Predators in Robes: Materialising and mystifying hunting, predation and seclusion in the northern European medieval landscape

Hunting was vital to the reaffirmation and maintenance of élite identity. The activities associated with this ranged from the ritualistic, theatrical hunts involving individual noblemen, women, kings, queens, and high-status clerics through to the regular acquisition of venison on behalf of the aristocracy through the employment of professional hunters and foresters.

An interdisciplinary approach towards élite medieval hunting culture and space is essential. The range of evidence suggests that élite hunters conceptualised themselves (and were conceptualised by others) as superpredators, emphasising human dominion over the natural world.