Agricultural History Review, Volume 40 Part 2 (1992), pp. 112–126

The deer in the parks, chases and forests of medieval England were managed more actively, and with a greater skill and care, than is perhaps generalIy realized. Their owners derived considerable benefits from them, not only in the opportunity to hunt, which was often subsidiary, but in venison, a high status meat. Though deer were often privileged, deer farming was generally integrated into other agricultural or woodland activities; deer parks, in particular, were often efficiently managed units fulfilling a number of purposes, so much so that we should perhaps be cautious about dismissing them, as is so often done, as no more than status symbols. 

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