The Amazing Adventures of Archibald Esq.
Saint Hubert Patron Saint of Hound Dogs
Saint Hubert of Liege (656-727) is the patron saint of hunters, furiers and poorly behaved dogs. Awoof! His saint day is the 3rd of November — so Happy St Hubert’s Day!
Saint Hubert is known as the Apostle of the Ardennes. He was born circa 656 at Maastricht Holland, and was the grandson of the King of Toulouse. The eldest son of Bertrand, Duke of Aquitaine, Hubert was a dissolute, worldly courtier in the northwest France in his youth. He then emigrated to Austrasia, in the border area between modern France and Germany. In 682 he married Floribanne, the daughter of Dagobert, the Count of Louvain; together they had one son.
Like most nobility of the period, Hubert was a happy-go-lucky young man and extremely fond of hunting with dogs. Two types of hunting dogs were used in those days (as in our own): sight (or gaze) hounds were swift, courageous hounds used along with huntsmen on horses to run down and kill large game. Scent hounds were those that tracked smaller game by following its trail through the brush. These dogs were steady and deliberate trackers who routed game back towards the hunting party. (Needless to say the sure-footed dachshund derives from scent-hound stock).
Hubert was passionately devoted to hunting and to his hounds. While hunting a stag on a Good Friday morning, he was confronted by a stag of great size, which bore between its antlers a golden cross. A voice warned him, “Hubert, unless you lead a holy life, you shall quickly go to hell.” He was converted in a flash.
Sadly, Hubert’s wife Floribanne died soon after. Following Floribanne’s death, Hubert renounced all his worldy positions and possessions — all his titles and wealth — and handed his patrimony and the care of his son to his brother. He then took up the priesthood. Later, as Bishop of Maastricht, he was known for his generosity to the poor. Legend has it that he stripped the diocese of all excesses to help them. Hubert became the first bishop of Liege.
Durer’s engraving of Saint Hubert (circa 1500-1501) encapsulates the earthly elements of the fable, and includes the castle in the distance and the bridges - signifying wealth and privilege - with the young huntsman with his horse and hounds in the foreground, confronted by the glorious stag at a distance in the forest.
Although Hubert devoted himself to the church, he never gave up his love of hounds and hunting. At the monastery he established in the Ardennes he set out to develop a new strain of scent hound. He brought dogs from the Rhone district of Western France and through selective breeding developed several types of dogs. One of the dogs produced by Saint Hubert’s kennels was the French basset hound.
In those days, by definition a Basset was any dog measuring under 16 inches at the shoulder. A Bloodhound was any dog whose blood ancestry was recorded. The Basset Hounds of Hubert were described as being mild and obedient. They were black and tan with a heavy noble head, long ears and long bodies with comparatively short and heavy legs.
It is said that Hubert predicted the date of his own death. His relics remain at the abbey named Saint Hubert’s in Liege, Belgium.
Hubert’s name means ‘bright mind,’ and he was highly revered in the Middle Ages. Several military orders were named in his honour, and his association with the hunt led to his patronage of furriers and trappers.
St Hubert is said to protect against rabies and bad behaviour in dogs, primarily hunting dogs. He is also patron saint of archers, forest workers, huntsmen, and, intriguingly, mathematicians.
These hounds were renowned for their wonderfully keen noses and deep melodious voices. Their long ears assisted in acting as a fan to blow scent from the ground up to the nose, and their short stature gave it the advantage over taller dogs of being capable of keeping its nose to the trail without getting a sore neck and back.
Eventually three strains of Basset were developed- smooth coat, half rough and full rough coated along with variations of crookedness of the leg. It will not surprise you to know that all types having devoted followers, and all colours were incorporated as the breed spread throughout France.
There are references to the St. Hubert Hound which indicate that these dogs were imported to England as early as the late 13th century. Apparently James IV of Scotland imported Bassets from France for the hunt, as the bassets were good at driving game into the open, at which time the hunters would release the swift gaze hounds who could run down and catch the quarry. In France the ‘Chien de Saint-Hubert’ remains in use today as scent hounds, and are used by the police to track missing persons or escaped prisoners.
The iconography of Saint Hubert represents him as a bishop with a hound and a hunting horn. Other symbols include an angel bringing him a scroll, a bishop with a stag with a crucifix between its antlers, a huntsman with a hound and horse adoring a stag. More secular representations show him as a young courtier in the company of two hounds.
Awoof to Saint Hubert and his Hounds! Archie
Posted 03 Nov 06
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