Rache
Encyclopedia
Rache ˈrætʃ, also spelt 'racch', 'rach', and 'ratch', from Old English 'ræcc', linked to Old Norse 'rakkí', is an obsolete name for a type
of hunting-dog used in Britain in the Middle Ages. It was a scent hound used in a pack to run down and kill game, or bring it to bay. The word appears before the Norman Conquest. It was sometimes confused with 'brache', (also 'bratchet') which is a French derived word for a female scent-hound.
In Medieval hunting
, in England and Northern Europe, pursuit of the hart
or wild boar involved using a 'limer
' or 'lyam hound' (a hound handled on a leash or 'lyam') to trace the animal from its footprints or droppings to where it was browsing or lying up. This became known as 'harbouring' the animal. When this had been done the huntsman reported back to his lord, who then brought the pack of raches to chase it down on its hot scent when it had been unharboured, 'rowsed' or 'upreared'. Sometimes pairs of raches were held at strategic points along where the quarry was expected to run, to be uncoupled when the huntsman blew the signal, or when the quarry was seen to come close. The bloodhound
was typically used a limer, and the raches were normally smaller hounds. A lord's pack would include one or two limers to about twenty or more raches.
A king or lord would want to hunt a great stag, a 'hart of ten', or 'warrantable' stag, or a powerful boar, partly for the extra fat it carried when in prime condition in the hunting season, but mostly for kudos.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, bloodhounds announce the presence of a great boar hiding in a thicket, which then rushes out and plays havoc among the raches of the knight's pack.
Not all game was hunted using the leash-hound. Dame Juliana Berners
, writing in The Book of Saint Albans
(1486) writes (translation):
Other writers might include the hare, bear, or wolf among animals to be harboured with the limer, but clearly raches could be hunted simply as a pack, as in modern hunting, if chasing 'lesser' game.
After c 1530 the term 'rache' was hardly used in England, 'running hound' (tr. of chien courant), or mostly just 'hound', being preferred, but the term was still used for a while in Scotland, where the bloodhound was called the sleuth hound
. Hector Boece
(1536) describes the rache in Scotland as a versatile scent-hound, able to find flesh, fowl, or even fish among the rocks, by smelling. His translator, Bellenden, says that it is not a large as the sleuth-hound. The picture below, though it did not appear in Boece's original, was first published to illustrate his account when it was summarised in Conrad Gessner
's Historiae Animalium (Zurich 1554, in Latin).
Obviously raches must have far outnumbered bloodhounds in the Medieval dog population, and may have been quite disparate, depending on the sort of game they were used to hunt. In the picture above from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
(1410) the raches are not all of the same breed. In Britain they may have included the now extinct Northern
and Southern Hound
s. As styles of hunting changed, and the bloodhound fell out of use, packs were normally employed on their own to hunt all quarry. Though their name became obsolete, raches must have continued in this use. We may assume that it was from them, rather than the bloodhound, that the various breeds of pack hound such as the foxhound, harrier, beagle, stag-hound, developed. It is apparent that in the 16th and 17th centuries there was a good deal of regional variation in size and type of scent hound, from which the prospective Master of Hounds could mix and match to form his pack.
Dog type
Dog types are broad categories of dogs based on function, with dogs identified primarily by specific function or style of work rather than by lineage or appearance....
of hunting-dog used in Britain in the Middle Ages. It was a scent hound used in a pack to run down and kill game, or bring it to bay. The word appears before the Norman Conquest. It was sometimes confused with 'brache', (also 'bratchet') which is a French derived word for a female scent-hound.
In Medieval hunting
Medieval hunting
Throughout Western Europe in the Middle Ages, men hunted wild animals. While game was at times an important source of food, it was rarely the principal source of nutrition. Hunting was engaged by all classes, but by the High Middle Ages, the necessity of hunting was transformed into a stylized...
, in England and Northern Europe, pursuit of the hart
Hart (deer)
The word hart is an old alternative word for "stag" ....
or wild boar involved using a 'limer
Limer
A limer, or lymer , was a kind of dog, a scenthound, used on a leash in Medieval times to find large game before it was hunted down by the pack. It was sometimes known as a lyam hound/dog or lime-hound. The name derives from the word lyam meaning 'leash'. The French cognate limier has sometimes...
