Berners, or BARNES, DAME JULIANA

Berners, or BARNES, DAME JULIANA, a writer on hunting and hawking, of whom almost nothing is really known. Tradition has it that she was prioress of Sopwell Nunnery, near St Albans, and daughter of Sir James Berners, who was beheaded in 1388. To her has been generally conceded the authorship of the Treatyse perteynyng to Hawkynge, Huntynge, and Fysshynge with an Angle; also a right noble Treatyse on the Lynage of Coote Armiris; endynge with a Treatyse which speeyfyth of Blasyng of Armys; although she probably wrote only the treatise on hunting, and part of that on hawking. The heraldry is certainly not hers. The earliest extant edition, printed at St Albans in 1486, is issued without the treatise on fishing. A facsimile of this with an introduction by William Blades appeared in 1881. A folio edition was printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1496, and at least ten more editions appeared before 1600, a testimony to the popularity of the 'Boke of St Albans.' A facsimile was issued by Haslewood in 1810, discussing how far she was the first woman-writer in English. An edition of the Fysshynge was printed by Baskerville in 1827, and another in 1880.—For Lord Berners, see FROISSART.