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REVIEW BY SUNNY HARRISON
The mounted knight remains one of the iconic images of England in the Middle Ages, evoking King Arthur, massed charges, and the very notion of chivalry – all of which would have been impossible without ‘skilfully bred and expensively fed’ horses. As such, it is perhaps surprising that the archaeology of the medieval warhorse has been somewhat neglected. This is in part due to a paucity of sources. As the editors of this volume point out, horse bones are uncommon on a medieval archaeological site, have never been found at a battlefield location, and even the corpses of high-value ‘destriers’ (the most venerated of warhorses) were not buried with any reverence but instead butchered and disposed of pragmatically. The authors have sought to rectify this neglect with a complex, many-faceted study that considers how the medieval warhorse was bred, trained, cared for, and used, both on and off the battlefield.
One of its key conclusions – that the medieval warhorse was in fact somewhat smaller than we might think – has already received significant attention in the popular press precisely because it challenges modern assumptions about medieval military culture. This book consistently highlights the ‘unique nature’ of horses in medieval society, which were afforded an unusual amount of care and consideration because of their incredible utility and importance to the aristocracy.
Medieval Warhorse takes a thoroughly interdisciplinary approach to its topic – using zooarchaeology, landscape and building archaeology, and visual and material culture study, as well as analysis of historical documents and literature – to explore the exploitation over time of horses by the medieval English aristocracy. Chapters 3 and 4 use the rich collection of ‘King’s Stud’ documents, alongside the relatively limited archaeological building remains relating to horse-rearing, to discuss the networks of stables, studs, and tiltyards in which the medieval horse was raised, arguing against the received wisdom of a ‘golden age of the warhorse’ in the 13th and 14th centuries followed by a later medieval decline. Chapters 5 and 6 turn to visual and archaeological sources, using the great variety of material culture to explore both the ‘role of the horse in identity building’ and changes in horse riding. Chapter 6 argues that there was no discernible ‘Norman package’ of technological changes which radically altered medieval English horsemanship after the Norman Conquest but instead places a major stage of technological advancement in the later 12th century.
Chapters 7 and 8 look at the warhorse’s exoskeleton (i.e. its shoes and armour) and skeleton (through zooarchaeological analysis), offering fascinating insights into the size and use of medieval elite horses and into the international trade of horses. Chapter 9 uses many sources relating to horse stature to argue convincingly that the medieval horse (in both England and continental Europe) was on average ‘pony-sized’ and that the evidence from horse armour suggests that many armoured warhorses were also ‘pony-sized’, putting to bed the image of the medieval horse as an armour-wearing juggernaut. Chapter 10 uses all of the foregoing evidence to trace the relationship between horses and medieval society, arguing that horses were cared for and valued like no other animal. Medieval Warhorse concludes with a revised chronology for warhorse exploitation and argues that the warhorse (and its environment) was a manifestation of power.
This book deftly combines disciplinary perspectives, recognising the limitations of individual approaches and source bases, to paint a fuller picture of this complex subject. It has laid a foundation for further study and provided greater nuance to our understanding of the medieval elite horse. It is a very rich account of a subject which continues to interest historians, students, and the medievally curious public alike.
Medieval Warhorse: Equestrian landscapes, material culture, and zooarchaeology in Britain, AD 800-1550
Oliver H Creighton, Robert Liddiard, Alan K Outram, Katherine Kanne, and Carly Ameen (eds.)
Liverpool University Press, £40
ISBN 978-1836243359
