HERNE THE

See also:

• HUNTER, JOHN (1728-1793)
• HUNTER, ROBERT MERCER TALIAFERRO (r8o9-1887)
• HUNTER, SIR WILLIAM WILSON (1840-19oo)
• HUNTER, WILLIAM (1718–1783)
• HUNTER, WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1844-1898)

HUNTER  ,. a legendary huntsman who was alleged to haunt Windsor Great Park at night, especially around an aged tree, long known as Herne's oak, said to be nearly 700 years old . This was blown down in 1863, and a young oak was planted by Queen Victoria on the spot . Herne has his French counterpart in the Grand Veneur of Fontainebleau . Mention is made of Herne in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in Harrison Ainsworth's Windsor Castle . Nothing definite is known of the Herne legend . It is suggested that it originated in the life-story of some keeper of the forest; but more probably it is only a variant of the " Wild Huntsman" myth common to folk-lore, which (E . B . Tylor, Primitive Culture, 4th ed. pp . 361-362) is almost certainly the modern form of a prehistoric storm-myth .