, ed. Charles Burnett and Baudouin Van den Abele. Bibliotheca Cynegetica, 9. Geneva: Droz, 2021, 352, 17 color and 14 b/w ill.

Curiously, while many historians are looking for new ways of identifying medieval globalism, focusing on trade, slavery, medicine, political contacts, and travel, the international interest in falconry during the pre-modern period has not yet attracted the same interest, at least in that context. However, hunting with falcons and other birds of prey has always been one of the major pleasure activities for the nobility both in the Middle East and in Europe. In fact, that sport probably originated from Persia, if not India or Mongolia, and became, very similar to playing chess, one of the central cultural modalities for the aristocracy to seek entertainment and to represent their own social class in a most impressive fashion. Falconry was the type of hunting exclusively for kings and other rulers, which explains why the trade of various types of falcons from northern Europe – especially the gyrfalcon – to the far south and east, even to the Arabic world (Mamluk Egypt), was quite common. The high cost for those precious birds of prey did not matter in those social circles. Falconry has already been studied numerous times, especially with regard to the famous book on the art of hunting with birds by Emperor Frederick II, and to the many references to falcons in medieval literature. The global perspective, however, has not yet been taken into consideration carefully enough.