Fifteenth-century England; hunting, and probable reactions to the Northern Lights

[hyarrowen]

Setting: Westminster

Question 1: What would be an educated person's reaction to seeing the Northern Lights? Would the English reaction be different from that of the Scots or Scandinavians?

Question 2: I'm sending a king out on a day's hunting from Westminster Palace. Would there be enough suitable land nearby to allow a full-scale hunt? St James', Green and Hyde Park areas might do at a pinch... I'm thinking of hart or buck; it's got to be a fairly impressive quarry. If necessary I can send him out further than a half-day's ride; but where might be suitable? Surrey? Epping?

Books: Encyclopaedia of Magic and Superstition
Cummings: The Hound and the Hawk
Mortimer: The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
Myers: Chaucer's London

Search terms: various permutations of Northern Lights, reactions, medieval, portents
“royal forests” england medieval chase

Thanks in advance!

PS I'm on dial-up, and in country Australia that's... kind of slow, so Google Books and anything image-heavy are not really possible.

ETA: To clarify: About twenty years ago the Northern Lights were visible on the South Coast. IIRC it made the national news. I knew someone who saw them; I was so envious.

ETA 2: Epping! Thank-you!