My page a day trivia calendar asked this question today. Who wrote "The Book of Hawking, Hunting and Blasing of Arms" also known as "The Book of Saint Albans" published in 1486. No that's not a misprint, the publication year was fourteen eighty-six. Now I have read a lot of books in my life so it may surprise you that I didn't know the author. You probably do, but in case you're not sure, it was Juliana Berners. She was a Benedictine prioress in England, one of the earliest female authors to be published in the English language. I found that interesting but I particularly enjoyed that she made up, or at least first used, many collective animal nouns such as a gaggle of geese or a swarm of bees. I think that's fun to know but I'm also intrigued by the idea of a nun writing a book on hunting and shooting. But I suppose they had to get their meat somehow.
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