Marco Polo wrote in 1298 about the 5.000 Mastiffs-alike dogs used for hunting and war by Kubla Khan.

In the fifteenth century a large part of the English population were desperately poor. Many people starved to death while the nobles (and the royalty) were enjoying a life in luxury. There was so little food for the common man, that the only way to survive was to hunt for animals. The nobles were the owners of the most important forest areas, and it was illegal to hunt there. Illegal hunting often was a problem for the landowners, a problem they really wanted to solve ... so they used mastiffs!

 

The law was also written in those days. The Forest Laws of King Canute, the first written laws of England. There, the tax collector when required a Mastiffs would make sure the middle toes of each front foot were removed so the dog could not run fast enough to catch the deer (which traditionally belonged to royalty). In the Forest Laws, Mastiffs were mentioned specifically as being kept for protection. In addition to this, the mastiff was used as a hunting dog for bigger animals during the middle ages.

 

 

Sir Piers Legh made the mastiffs famous when on 25 October 1415 in the battle of Agincourt after he was severely wounded was guarded by his faithful mastiff bitch who had accompanied him to battle. Sir Piers died in Paris from his wounds and his body was returned to England, together with the mastiff bitch, who had in the meantime given birth to pups. The Legh family of Lyme Hall, Cheshire, kept and bred Mastiffs for many generations. Henry VIII is said to have presented Charles V of Spain a gift of 400 Mastiffs to be used in battle.

 

 

In the Elizabethan Era, the Mastiff was used to fight wild animals (e.g., bears, tigers, etc.), usually for the entertainment of the Queen.