Livre de la chasse
Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983
Shooting Hares with Bows
While lymers, trackings, and droppings were a fundamental part of stag and boar hunts, they were of little use in hunting the wily hare. Phoebus, however, mentioned the special role of greyhounds in chasing hares. The French name of the breed, lévrier, derives from lièvre, the French name for "hare." In the miniature, the master of the hunt, from his elevated position on horseback, points out a hare to the bowman dressed in blue, while another has already stunned or killed his prey. The two bowmen do not use pointed arrows but wooden bolts that do not destroy the hare's flesh or fur. Two greyhounds are in the foreground, while, at the top of the miniature, two others have chased the hare from a wheat field.
Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern