The Falcons of Fire and Ice - By Karen Maitland Page 0,205

than the gyrfalcons of Greenland and Norway, and with its pure white plumage or livery, except for the elegant dark markings on the upper part of the body, would have been the most sought after for royal falconries. From the description of the markings, the Icelandic white falcon appears to be the type of gyrfalcon owned by one of the most avid exponents of falconry, Emperor Frederick II. This would appear to be confirmed by other early writers on falconry who say the gyrfalcons from Iceland are whiter and larger than those from Norway and therefore more prized by kings, though not necessarily better hunting birds than the Norwegian gyrfalcon.

Emperor Frederick II believed the term gyrfalcon or girofalcon came from the Greek hiero, meaning ‘sacred’, or kyrio meaning ‘lord’, hence kyrofalcon – ‘lord of the falcons’. However, others dismissed this as pure romance, and since that time there have been countless arguments about how the birds got their name, some claiming the origin to be variously Persian, Latin or Norse, among many others. This is not helped by the many modifications to the name as it has passed into the various European languages. The English falconers, for example called it jerfalcon, or just jer, with jerkin used as the name of the tiercel or male. But the meaning and origin of the name continue to remain as mysterious and elusive as the bird itself.

Glossary

Badstofa – This was the long common bedroom and living hall of Iceland farmhouses which even up to the nineteenth century had probably changed little since Viking times. In later years, in wealthier homes, the turf walls were usually wood panelled, and the floors of beaten earth were covered with wooden planks. But there was a great scarcity of wood in Iceland and poorer people simply couldn’t afford to use it for walls or floors, so when it rained hard the earth floors turned to muddy puddles. Windows were either absent or kept to a minimum to conserve heat, and those few windows were glazed with fish skin or animal membranes which admitted a similar amount of light as you would get through a sheet of greaseproof paper.

The communal beds, stuffed with hay, seaweed and leaves, were used for seating during the day. Meals were cooked and eaten in the badstofa. Spinning, weaving and other crafts would also be carried out here, especially in the long winters, but there was no other domestic furniture in the badstofa, such as cupboards, tables or chairs. Clothes and personal belongings would be stored in chests or boxes kept in the separate store room, along with the food supplies.

Basilisk – A mythical beast also known as the cockatrice. In the time of the Ancient Greeks it was described as a giant serpent, but from the Middle Ages onwards it was a four-legged cock with a serpent’s tail that ended either in a sting or another head. Its eyes could turn any living thing to stone. Wherever its gaze fell, it turned that place into a desert and its venom was deadly. It was only afraid of two things – the crowing of a cockerel, and a weasel, which was the only creature unaffected by its stare. The prudent traveller in the Middle Ages would therefore arm himself with a cage containing a cockerel or a weasel before exploring a foreign land.

Caravels – Two-or three-masted, ocean-going ships, which were used to travel long distances at sea. They carried around 50 to 60 tons of cargo and provisions. They were between 50 and 70 feet long and 19 to 25 feet broad. Such a ship would be crewed by approximately twenty to twenty-five men. They were sturdy and fast, so were often used for exploring distant lands. The early caravels were lateen-rigged, meaning they had three triangular sails which allowed them to change course rapidly. However, increasingly caravels were rigged with a square sail for the fore and main sail, using the triangular sail only for the rear mizzen mast. This allowed them to achieve faster speeds in a steady wind.

Castrati – Since women were forbidden to sing in church choirs, and boys’ voices broke just a couple of years after they were fully trained, the Church needed to find a way of preserving the angelic voices they needed. From the fourth century onwards, boys between the ages of eight and twelve had their testicles removed to prevent their voices from breaking. This left them as adults able to achieve full sexual function,