THIRTEENTH CENTURY 49 
question is, were not these so-called Cranes in some cases 
only Herons? There is no reason why the geographical 
distribution of the Crane should have altered; on the other 
hand, the extensive inorasses and immunity from firearms are 
in favour of its having once been much more abundant in 
England, and undoubtedly it has given its name to places in 
the eastern counties.* King John appears to have been of 
the number of those who took delight in hawking. In 1209 
this King, disappointed at finding so little game wherewith 
to exercise his Falcons, issued a proclamation forbidding the 
taking of wild-fowl in his domains, a step which would ensure 
in a few years a better supply for the sport of hawking. Three 
years later he feasted, Mr. Harting tells us, a certain number 
of the poor for every Crane taken by his Hawks, a liberality 
which would encourage them to leave his game alone, and it 
was probably done with that object. At another time, 
having taken the field with his Falcons, and again been satisfied 
with the sport obtained, King John commanded his retainers 
to feed a hundred paupers with a dinner of bread, meat and 
ale, which was a luxury to the common people. In 1212 
King John is stated to have flown his Hawks at Cranes in 
Cambridgeshire, and to have killed seven. Hither the same 
year, or in 1213, he flew his Gyr Falcons in Lincolnshire and 
took nine more Cranes.f 
So great was his love of falconry that when his army 
entered Wales, and captured Rotpert of Shrewsbury, the 
ransom fixed by John was two hundred Hawks, that being 
preferred to a fine in money (Lhoyd’s “ Historie of Cambria,” 
1584). A recent writer has hazarded an opinion that these were 
Peregrines from Stackpole, but for this there is no authority ; 
indeed, so many could not have been obtained from one locality. 
Again, we learn from ‘‘ Manners and Household Expenses 
of England ” that in 1218 Henry ILI. sent Geoffrey de Hauville 
with four Gyr Falcons and seven grey-hounds into Bedfordshire 
and Cambridgeshire for the purpose of catching Cranes.} 
* Also it must not be forgotten that not longer ago than 1544 William 
Turner, who will be fully quoted in another chapter, said he had very often 
seen their young ones. 
+ “ Rotulus Mise Anno Regis Johannis, 1212-13,” as quoted in “ Essays 
on Sport,” p. 77. 
+ P. xlvi., quoted from Rot. Claus., 2 Hen, III. 
