MINIATURIST, English
(active 1320s)

Liber Custumarum

1321-25
Manuscript (MS Cotton Claudius D. II.)
British Library, London

The miniature from the 14th-century codex shows King John of England hunting.

Hunting as a pastime of the ruling class goes back to the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, but seems not to have been a particular passion of the Greeks and Romans. But by the time of Charlemagne, hunting had become the sport of kings. The English and French royal families were devoted to it often at the expense of serious business.