ABSTRACT
The canon De Clerico Venatore forbade all churchmen from hunting with dogs or hawks for pleasure, but permitted bishops to hunt for recreation or health. The right to hunt 'was a portion of the episcopal privilege' because 'whatsoever canons beyond the seas affected the hunting of foreign prelates … in England … the diocesans had baronies annexed to their sees'. Medieval bishops were therefore tenants-in-chief of the crown, noblemen and/or prominent members of the royal court. Like Earls and other Barons, Prelates hunted royal deer as permitted by the Charter of the Forest and were granted warrants to hunt specified numbers. A charter of 1189 allowed Bishop of Bath to 'take all beasts of the chase excepting stag, hind, buck and doe, throughout Somerset, and also whatever beast escaped out of his parks … he had a right to follow it'.
