Editing Falconry (section)

===The ''Book of St Albans''===
{{Original research|section|date=April 2024}}
[[Image:Sibylle-Schreiner.jpg|thumb|A lady with [[peregrine falcon]] on horse]]
The often-quoted ''[[Book of Saint Albans]]'' or ''Boke of St Albans'', first printed in 1486, often attributed to Dame [[Juliana Berners]], provides this hierarchy of [[hawk]]s and the [[social rank]]s for which each bird was supposedly appropriate.
# [[Emperor]]: [[Eagle]], [[vulture]], and [[Merlin (bird)|merlin]]
# [[Monarch|King]]: [[gyrfalcon]] and the tercel of the gyrfalcon
# [[Prince]]: falcon gentle and the tercel gentle
# [[Duke]]: falcon of the [[loch]]
# [[Earl]]: [[Peregrine falcon]]
# [[Baron]]: [[bustard]]
# [[Knight]]: [[Saker falcon|sacre]] and the [[Sakret|sacret]]
# [[Squire|Esquire]]: [[Lanner falcon|lanere]] and the [[Lanneret|laneret]]
# [[Lady]]: [[Merlin (bird)|marlyon]]
# Young man: [[Eurasian hobby|hobby]]
# [[Yeoman]]: [[Eurasian goshawk|goshawk]]
# Poor man: tercel
# [[Priest]]: [[Eurasian sparrowhawk|sparrowhawk]]
# [[Asperges|Holy water clerk]]: [[Eurasian sparrowhawk|musket]]
# [[Domestic worker|Knave]] or [[servant (domestic)|servant]]: [[Common kestrel|kestrel]]

This list, however, was mistaken in several respects.
* 1) Vultures are not used for falconry.
* 3) 4) 5) These are usually said to be different names for the [[peregrine falcon]]. But there is an opinion that renders 4) as "rock falcon" = a peregrine from remote rocky areas, which would be bigger and stronger than other peregrines. This could also refer to the Scottish peregrine.
* 6) The [[bustard]] is not a [[bird of prey]], but a [[game (hunting)|game]] species that was commonly hunted by falconers; this entry may have been a mistake for [[buzzard]], or for ''busard'' which is [[French language|French]] for "[[harrier (bird)|harrier]]"; but any of these would be a poor deal for [[baron]]s; some treat this entry as "bastard hawk", possibly meaning a hawk of unknown lineage, or a hawk that could not be identified.
* 7) Sakers were imported from abroad and very expensive, and ordinary knights and squires would be unlikely to have them.
* 8) Contemporary records have [[Lanner falcon|lanners]] as native to England.
* 10) 15) Hobbies and kestrels are historically considered to be of little use for serious falconry (the French name for the hobby is ''faucon hobereau'', ''hobereau'' meaning ''local/country [[squire]]''. That may be the source of the confusion), however King Edward I of England sent a falconer to catch hobbies for his use. Kestrels are coming into their own as worthy hunting birds, as modern falconers dedicate more time to their specific style of hunting. While not suitable for catching game for the falconer's table, kestrels are certainly capable of catching enough quarry that they can be fed on surplus kills through the moult.
* 12) An opinion<ref>{{Citation | page = 11 | issue = 36 | journal = Austringer | url = http://www.thewelshhawkingclub.com/ | title = The Welsh Hawking Club | access-date = 2008-05-09 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101013122848/http://www.thewelshhawkingclub.com/ | archive-date = 2010-10-13 | url-status = usurped }}.</ref> holds that since the previous entry is the goshawk, this entry ("Ther is a Tercell. And that is for the powere [= poor] man.") means a male goshawk and that here "poor man" means not a labourer or beggar, but someone at the bottom of the scale of [[landowner]]s.

The relevance of the "Boke" to practical falconry past or present is extremely tenuous, and veteran British falconer Phillip Glasier dismissed it as "merely a formalised and rather fanciful listing of birds".
{{Further|topic=the 15th century illuminated falconry manuscript|Kerdeston Hawking Book}}