The King's White Hound, the Chien Blanc du Roi in French, was a now extinct

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

scent hound Franz Rudolf Frisching in the uniform of an officer of the Bernese Huntsmen Corps with his Berner Laufhund, painted by Jean Preudhomme in 1785 Scent hounds (or scenthounds) are a Dog type, type of hound that primarily hunts by scent rather than ...

from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The breed was said to be the favourite of the French kings from Louis XI to

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

History

The King's White Hounds were said to have descended from a pure white

St. Hubert Hound The bloodhound is a large scent hound, originally bred for hunting deer, wild boar and, since the Middle Ages, for tracking people. Believed to be descended from hounds once kept at the Abbey of Saint-Hubert, Belgium, in French it is called, ''l ...

named Souillard that was gifted to King Louis XI by a poor squire from Poitou in 1470. The hound was passed to the king's daughter,

Anne de Beaujeu Anne of France (or Anne de Beaujeu; 3 April 146114 November 1522) was a French princess and regent, the eldest daughter of Louis XI by Charlotte of Savoy. Anne was the sister of Charles VIII of France, Charles VIII, for whom she acted as regent d ...

, he was widely used at stud and his white progeny gradually replaced the hounds in the king's pack until the whole pack was white. Several notable infusions of outside blood were added to the pack, in 1500 Louis XII introduced an Italian Pointer called Greffier, in 1520

François I Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...

introduced a powerful

Grand Fauve de Bretagne The Grand Fauve de Bretagne was a breed of scenthound from Brittany used to hunt wolves and wild boar. The Grand Fauve de Bretagne were large rough-coated hounds, their coats were short, dense and harsh, and they were a uniform pale golden-brown ...

called Miraud, and in 1560

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...

gifted a

Talbot Hound The Talbot was a type of hunting hound common in England during the Middle Ages. It is depicted in art of the period as small to medium-sized, white in colour, with short legs, large powerful feet, a deep chest with a slender waist, long dr ...

named Barraud to her husband

François II Francis II (french: François II; 19 January 1544 – 5 December 1560) was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560. He ...

, all of these infusions improved the breed. The White Hounds reached the height of their fame during the reign of

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

(1610–1643) when they were renowned throughout Europe for their speed, being able to run a

stag Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the reindeer ...

down in half an hour and kill four stags in a day's hunting. By this time the breed displayed many

sighthound Sighthounds, also called gazehounds, are a Dog type, type of dog, hounds that hunt primarily by sight and speed, rather than by scent and endurance as scent hounds do. Appearance These dogs specialize in pursuing prey, keeping it in sight, an ...

features and hunted as much by sight as by scent. By Louis XIII's death the hunt employed over 90 hunt servants, and under

the pack consisted of over 100 hounds and costs continued to rise. Towards the end of Louis XIV's reign (1643–1715) the king was becoming too infirm to follow the fast paced White Hounds on horseback, wishing to follow the hunt from a carriage from 1700 the hounds were crossed with the slower Norman Hounds to slow them down. At the beginning of his reign (1715–1774),

Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

wanted to revive the pack, so his son the

Count of Toulouse The count of Toulouse ( oc, comte de Tolosa, french: comte de Toulouse) was the ruler of county of Toulouse, Toulouse during the 8th to 13th centuries. Originating as vassals of the kingdom of the Franks, Frankish kings, the hereditary counts ru ...

procured English

Staghound The Staghound, sometimes referred to as the English Staghound, is an extinct breed of scent hound from England. A pack hound, the breed was used to hunt red deer and became extinct in the 19th century when the last pack was sold. History The S ...

s which were crossed with the pack. In 1725 the pack was dispersed and the king adopted a new pack consisting of English Foxhound crosses. The King's White Hounds are believed to have been foundational in the development of a number of French hound breeds, including the

Grand Griffon Vendéen A Grand Griffon Vendéen is a breed of hunting dog originating in France. It was the first of the Vendée griffons to be bred from the Greffier whose lineage dates back to the 16th Century. There are also several other breeds of Griffons fro ...

, the

Porcelaine The Porcelaine is a breed of dog originating from France. In 1844, this scent hound was originally called “Briquets Francs Comtois” and named after a French region bordering Switzerland. Appearance The Porcelaine gets its name from its ...

and the

Billy Billy may refer to: * Billy (name), a name (and list of people with the name) Animals * Billy (dog), a dog breed * Billy (pigeon), awarded the Dickin Medal in 1945 * Billy (pygmy hippo), a pet of U.S. President Calvin Coolidge * Billy, a youn ...

, the latter is sometimes called the Chien Blanc du Roi.

Characteristics

The King's White Hounds were large, powerful hounds, initially they were deep scenting, long eared

s close to the

, later they displayed many features of sighthounds. Charles IX said of them they "were as tall as grey-hounds, with heads as fine as braques ..." Whilst initially all white in colour, despite their name the White Hounds in fact came in a number of colours from pure white, to white with yellow, red or black spots or patches, to badger or pure black. They were said to have great courage and were not easily distracted by the large retinue of hunt followers that followed the royal hunts.

References

{{Extinct breeds of dog Scent hounds Dog breeds originating in France Extinct dog breeds

History

Characteristics

See also

References