A long cord or rope attached to a hawk's leg during training, allowing the falconer to control the bird's flight.
From Old French 'creance' meaning belief or credit, derived from Latin 'credentia,' but applied to falconry equipment whose purpose is to keep the bird under control.
This falconry term shows how medieval sporting traditions created specialized vocabularies—every tool and technique in falconry had its own precise name that few people outside the sport would recognize.
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