How they saw the horse...

A detail from the Procession to the Calvary, by Raphael (1504-1505)
National Gallery, London

“The horse is a beast of great knowledge, for he is able to distinguish men and knows his master; and often he changes his behaviour and habits when he changes masters. He senses battle and is happy and excited at the sound of the trumpets; he is happy when victorious and sad when defeated; and often a man can know if a battle will be won or not by watching if the horses are joyous or angry. Some know the enemies of their master well, for they will bite and attack them. Others will only carry their master, like the horse of Julius Caesar and the horse of Alexander who was named Bucephalus and who first would let himself be mastered and ridden like a good beast, but who, after Alexander started riding him, would not let any other man in the world touch him to ride him. (…)

It is a proven thing that many horses cry and are tearful when their master die, and that is done by no other animal.(…)”[1]

Isn’t this an interesting portrayal of the horse? It dates back from the 13th century and is found in the Livre du Trésor (Book of the Treasure), an encyclopaedia written by Brunetti Latini (c. 1230-1294). An almost identical passage appears in the De Proprietatibus Rebus by Bartholomew the Englishman, which was written a bit earlier. Both give an interesting insight into the way horses were seen by medieval encyclopaedist, a maybe surprising way: for those animals are portrayed as sensitive, intelligent beings, who are capable of affection, but also of psychological suffering. Part of this description of horses originates from Latin authors. But those 13th century authors made it their own and spread it in their books, without questioning its veracity. 

This description can seem a bit surprising as it does not fit some of the clichés about the Middle Ages. I mean, aren’t those centuries meant to be the Dark Ages? Plagues, wars, cruel knights torturing starving peasants, gothic architecture… Blah, blah, blah… However, historians are slowly proving that this was a much more complex period than later centuries would have us believe. 

But what about medieval horses? There are more and more studies about them, but several questions remain, or have not always been answered in a decisive manner. How were those animals treated? How did the inhabitants of medieval Western Europe see them? 

I worked on this subject in the course of my Masters degree and some the conclusions I have been able to draw could be summarised by the passage quoted above, which is not actually an exception. In Europe in the 11th to 15th century (the time period I focussed on), many horses were highly valued, financially but also sentimentally speaking. Of course, this was especially apparent in the case of valuable destriers, or warhorses: there were at the time, as many types of horses as social categories – even if that is a bit of a simplification. The relationship between the knights and their horses was one of mutual trust and affection, all the more so since a warrior’s life often depended on his horse. The destrier had to listen to his rider's aids and react quickly, in spite of the turmoil around him – Western European warhorses were always stallions. The training of those horses took years (authors considered that a horse was not fully grown until he reached the age of five – they based this interpretation on their study of teeth) and the ideal one was done in such a way that the horse was not spoilt by abuse, and learnt to willingly accept a rider. 

A veterinary medicine was developed to cure the many sicknesses and heal the potential wounds of those warhorses. Some medieval vets were so talented they could do surgical interventions, and their knowledge of horse’s body was a important as their knowledge of the human body, and the treatments they came up with as complex – even if some are quite (very) surprising to our modern eyes. 

There is evidence that warhorses were not the only ones to be well-cared for. This can be seen, for instance, in the Mesnagier de Paris, a sort of housekeeping handbooks destined to the wife of a member of the urban middle class and dating back to the 14th century. Those people would have been likely to own carthorses, or maybe riding horses used for travel. Not expensive warhorses imported from Spain or Italy, like the aristocracy. Still, the handbook gives long descriptions of several veterinary treatments which can be done at home to cure common ailments – it also gives some morally dubious tips on how to get an old tired horse to look healthy in order to sell him for a higher price, but that’s another story. 

Another interesting source I came across in the course of my research is a poem by French author Froissart (c.1337-1410). In this text, the author’s own horse, named Grisel, is talking with a greyhound about their respective conditions. The dog is a bit jealous of the horse who receives so much attention from their master. He says this: 

“You are groomed, rubbed and brushed,
And you are rugged, so you do not colic,
And your feet are picked,
And it is seen to that you are happy,
And you are stroked on the back,
And you are told: You must rest,
Grisel, for you deserved well
The oats you are eating here.”[2]

Froissart is not a knight and Grisel is a rouncey, a common riding horse, not a war one. Yet that does not mean he is less valued by his owner. Of course, this is a work of fiction. But it is no less revealing of the way the horse was seen. The originality of the poem lies in the fact that the animals are speaking, but the actions described are daily aspects of medieval horsecare. Not just medieval actually: we still groom and brush and pick the feet of our horses. We are still afraid they will become ill if overworked. We still stroke them. We still talk to them. Doesn’t that make the medieval author movingly similar to us? And the poem does not simply describe the grooming process: it also shows the little gestures of affection a rider can have towards his horse. Even if that horse is a tired, grey rouncey. 

Many medieval people, from all kind of social backgrounds, loved their horses. Not only that: they wanted to be loved by their horse, as appears in Brunetti Latini’s text. The ideal horse was the one who remained faithful to his master to the end, and then mourned him. Mourning implies love. A love born out of trust for the horse’s master. And this trust can be ascribed to the fact that many medieval horses were well-treated by their owners, in a way that often went further than the simple necessity to keep the horse healthy and efficient. 

Froissart’s poem shows the gestures of affection of a man towards his horse, Latini’s article tries to ascribe to the horse the feelings every rider wishes his steed could harbour. And both are two aspects of the mutli-faceted and very complex way humans saw the horse in medieval Western Europe, a way which I intend to further study in the course of my research – watch this space for more titbits of info and interesting facts I’ll have come across! 

[1] Brunetti Latin, Livre du Trésor, BnF Fr. 568, folio 60v, translated and adapted by ML. Vo Van Qui 

[2] Froissart, editded by J.A. Buchon, in Poésies de J. Froissart extraites de deux manuscrits de la bibliothèque du roi et publiées pour la première fois, Paris, 1829, p. 119-120 (translated and adapted by ML. Vo Van Qui)