' or 'lyam hound' (a hound handled on a leash or 'lyam') to trace the animal from its footprints or droppings to where it was browsing or lying up. This became known as 'harbouring' the animal. When this had been done the huntsman reported back to his lord, who then brought the pack of raches to chase it down on its hot scent when it had been unharboured, 'rowsed' or 'upreared'. Sometimes pairs of raches were held at strategic points along where the quarry was expected to run, to be uncoupled when the huntsman blew the signal, or when the quarry was seen to come close. The bloodhound
Bloodhound
The Bloodhound is a large breed of dog which, while originally bred to hunt deer and wild boar, was later bred specifically to track human beings. It is a scenthound, tracking by smell, as opposed to a sighthound, which tracks using vision. It is famed for its ability to discern human odors even...
was typically used a limer, and the raches were normally smaller hounds. A lord's pack would include one or two limers to about twenty or more raches.
In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, bloodhounds announce the presence of a great boar hiding in a thicket, which then rushes out and plays havoc among the raches of the knight's pack.
Not all game was hunted using the leash-hound. Dame Juliana Berners
Juliana Berners
Juliana Berners , English writer on heraldry, hawking and hunting, is said to have been prioress of Sopwell nunnery near St Albans...
, writing in The Book of Saint Albans
The Book of Saint Albans
The Book of Saint Albans or The Boke of Saint Albans was the last of 8 books printed by the St Albans Press in England in 1486.It contains three essays, on hawking, hunting, and heraldry...
(1486) writes (translation):
'My dear sons, I will now teach each one of you how many kinds of beasts must be upreared with the limer in wood or in fields - both the hart and the buck and the boar so wild. All other animals which are hunted must be sought and found with free-running raches ("ratches so fre").'
Other writers might include the hare, bear, or wolf among animals to be harboured with the limer, but clearly raches could be hunted simply as a pack, as in modern hunting, if chasing 'lesser' game.
After c 1530 the term 'rache' was hardly used in England, 'running hound' (tr. of chien courant), or mostly just 'hound', being preferred, but the term was still used for a while in Scotland, where the bloodhound was called the sleuth hound
Sleuth hound
The sleuth hound was a breed of dog. Broadly, it was a Scottish term for what in England was called the bloodhound, although it seems that there were slight differences between them...
. Hector Boece
Hector Boece
Hector Boece , known in Latin as Hector Boecius or Boethius, was a Scottish philosopher and first Principal of King's College in Aberdeen, a predecessor of the University of Aberdeen.-Biography:He was born in Dundee where he attended school...
(1536) describes the rache in Scotland as a versatile scent-hound, able to find flesh, fowl, or even fish among the rocks, by smelling. His translator, Bellenden, says that it is not a large as the sleuth-hound. The picture below, though it did not appear in Boece's original, was first published to illustrate his account when it was summarised in Conrad Gessner
Conrad Gessner
Conrad Gessner was a Swiss naturalist and bibliographer. His five-volume Historiae animalium is considered the beginning of modern zoology, and the flowering plant genus Gesneria is named after him...
's Historiae Animalium (Zurich 1554, in Latin).
Obviously raches must have far outnumbered bloodhounds in the Medieval dog population, and may have been quite disparate, depending on the sort of game they were used to hunt. In the picture above from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry or simply the Très Riches Heures is a richly decorated book of hours commissioned by John, Duke of Berry, around 1410...
(1410) the raches are not all of the same breed. In Britain they may have included the now extinct Northern
North Country Beagle
The North Country Beagle, Northern Hound or Northern Beagle was a breed of dog that existed in Britain probably until early in the 19th century...
and Southern Hound
Southern Hound
The Southern Hound was a breed of dog that existed in Britain probably until sometime in the 19th century. The exact date of its extinction is not known; it is likely that it was gradually interbred with other breeds until the genuine Southern Hound bloodline ceased to exist.The origins of the...
s. As styles of hunting changed, and the bloodhound fell out of use, packs were normally employed on their own to hunt all quarry. Though their name became obsolete, raches must have continued in this use. We may assume that it was from them, rather than the bloodhound, that the various breeds of pack hound such as the foxhound, harrier, beagle, stag-hound, developed. It is apparent that in the 16th and 17th centuries there was a good deal of regional variation in size and type of scent hound, from which the prospective Master of Hounds could mix and match to form his pack.