Part 2
Passing over the short reign of Richard, we come to the time of King John (1199-1216), a period of special importance in our survey; for we have definite particulars of the importation into England during John’s reign of one hundred stallions of large stature from the low countries--Flanders, Holland and the banks of the Elbe; and it is from the blending of these sires with English mares in the lowland and shire countries that some strains at least of our modern heavy horses must be held to date their origin. Size and improvement were evidently not developed with the steadiness or rapidity desired by those who had the welfare of the country at heart; several Acts of Parliament were passed with this object in view.
We obtain an interesting glimpse of the comparative value of the Great and other horses at the end of the thirteenth century from records preserved in Bain’s _Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland_. Among the Documents is a “Roll of the horses of banerets, knights, esquires, and vallets of the K.’s household [King Edward I.] valued in the Scottish war, 26th yere” [of the King’s reign, _i.e._, 1298]. This refers to a lengthy list of the horses which were killed at the battle of Falkirk, and from the items we quote the following:--
“Sir Thomas de Morham a black horse, 24 marks killed in the battle of Falkirk; Sir John Botetorte had a white pied charger value 60 marks killed there; Guy Botetorte his brother had a black hackney value 8 marks killed there.... Sir Henry de Beaumont had a brown bay charger worth 60 marks killed at Falkirk; Sir Eustace de la Hecche had a bay charger with a white hind foot value 100 marks killed.”
Numerous “hackneys” figure in the roll; and whereas the maximum value claimed for a hackney, or hack as we should now call it, is 10 marks, the smallest sum set upon a lost charger or Great Horse is 60 marks.
FROM THE TIME OF EDWARD III. TO EDWARD IV.
Edward III. (1327-1377) added measures dealing with the matter to the Statute Book. This King also, as history records, spent very large sums on horses. We find him indebted to the Count of Hainault to the extent of 25,000 florins for horses; and Mr. Edward Burrows in his Introduction to Lord Ribblesdale’s _The Queen’s Buckhounds_, says:--
“In the long lists which occur in the Exchequer accounts of the wardrobe of numerous classes of horses belonging to the King--coursers, palfreys, trotters, hobbies, genets, hengests and somers--the ‘dextrarii’ or great horses received most attention. Provision was made for 102 of their housings out of 441 ells of canvas and 360 ells of cloth. The boundary between the great cavalry establishments was formed by the Trent, the division to the north of that river having its separate ‘custos’ under the Master of the Horse. The studs were distributed among the King’s manors, such as Windsor, Guildford, Odiham, Woodstock and Waltham. The due proportion of expense necessary was borne by the sheriffs of the various counties. Special provision was made for a tunic of blue and a cape of white Brussels cloth as the attire of ‘John Brocaz,’ styled in these records ‘Custos equorum regis,’ or ‘Gardein de nos _grands chevaux_.’”
The great cavalry department of Edward III., Mr. Burrows adds, appears to have been kept at its full war complement for about twenty years, until the power of France was supposed to have been finally broken at Poitiers. Sir John de Brocaz and his son Oliver were employed by the King to buy horses in Gascony before the campaign of Crecy.
Richard II. also gave proof of his anxiety to improve the breed of horses by passing laws on the subject.
The troublous times of the Wars of the Roses (1450-1471) were productive of injurious results. Horses of power and substance were, of course, required for all military purposes, and “Strong Horses” were seized whenever found and pressed into service by the contending parties. The owners of many of the best horses seem to have sent them out of the country to be sold beyond seas lest they should be thus confiscated. The fame of the _Equus Britannicus_ had ere this period spread to the continent, where a ready market awaited it; Sir John Hawkewood in his _Travels_ states that in the States of Northern Italy English horses were cherished and sought for breeding purposes. For the twenty-one years during which England was the scene of civil war it was worth no man’s while to breed, much less attempt to improve, the Great Horse; thus much of the good which had been done was nullified.
THE LAWS OF HENRY VII.
Henry VII. was fully alive to the desirability of fostering the breed, and during his reign (1485-1509) more Acts were passed to this end. At this time, says Polydore Virgil, the English were wont to keep large herds of horses in pastures and common fields; and when the harvest was gathered in the cattle of different owners fed promiscuously together; for which reason the practice of cutting horses was introduced. The preference accorded horses for military use was not due entirely to their superiority in strength over mares; for centuries only entire horses were used by men-at-arms; this being the case the interests of discipline and good order in the ranks and at the horse pickets in camp practically compelled the exclusion of mares. In the eleventh year of his reign (1496) Henry VII. passed a law forbidding the export of horses. In the preamble it was set forth that whereas “not only a smaller number of good horses were left within the realm for the defence thereof, but also that great and good plenty of the same were in parts beyond the sea which in times past were wont to be within this land; whereby the price of horses is greatly increased here to the loss and annoyance of all the King’s subjects;” therefore it was enacted that no horse at all was to be transported out of the kingdom, and no mare of the value of six shilling and eightpence or upwards. This law, it may be added, remained on the Statute Book until the reign of Charles II. when it was repealed. There were sundry weak points in the wording of this Act--in which respect legal draughtsmen will remind us it does not stand alone--and from the measures dealing with exportation which were passed by his successor it would seem that Henry VII.’s attempt to keep horses at home proved something of a failure.
