wdio had cut off the King of Morocco's head.' ^ 



Thus, with the marriage of Sir Bernard Brocas and Mary, 

 widow of Sir John de Borhunte and daughter of Sir John de 

 Roches, begins the long period of the Brocas Mastership 

 of the Buckhounds, and it becomes necessary to refer briefly 

 to the early history of the office as recited in an ancient 

 Brocas document. 



List of the hereditary Masters of the Royal Buckhounds by tenure 

 in capite of ' Hunter's Manor,' in Little Weldon, Northamptonshire. 



1. Osborne Lovel, Chamberlain to Henry II. 



2. William Lovel. 



3. Hamon le Venour, by grant from Henry III. in 1216. 



4. William Lovel. 



5. John Lovel, oh. 1316. 



6. Thomas de Borhunte, oh. 1340, jure Margaret Lovel. 



7. William Danvers, oh. 1361, jure Margaret Lovel. 



' Arras of Brocas: Sable, a lion, ramiiant-gardant, or. Crest of Brocas: 

 A Moor's head in profile, crowned. 

 - Spectator, No. 329. 



