The Materiality of the Horse
The Materiality of the Horse
Contributor(s): Miriam A. Bibby (Editor), Brian G. Scott (Editor)
Subject(s): History, Archaeology, Cultural history, Comparative history, Military history, Ancient World, Middle Ages
Published by: Trivent Publishing
Keywords: equine history; middle ages; material culture; horse-human relationship; Islam; indigenous cultures; South America
Summary/Abstract: Inspired by our age-old fascination with equids, Materiality of the Horse brings the latest academic research in equine history to a wider readership. Themes examined within the book by specialist contributors include explorations of material culture relating to horses and what this discloses about the horse-human relationship; fresh observations on significant medieval horse-related texts from Europe and the Islamic world; and revealing insights into the effect of the introduction of horses into indigenous cultures in South America. Thought-provoking and original, Materiality of the Horse is the second volume in Trivent Publishing’s innovative “Rewriting Equestrian History” series.
- E-ISBN-13: 978-615-81793-3-1
- Print-ISBN-13: 978-615-81353-9-9
- Page Count: 297
- Publication Year: 2020
- Language: English
Pony Breeding in the New Forest: A Continuation of Medieval Practice
Pony Breeding in the New Forest: A Continuation of Medieval Practice
(Pony Breeding in the New Forest: A Continuation of Medieval Practice)
- Author(s):Gail Brownrigg
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Middle Ages
- Page Range:1-36
- No. of Pages:36
- Keywords:Horses; New Forest; Pony breeding; Free-ranging ponies; New Forest ponies; Hunting; Commoners’ rights; Middle Ages; Forest law.
- Summary/Abstract:In the Middle Ages, the New Forest was a royal hunting ground, in which deer and other game were protected by strict Forest Laws which restricted farming, enclosure and other use of the land. Local people were, however, permitted to depasture livestock on the “wastes”. Certain “Common Rights” became established, which are still in existence today. Ponies would graze the heaths and woodlands until they were needed for work, and their offspring sold. Today, some 5,000 ponies still range free over the open Forest, seeking out food, water and shelter according to prevailing conditions. They are all in private ownership, but live wild with minimum intervention, just as they have for the last thousand years and more. Many brood mares spend their whole lives fending for themselves on the Forest, while the stallions which are turned out are carefully selected, and premiums are offered for the best stock. The young ones are rounded up for sale or use, providing an income for the Commoners. Five Agisters – whose office can be traced back to medieval records - supervise their welfare, ensuring that any which are not thriving are removed to the owner’s holding. Legislation is still upheld and conflicts resolved in the traditional Verderers’ court. With a greater emphasis on bloodlines and pedigree and the opportunity to exhibit their stock at horse shows, today’s Commoners are rightly proud of this ancient, versatile and hardy breed. Knowledge of the best type of animal to maintain condition over the winter, where to find the herds when they are wanted, and how to catch, handle and train the ponies, is passed down through the generations. Pony breeding and management in the New Forest have changed little since records began, representing a continuation of medieval practice.
- Price: 5.00 €
Practical Advice on Equine Care from Jordanus Rufus, c. 1250 CE
Practical Advice on Equine Care from Jordanus Rufus, c. 1250 CE
(Practical Advice on Equine Care from Jordanus Rufus, c. 1250 CE)
- Author(s):Jennifer Jobst
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Middle Ages, 13th to 14th Centuries
- Page Range:37-69
- No. of Pages:33
- Keywords:Jordanus Rufus; horse care; hippiatric treatises; medieval veterinary medicine
- Summary/Abstract:While ostensibly a book on veterinary medicine for horses, the highly influential De medicina equorum by Jordanus Rufus (c. 1250), also provides insight into horse care and training practices in the mid-thirteenth century. This paper presents an English translation of Rufus’ work, based on Brigitte Prévot’s analysis of the early fourteenth century Paris BNF, MS Fr. 25341, the first Old French translation of the original Latin. The English translation allows us to compare Rufus’ practices to both ancient and modern horse care techniques, demonstrating both the strong oral tradition of horse care and training techniques, and how little both have changed in nearly 800 years.
- Price: 5.00 €
A Tapuya “Equestrian Nation”?
A Tapuya “Equestrian Nation”?
(A Tapuya “Equestrian Nation”?)
- Author(s):Felipe Vander Velden
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Cultural history, Local History / Microhistory
- Page Range:71-106
- No. of Pages:36
- Keywords:Horse; South America; Tapuya Indians; equestrian culture; colonial Brazil.