To show what stage of development the Great Horse had reached in the time of Henry VII., art comes to our aid in the shape of a picture by Albert Dürer, dated 1505. This is the earliest work we have found, and though the animal portrayed is not of necessity an English bred Great Horse, it represents the stamp of animal then in use for similar purposes in Germany; and from the banks of the Elbe, as we have already seen, stallions were imported into England for the Royal Studs. It is quite possible that the horse whose portrait Dürer’s brush has left us was one of English raising. A white horse of size, weight and power, such as this, was just the gift one ruling prince might have sent to another at a time when animals of that colour possessed the peculiar ceremonial value to which reference has been made, and it is far from unlikely that this particular animal was a royal gift from Henry VII. to Maximilian I. or to some other German prince. However that may be, two things are certain; it was a war horse, as the dress of the soldier attendant indicates; and the height, bulk, sloping quarters, abundant mane and tail, and well
feathered legs, prove it an example of a breed intimately allied to, if not identical with, the English Great Horse.
Our Frontispiece is reproduced from an engraving of a picture by Hans Burgkmair, a German artist, who lived 1473-1529. It not only affords an excellent idea of the stamp of horse ridden by armour-clad knights of the period, but also of the armour borne by the horse.
THE LAWS OF HENRY VIII.
In Henry VIII.’s reign (1509-1547) special attention was directed to the breeding of strong horses; new laws were made which sought to secure strength and stature by requiring sires and dams of a certain size and mould. Breeding was allowed only under restrictions, and a distinct element of compulsion is the enactment that all prelates and nobles (“whose wives wore French hoods or velvet bonnets”) should maintain stallions of the required standard. The law passed in 1535 (26 Hy. VIII.) runs:--
“For that in many and most places of this Realm, commonly little Horses and Nags of small stature and value be suffered to depasture, and also to cover Mares and Felys of very small stature, by reason whereof the Breed of good and strong Horses of this Realm is now lately diminished, altered, and decayed, and further is like to decay if speedy Remedy be not sooner provided in that Behalf.”
“It is provided that all Owners or Fermers of parks and enclosed grounds of the extent of one mile in compass, shall keep two Mares, being not spayed, apt and able to bear foals of the altitude or height of thirteen handfuls at least, upon pain of 40/.”
“A penalty of 40/ is imposed on the Lords, Owners, and Fermers of all parks and grounds enclosed as is above rehearsed, who shall willingly suffer any of the said Mares to be covered or kept with any Stoned Horse under the stature of fourteen handfuls.”
The year 1541 saw another statute (32 Hy. VIII.) This enacted that--
“No person shall put in any forest, chase, moor, heath, common, or waste (where mares and fillies are used to be kept), any Stoned Horse above the age of two years, not being 15 hands high, within the SHIRES and territories of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Buckingham, Huntingdon, Essex, Kent, South Hampshire, North Wiltshire, Oxford, Berkshire, Worcester, Gloucester, Somerset, South Wales, Bedford, Warwick, Northampton, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Salop, Leicester, Hereford, and Lincoln.”
“And furthermore be it enacted, that if in any of the said drifts, there shall be found, any mare, filly foal or gelding that then shall be thought not to be able nor like to grow to be able to bear foals of reasonable stature, or not able nor like to grow to be able to do profitable labours, by the discretions of the drivers aforesaid or of the more number of them, then the same driver or drivers shall cause the same unprofitable beasts, and every of them to be killed, and the bodies of them to be buried in the ground or otherwise bestowed, as no annoyance thereby shall come or grow to the people, there near inhabiting or thither resorting.”
By another Act the exportation of horses beyond the seas is strictly forbidden; and this Act is extended to Scotland; selling a horse in England to a Scotchman without a Royal permission, is declared to be felony in both buyer and seller (32 of Henry VIII. cap. 6). This statute is entitled, “An acte for the tryall of felonies upon conveiynge of horses into Scotland.”
The use of the word “Shire” will be noted in the foregoing extract. It is of interest in view of the diversity of opinion expressed when the Shire Horse Society was formed, concerning the propriety of using this term. In this statute of Henry VIII. for the first time we find the word “Shire” used in connection with horses.
Ralph Holinshed, in his Chronicles (Ed. London, 1807, vol. vi., p. 3), has an entry which indicates that this monarch set his subjects a good example in this particular respect:--
King Henry VIII. erected a noble studderie for breeding horses, especially the greatest sorte, and for a time had verie good success with them. The officers however seemed wearie: and procured a mixed breed of baser races, whereby his good purpose came to little effect.”
