342 THE ' DE ARTE VENANDI CUM AVIBUS ' July That the De Arte belongs to the later years of Frederick's reign is also clear. He tells us in the preface that he had had it in mind for about thirty years, and had completed it at the urgent request of Manfred, to whom it is dedicated. 1 Manfred, born in 1232, 2 could hardly have been much interested in such a book before the age of, say, twelve, which would bring us to 1244, even if we allow that Frederick's own precocity 3 might have started the idea of the book in his own mind some years before 1214, when he reached the age of twenty. In 1241 the author was still gathering material, as we see from the translation in that year, under his supervision, of the Arabic treatise of the falconer Moamyn rendered into Latin by Theodore the inter- preter. 4 The De Arte can safely be assigned to the period c. 1244- 50, with a preference for the later years, because of its unfinished character at certain points and the revision which Manfred found necessary after his father's death. Either 1247 or 1248 has been suggested, 5 because of the troubles of the following years, but I incline to 1248 or the subsequent years, when Manfred was fully grown and the emperor sojourned in the neighbourhood of Apulia, to which the treatise especially relates. The local allusions refer almost wholly to Apulia, where the emperor's correspondence shows that many of his falcons were kept. 6 It must be said that such allusions are rare : the form of the treatise is general and scientific, with little illustrative detail and no hunting stories. Only twice does he mention his experiences in the East, once in connexion with the flight of Syrian doves, 7 and again apropos of the Arabian methods of hooding falcons which he introduced into the West under the guidance of oriental falconers. 8 When he wants to test the incubation of ostrich eggs by the sun's heat, he has experts brought from Egypt to Apulia : Et hoc vidimus et fieri fecimus in Apulia, vocavimus namque ad nos de Egipto peritos et expertos in hac re. 9 1 See the preface printed below, p. 343. 2 On Manfred's youth see Bohmer-Ficker, Regesta Imperii, nos. 4632 b-h, and A. Karst, Geschichte Manfreds (Berlin, 1897), p. 1, who discuss the question of his legitimacy. If his formal legitimation could be established and dated, it might perhaps furnish a terminus post quern for the dedication. 3 See the letter describing him as a youth c. 1207 published by Hampe, Mitteilungen des Instituts fur osterreichische Geschichtsforschung, xxii. 597. 4 See below, p. 348. 5 Pichon, ubi supra, p. 886. 6 Bohmer-Ficker, Regesta, nos. 2589, 2668, 2705, 2749, 2801, 2807, 2814. See below, p. 354. 7 MS. M, fo. 39 ; MS. B, p. 124, ed. Schneider, p. 60. It is not expressly stated that the emperor saw these in the East, but this seems probable. 8 MS. M, f o. 104 v ; MS. B, p. 258, ed. Schneider, pp. 162 f . ; infra, p. 350. 9 MS. B, p. 67 ; lacking in M and the editions.
