A Kestrel For A Knave
This adventure was entitled “TALONS & DRAGONS” and its purpose was to teach children all about FALCONRY in an historical context.
We started the day by looking at “Knights in Armour”, talking about Medieval England and what people used to do for entertainment in a world before television. We discussed Jousting Tournaments, the Age of Chivalry and who the Crusaders were; and about how, without the influence of the returning Crusaders, the art of FALCONRY might not have become so popular in the middles ages and extended right through to present times.
For supporting evidence, we then took a look at some ancient historical texts to find out more about how falconry evolved in the social context, principally by investigating the ‘Boke of St.Albans’ (‘boke’ being the old English word for book) which was written in 1486 AD; and a Harleian manuscript about heraldry, from which the author Barry Hines took the following lines for his novel, “A Kestrel for a Knave”.
An Eagle for an Emperor,
A
Gyrfalcon for a King,
A
Peregrine for a Prince,
A
Saker for a Knight,
A
Merlin for a Lady,
A
Goshawk for a Yeoman,
A
Sparrowhawk for a Priest,
A
Musket for a Holy water Clerk,
A
Kestrel for Knave.
The group investigated some of these species
mentioned above with aid of the information boards
which decorate the walls of our education room at
SOS. Then, with the help of LOCK our Lanneret, we
showed our guests how the practice of training
falcons, how much of the equipment used for falconry
and how the wearing of hoods by falcons (from where,
incidentally, we get the word hoodwinked!) have
essentially remained unchanged since their inception
in Mediaeval times hundreds of years
ago.
We then discussed how virtually everyone within
Mediaeval society had access to Falconry in some form
or another and therefore would have been familiar
with TALONS - not only on birds of prey but also all
manner of creatures (real, mythical or imagined) who
might have possessed them! This took us on to
the importance and significance of dragons in
Mediaeval culture - dragons possessing the fiercest
talons of all. An example of this importance
might be Saint George, the patron Saint of England -
where would he be without his
DRAGON?
We
looked at Heraldry and the importance of wearing a
Coat of Arms to identify knights in battle, and the
meaning and significance of all the heraldic elements
contained within a Knights shield. Then we had lots
of fun designing our own shields, the results of
which can be seen in the picture below!
We ended the day by watching a flying demonstration
in which the children got to see for themselves the
levels of skill and training required to fly a falcon
successfully at the lure - a truly magnificent and
ancient tradition - and finished with a fantastic
game of HERON HAWKING (not literally - the Herons in
this case were children) on the flying field . Once
caught, the ‘herons’ had to wear a leg-band as was
the custom in Medieval England - a custom which has
developed into the modern practice of bird-ringing.
WOULD
YOU OR YOUR SCHOOL LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN AN ACTIVITY
ADVENTURE?
This
Activity Adventure is one of a series that will be
running through to September at the Suffolk Owl
Sanctuary. Each has been specifically devised to
appeal to youngsters aged 6-12 and admission to each
is completely free, the only pre-requisite being that
all participants must book their places in advance.
If you would like more information please
click here
, email us at
info@owl-help.org.uk
or telephone us on 01449 711425 for details