That horses of “the greatest sorte” were absolutely essential at this time the immense weight of iron worn by both rider and horse proves to us. The engraving represents a knight clad in a suit of tilting armour, which is now to be seen in the Tower of London. This armour was described in 1660 as having belonged to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Henry VIII.’s brother-in-law. The Tower officials give the weight as follows:--Man’s armour, 99lbs. 9oz.; horse’s armour, 80lbs. 15oz. The mail would fit only a big and powerful man (none other could profitably wear it) whose weight must have been at least 16 stone. Thus we have:--
Lbs. oz. Weight of rider 224 0 Rider’s armour 99 9 ” spear 20 0 Horse’s armour 80 15 --- -- Total 424 8
or 30 stone 4lbs. 8oz. As we must allow for the knight’s clothing and the horse’s gear, bridle, &c., the total weight would not fall short of the four hundredweight mentioned by the old chronicler quoted on the next pages as the burden the Great Horse will “carrie commonlie.”
QUEEN ELIZABETH’S TIME.
Holinshed gives a valuable account of the heavy horses of Queen Elizabeth’s time (1558-1603). From his record we gather that at this period the Great Horse was no longer reserved exclusively for military purposes, but was in general use for farm and draught work. Holinshed’s reference to the transport required by the Queen’s retinue when she made her frequent progresses through the kingdom is testimony to her inordinate love of pageantry and display. Coaches, according to Stowe, had been introduced into England by FitzAlan, Earl of Arundel, 1580 (though Queen Mary had had one built for herself in 1556), but this mode of conveyance does not appear to have commended itself to Queen Elizabeth. She was, as history tells us, an admirable horsewoman, and we know that she rode behind her Master of Horse when she went in state to St. Paul’s. The following passage from Ralph Holinshed’s Chronicle will be found in book ii., chapter i. of the folio edition printed in London, 1587:--
“Our horses, moreover, are high, and, although not commonlie of such huge greatnesse as in other places of the maine, yet, if you respect the easinesse of their pase, it is hard to saie where their like are to be had. Our cart or plough horses (for we use them indifferently), are commonlie so strong that five or six of them (at most), will draw three thousand weight of the greatest tale with ease for a long journeie--although it be not a load of common usage--which consisted onlie of two thousand, or fiftie foot of timber, fortie bushels of white salt, or six and thirtie of baie, or five quarters of wheat--experience dailie teacheth, and [as] I have elsewhere remembered. Such as are kept for burden, will carie four hundred weight commonlie, without any hurt or hinderance. This furthermore is to be noted, that our princes and nobilitie have their carriage commonlie made by carts; whereby it commeth to passe, that when the queenes majestie dooth remove from anie one place to another, there are vsuallie 400 carewares, which amount to the summe of 2,400 horses, appointed out of the countries adioining, whereby her cariage is conveied vnto the appointed place. Hereby, also, the ancient vse of somers and sumpter horsses is in a maner vtterlie relinquished; which causes the traines of our princes in their progresses to shew far lesse than those of the kings of other nations.”
The loads so respectfully described by Holinshed do not at first sight appear to indicate any very remarkable draught power on the part of a team of five or six horses; rather the contrary. In regard to this, however, we must bear in mind that three hundred years ago the roads were so bad and rutty that an empty waggon would be harder to draw in those days than a heavily loaded wain on a modern road.
The accompanying portrait of Sir Walter Hungerford, Knight, of Farley Castle, Heytesbury, is engraved from a picture in the possession of Sir R. Hungerford Pollen, Bart., at Rodbourne, Malmesbury. Sir Walter was the eldest son of Baron Hungerford, who was beheaded July 28th, 1541. Upon the accession of Queen Mary, Walter Hungerford obtained a reversal of the attainder imposed on his father, and recovered the family estates; but the peerage was not revived. Sir Walter retired from political life and court intrigue, and, choosing for his motto, _Amicis Amicissimus_, devoted himself entirely to country pursuits. He became widely known for the excellence of his stud; and the picture here engraved bears the following inscription, “Sir Walter Hungerford, Knight, had in Queene Elizabeth’s tyme, the Second of her Raine, for foure yere together, a baye horse, a blacke greyhounde, a lanerett.[A] This offer was for foure yere together, to all Eynglande, not above his betters, he that shoulde showe the best horse for a man of armes, a greyhounde for a hare, a haucke for the reyver, to wine III hundred poundes, that was a hundery the poundes apese. Also he had a gerfalcon for the herne in Her Majesty’s tyme, that he kept XVIII. yere; and offered the lyke to flye for a hundred pounde, and were refused for all.”
