Historical Perspectives On Falconry

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procedure and considered it quite a novelty, from which fact we may deduce that falconry was at that time unknown, or virtually so, in Persia and India. This conclusion is further strengthened by the lack of allusions to falconry in contemporary Sanskrit literature or Indian and Persian sculpture.
The Japanese apparently knew of falconry, as previously noted, and a reference exists to falcons being sent as gifts from Japan to Korea in 247 A.D.
There are no references to falconry in classical literature, however; the Greeks and Romans were apparently ignorant of the technique, as were the peoples with whom they traded and whom they colonized.
The existence of falconry in Europe cannot be reliably traced to before the 4th century A.D., under the Emperor Constantine. The earliest known chronicler of the sport, Firmicus, offers no information about its origins; most likely the spread of falconry into Europe was due to trade relations with Western Asia and with the Huns, either of whom could have introduced the sport.
An interesting aside is that when the Spanish Conquistadors conquered Mexico, the sport of falconry was firmly established among the ruling dynasty there, in much the same form as was practiced in the Old World. The origins of falconry in Mexico remain unclear.
By the 5th century, A.D., France and several other European countries had enthusiastically embraced falconry. The Burgundian penal code of the period proclaims the penalty for theft of a hunting hawk as a fine of six sous or the removal of six ounces of flesh, by said hawk, from the thief's buttocks, a sight which no doubt would have delighted Shylock. In Lombardy, Swords and Sparrow hawks were both made illegal as tender in payment of ransom or bond.
The popularity of falconry seems to have risen sharply at the time of the Crusades, as a result of the high degree of skill that had been achieved by Arab falconers. The new impetus given to falconry by the Ara...