Definition of "jess"

Haukes haue about theyr legges gesses made of lether moste comonly, some of silke which should no lenger but that the knottes of them should appere in ye myddes of the left hande betwene the longe fynger and the leche fynger bicause the lewnes should be fastened to them with a payre of tyrettes, whiche tyrettes should rest vpon the lewnes and not vpon gesses, for hangyng and fastyng vpon trees when she fleyth […]

1486, Juliana Berners, The booke of hauking, huntyng and fysshyng‎, London, published 1566

I am that cedar; shake me not too much;And you the eagles; soar ye ne’er so high,I have the jesses that will pull you down;

1594 (first publication), Christopher Marlow[e], The Trovblesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edvvard the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, (please specify the page)

[…] If I do prove her haggard,Though that her jesses were my dear heartstrings,I’ld whistle her off and let her down the wind,To pray at fortune.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iii]

Jesses are the short straps of Leather that are fastned to her Legs, and so to the Lease by the Varvils.

1686, Richard Blome, The Gentlemans Recreation, Part 2, Chapter 24 “Certain Terms of Art used in Falconry, with an Explanation thereof, Alphabetically set down,” p. 62

If your hawk is bad-weathered, that is, will not fit on your fist when the wind blows, but hales, and beats, and hangs by the jeſſes, ſhe has an ill habit of the worſt kind.

1773, James Campbell, A Treatise on modern faulconry