Luparii

Luparii were royal officials responsible for controlling wolf populations in France during the Middle Ages. The office was created by Charlemagne in 813. Luparii were paid for each slain wolf, and their hunts were funded by the crown. In severe cases of wolf aggression extra finances were appropriated to the luparii, which were typically spent in organizing grand hunts with beaters or by lacing dead animals with poison and leaving them in afflicted areas. Pastoral societies like France depended on the survival of livestock like sheep and goats, perennial quarry of wolves, and thus the luparii enjoyed great renown and favour at court. Wolf "plagues" were also common and luparii often found themselves defending the kingdom from predatory aggression. The tradition of rewarding wolf kills with a bounty existed even into the modern period, and shepherds in France could expect payment from local government officials if they presented a wolf carcass. Luparii were responsible for the initial reduction of the wolf population in France, which would become decimated in later centuries. The luparii had a vast terminology; a "grand vieux loup" was a term used to describe an old, solitary male. A "loup chevalier" was a wolf which regularly attacked horses. A "loup lévrier" was a name given to exceptionally fast wolves. A "loup moutonnier" was a wolf specialised in killing sheep. A wolf den was reffered to as a "lovière". Wolf-dog crossbreds were reffered to as "lycisca".

The office of luparii is today known as the Wolfcatcher Royal.

ee also

*Wolf hunting
*Medieval hunting
*Wolfers

References

#Thompson, Richard H. "Wolf-Hunting in France in the Reign of Louis XV: The Beast of the Gévaudan". Lewistown: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1991.
#"Impact of Wolves (Canis lupus) on wild and domestic ungulates in the massif of Mercantour" [http://www.carnivoreconservation.org/files/thesis/espuno_2004_phd.pdf]
#fr iconÉlise Rousseau "Anthologie du Loup". delachaux et niestlé, 2006.