Weidelijkheid. Een sleutel tot het zelfbeeld van jagers

Samenvatting

'Weidelijkheid’. A key to hunters' code of honour. Hunting in the Netherlands is regulated not only by law, but also by weidelijkheid, a code of honour, sportsmen submit to freely. This code of honour has its origins in French courtly etiquette, the sporting code of English gentlemen and the professional code of German game-keepers. Through the ages the Dutch code has been shaped by the royal hunter of the House of Orange. Then it spread to Dutch gentlemenhunters who did their utmost to distinguish themselves from subsistence-hunters whom they shared the game and huntinggrounds with. In this process hunting underwent civilizing influences, due to growing formalization of the code of honour, which changed from a predominantly unwritten into a written one. Nowadays, weidelijkheid is used by the Dutch Hunters' Association to fight the ongoing protests against 'bloodsports'.