Hunting, books on hunting and the warrior class in the late Middle Ages Junko RAI This paper examines social and historical backgrounds of the appearance of three illustrious books on hunting in France in the late Middle Ages: les Livres du roy Modus et de la royne Ratio by Henri de Ferrières, le Roman des déduis by Gace de la Buigne and Livre de chasse by Gaston Fébus. There have been a number of literary and philological studies of these books, but they do not adequately explain their appearance in France in the late fourteenth century. In Western Europe, the nobility, who as a warrior class had always hunted with hounds and hawks, became recognized as a legal class in the thirteenth century. Hunting or hawking became ritualized, and came to be regarded as status symbols of the nobility. While ritualizing the process of hunting, the warriors compiled manuals, and these manuals in turn became status symbols for them. By the latter half of the fourteenth century, the lords made splendid manuscripts on hunting for themselves or as gifts for other influential lords. On the other hand, the clergy began to guide the laity on moral conduct following the Fourth Lateran Council (1215). Clergymen wrote many manuals and educational books for laymen in Latin, telling them how to conduct their lives. After the late thirteenth century, these books were written in vernacular as well. The laity also began writing manuals for themselves on chivalry, tournament, housekeeping and hunting. While trying to reconcile the clergy's view to theirs, these books reflected their own morality. The authors of the above three books, who all were from the warrior class, justified hunting from a religious viewpoint and expressed their own sense of beauty both about hunting and the behaviour of hunters.