Brunetto Latini's description of the horse 2/2

Miniature from the Westminster Psalter, BL Royal MS 2 A xxii f. 220
Public domain image

This follows the first part of Brunetto Latini’s (c.1220-1284) description of the horse in his Livre du Trésor, which was published last week. 

“In horses, you must look for four things, according to the opinion of the elders, shape, beauty, goodness, colour. 

In terms of shape, you must see that his flesh and his body are hard and strong and well attached, that he should be tall proportionately to his strength. His flanks must be long and full, and his rump big and round. He must also have large thighs and big feet, and be very open (?) and have black marks all over his body and have thickness, and his foot must be well-made with the sole hollow. 

In terms of beauty, you must see that he has a small, fine head, so that his skin sticks close to his bones, short, pricked ears, wide eyes and large nostrils, a straight profile, or slightly resembling the head of a sheep, a thick mane and a hairy tail, his hooves well assembled, hard and round. 

In terms of goodness, you must see that he has a brave heart and a joyful appearance, trembling limbs, that he is fast yet easily held back, according to your wishes. 

And you must know that the speed of the horse is known by his ears and his strength by his trembling limbs. 

And it is also right to choose the colour bay or dappled grey or black or white (…) or what you will decide to be the best and most agreeable, and because there are many types of horses, for some are tall destriers to fight and others are palfreys to ride in a comfortable manner. 

Others are rounceys to carry burdens, or mules which come from the coupling of horses and donkeys. You must remember to choose the healthiest and most able to carry weight. And you must choose the horse who has the qualities and capacities that are necessary for what you want him for, because one will be suitable to run well, another to amble well or to walk and to do other things required by their nature. But generally, for any horse, you must look that his limbs are well put together and that each looks like the others, and that his eyes are healthy and all his limbs as well, and that he is of such an age that he is not damaged by too much youth or too much old age. 

And about the defects and illness of the horse, they are too many too count: some are internal, others are external, and some are visible, and some are hidden, so that there can be no horse who does not have a little or more of those defects. 

And you must know that the best are those who have little.” 

The first part of this description, published last week, focussed on the myths around the horse and his qualities (faithfulness, steadfastness, courage). This second part is more practical, in the sense that it is a very short guide to the different types of horses that existed in at the time and to the ideal physique of a good horse. 

You will note that the horses are distinguished by function, rather than by breed, which is not mentioned at all. However, the paragraph about the “beauty” of the horse gives a description of an animal that probably looked a lot like modern day Hispanic breeds. At the time, the most prized horses were Spanish ones (such as the now extinct Spanish Genet) and Italian ones (again, belonging to now extinct breeds). Chivalric novels are full of references to destriers originating from Spain or Lombardy, thus emphasising the idea that they represented the ideal warhorse. 

The mention of palfreys, destriers and rounceys in this text is interesting because it links all the information given before to the medieval period. Like all encyclopaedists, Brunetto Latino used antique sources such as the Latin authors Pliny and Varro. This is clearly stated when he mentions “the opinion of the elders.” Whole passages from those sources were copied word for word. Here, they are seamlessly integrated to specific references to the Middle Ages. 

The information drawn from Antique sources is also the one the medieval author felt to be relevant. All the first part of the description is centred on the warhorse who had a great symbolical and physical importance in the chivalric context. Though the qualities of that warhorse were first given by Antique authors, the medieval ones consider that they are still relevant and should be applied to the destriers of their time. 

The very last paragraph glosses quickly over the defects and illnesses of the horses. Other medieval sources, especially veterinary treaties, detailed them at length. Here, the need keep the articles relatively short (medieval encyclopaedias were meant to be a sum of all the knowledge of the time) and to the point probably explains why Brunetto Latini remains vague. However, other encyclopaedists, such as Albertus Magnus (c.1200-1280), gave much more details on the horse, writing very lengthy articles. Because the horse was maybe the single most important animal in medieval Western Europe.