VERT AND VENISON

The greenery and deer of the king's forest. Special courts were established to protect the greenery on which the deer fed, thus, for example, excluding pigs even in the autumn from feeding on beech mast. From the time of the Norman kings, forests in England were fiercely protected to ensure the king's hunting was unimpaired, and the forests stocked with plenty of venison on the hoof. -

Cf.King's vert; Verderer