Orangehorse
Well-Known Member
I was just having a little think to myself about this. At one time hunting must have been confined to very, very large landowners - the king, bishops, dukes, etc. who hunted deer which was used for eating (saw an exhibition one time that stressed that most people just hunted for the pot - hum, don't believe it.)
Then in Tudor and Elizabethan times it was the start of the rise of a Middle Class. I guess not many people went hunting of any sort during the Civil War, Oliver Cromwell period and then there was the Restoration of Charles II.
Am I right that this was the start of fox hunting? Almost a "keeping up with the Jones" that rich landowners who were from the Merchant classes wanted to hunt because it was the thing to do, but they didn't have vast Forests and Chases that were previously the hunting areas. I suppose some had deer parks as it was fashionable and the thing to have but there must have been lesser landowners too.
I went to a talk by a Professor who had researched some local history and the place of the horse, and was using records from local estates that his audience would be familiar with. He said that in the 18th/19th century a "gentleman" was just supposed to hunt and shoot and if they didn't they were regarded as completely weird, so your scientifically minded, academic sort that didn't want to was an object of ridicule.
I am correct about this? I have put down what I think was the development of hunting without doing any research about dates, just as a throw out for a discussion.
Then in Tudor and Elizabethan times it was the start of the rise of a Middle Class. I guess not many people went hunting of any sort during the Civil War, Oliver Cromwell period and then there was the Restoration of Charles II.
Am I right that this was the start of fox hunting? Almost a "keeping up with the Jones" that rich landowners who were from the Merchant classes wanted to hunt because it was the thing to do, but they didn't have vast Forests and Chases that were previously the hunting areas. I suppose some had deer parks as it was fashionable and the thing to have but there must have been lesser landowners too.
I went to a talk by a Professor who had researched some local history and the place of the horse, and was using records from local estates that his audience would be familiar with. He said that in the 18th/19th century a "gentleman" was just supposed to hunt and shoot and if they didn't they were regarded as completely weird, so your scientifically minded, academic sort that didn't want to was an object of ridicule.
I am correct about this? I have put down what I think was the development of hunting without doing any research about dates, just as a throw out for a discussion.