This offer of Sir Walter’s gives us the right to assume that the type here represented was the one acknowledged at the date to be that most approved in the English Great Horse; whilst the special function of that horse was, still, to carry “a man of armes.” It can be seen that--though the hair, both of the mane and legs, has been manipulated to suit the fashion--the tail still shows the characteristic abundance. Sir Walter Hungerford’s horse is certainly of the type of Albert Dürer’s Great White Horse, though it shows more evidence of spirit and high action.
Instructive particulars concerning the horses of this period are to be found in a curious little black letter volume, entitled, _The Art of Ryding and Breaking Greate Horses_, written by Thomas Blundeville of Newton Flotman in Norfolk, and published in 1566; a second edition of which, “newlie corrected and amended of manie faults escaped in the first printing” was issued in 1580; the latter including chapters on breeding
horses. We may quote from Blundeville’s pages a few passages which throw light upon our subject:--
“Some men have a breed of Great Horses, meete for warre and to serve in the field. Others have ambling horses of a meane stature for to journey and travel by the waie. Some again have a race of swift runners to run for wagers or to gallop the bucke. But plane country men have a breed only for draftes or burden.”
From the foregoing it would appear that the lesser breed of agricultural horses (stots and affers) was still in existence, though the extract on page 34 appears to show that mares of the Great Horse breed were used for draught purposes. It will be remembered that at an earlier age churchmen were enjoined to use mares that the horses might be at the service of soldiers. Thomas Blundeville mentions as the “most worthy” breeds:--
“The Turke, the Barbarian, the Sardinian, Napolitan [commonly called the courser of Naples], the Jennet of Spain, the Hungarian, the high Almaine, the Frizeland horse, the Flanders horse, and the Irish hobbie.”
He describes these in turn: those that come within our purview are the Napolitan, high Almaine and Flanders: the first of these is:--
“a trim horse being both comelie and stronglie made and of so much goodness, of so gentle a nature and so high a courage as anie horse is. Known from other horses by his no lesse cleane than stronge makinge.”
The high Almaine (modern Allemagne, German: King John’s importations from the banks of the Elbe at once recur to mind) is:
“commonlie a great horse, and though not finelie yet verie stronglie made and therefore more meete for the shocke [of battle] than to passe a cariere or to make a swift manege because they be verie grosse and heavie, yet by industrie they are made lighter behind than before, for their rider do use in their maneging to make them to turne alwaies with their hinder parts and not with their fore parts like jackanapes on a chaine, whereby they keep their horses heads alwaies upon the enimie.”
The Flanders horse differed little from the “high Almaine” or North German breed save that it was for the most part of greater stature; the disposition of these two heavy horses was “not evill;” on the contrary the animals are stated to be “verie tractable.”
Thomas Blundeville’s suggestions for breeding, based as they undoubtedly were on experience, throw light upon the ancestry of our heavy horses:--
“I would wish him that seeketh to have a race of good horses, meet to serve in the field to get a Napolitan stallion if it be possible, if not let him take the high Almaine, the Hungarian, the Flanders, or the Frizeland Horse, so that he be of convenient stature well proportioned and meete for the purpose. The mares should be of an high stature, stronglie made, large and fair, and have a trotting pace as the mares of Flanders and some of our own mares be. For it is not meete for divers respects that horses of service should amble.”
The “Napolitan stallion,” coming from a greater distance and being more costly, was comparatively seldom imported; whence the author’s reservation “if it be possible.” There is no doubt but that the English Great Horse owed far more to importations from more northern countries than to those from Italy.
A “horse of service,” we are informed, should be able to
“trot cleane and loftilie, to stop lightlie, to turn on both hands readilie, to gallop stronglie, to manege with single turne surelie and last of all to passe a cariere [_i.e._, “do a smart spin”] swiftlie; and in all his doings from the beginning to the ending to reine well and to bear his head steddilie.”
The “cariere” was to be of specified length; for a “mightie puissant horse great of stature” a shorter one was recommended.
In the chapter headed “How to ride a Horse to the best shewe before a Prince”--how to show him off to the best advantage, as we should say--there is a very suggestive remark which proves how necessary were the endeavours of horse-loving sovereigns to improve the breed:--
“Maneging and doubling after a cariere belongeth to a horse of greate force, which indeed should represent in his doings the verie order of fight observed in the field _which is but little used now a daies because of the general weaknes of our horses_.”
In the earlier edition the writer speaks with admiration of the Great Horse,
“not finelie yet stronglie made he is of great stature. The mares also be of a great stature; strong, long, large, fayre and fruitful; and besides that, will endure great labour in their wagons, in which I have seene two or three mares to go lightly away with such a burthen as is almost uncredible.”
“But now to content the countryman his desire, which seeketh to breede horses for draught or burthen, where should I wysh him to provyde hymselfe of Mares and Stallions better than here in Englande.”