- Summary/Abstract:This article brings together and analyzes several historical sources to argue that an equestrian culture or horse nation emerged (albeit briefly) among certain indigenous groups known as Tapuya in the sertão badlands of northeastern Brazil. Based on Portuguese and Dutch accounts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, I suggest that while the expansion of cattle ranching in this region was certainly marked by violence and brutality, this movement also permitted Amerindian peoples to make various connections and carry out a number of new activities including incorporating the horse and technologies associated with raising and riding horses, and to use these resources in pursuing indigenous social, economic and political goals.
- Price: 4.50 €
Counting Your Blessings in Froissart’s “Debate of the Horse and the Greyhound”
Counting Your Blessings in Froissart’s “Debate of the Horse and the Greyhound”
(Counting Your Blessings in Froissart’s “Debate of the Horse and the Greyhound”)
- Author(s):Anastasija Ropa
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Cultural history, Middle Ages
- Page Range:107-131
- No. of Pages:25
- Keywords:Froissart; Debat dou cheval et dou levrier; animal dialogue; book of hunting; hippiatry; medieval pets; companion animals; human-animal relations.
- Summary/Abstract:Dialogues and debates between animals, or narratives that feature animals acting as human beings, have a long tradition in European literature, going back to Aesop’s fables. However, Jean Froissart’s “Debat dou cheval et dou levrier” [Debate between the horse and the greyhound] is different in that it presents the discussion from the animals’ point of view. The two companion animals debate the advantages and disadvantages of each other’s position, considering such issues as duties, capacities to perform their respective duties, rewards and punishments, feeding, as well as general and medical care accorded to the horse and the greyhound. Unsurprisingly, each animal argues that the other’s burden is lighter and the benefits are more bountiful, at the same time highlighting one’s own hardships and obligations. The article examines the information provided by each animal in light of other evidence from literature, hippiatric treatises and hunting books as well as illuminations to elucidate Froissart’s representation of the lives of the horse and the greyhound and the animals’ relations to their human owner.
- Price: 5.00 €
Equids in Late Byzantine Hagiographies
Equids in Late Byzantine Hagiographies
(Equids in Late Byzantine Hagiographies)
- Author(s):Alexia-Foteini Stamouli
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Cultural history, Local History / Microhistory, Social history, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries
- Page Range:133-174
- No. of Pages:42
- Keywords:Byzantium; Hagiography; horses; transport; war; avoidance; accidents; hippodromes.
- Summary/Abstract:Data of late Byzantine hagiographical texts on equids are analyzed and compared with those of the middle period, revealing a complexity of relationships. For example, in hagiographies of both periods, saints often refuse to ride on horseback. Information about horses as a means of transport is rarer in the late hagiographies, but there are more testimonies of horses being used during wars. References to hippodromes or to people descending from horses to pray are rarer in the late period as well. In both periods, the horse appears as a punisher or as an instrument of divine punishment. Descriptions of persecution (and martyrdom) refer to equids, for example when saints were tortured by being drawn by equids. Τhe references to equids used for water transport are of particular interest. Finally, there is resemblance in the use of similes, metaphors, and proverbs involving horses in both periods. In conclusion, the importance of equids remains as great in the late hagiographies as in those composed in the middle period.
- Price: 5.00 €
Alexander’s Arabian
Alexander’s Arabian
(Alexander’s Arabian)
- Author(s):Miriam A. Bibby
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Cultural history, Social history, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries
- Page Range:175-202
- No. of Pages:28
- Keywords:Alexander I, King of Scotland; Scotland; St Andrews; Arabicus; foundation; Arabian; horse; oryx;unicorn;
- Summary/Abstract:In 1121, Alexander I, King of Scotland, is said to have donated an equine (“donationis monumentum regium equum Arabicum”) to the church at St Andrews along with other rare and costly gifts. It was led to the altar during a ceremony that reinforced the status of St Andrews as a religious center and emphasized its relationship with the Scottish crown. Some modern commentators take it to be the first reference to an Arabian horse in Britain. There is no further reference to an Arabian horse as an “equus Arabicus” for several hundred years. What animal was presented at St Andrews?
- Price: 4.50 €
Hishām ibn al-Kalbi’s Kitāb al-Khayl
Hishām ibn al-Kalbi’s Kitāb al-Khayl
(Hishām ibn al-Kalbi’s Kitāb al-Khayl)
- Author(s):Hylke Hettema
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Language and Literature Studies, Cultural history, Social history, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries
- Page Range:203-220
- No. of Pages:18
- Keywords:Arabic; Ibn al-Kalbi; genealogy; Arab Identity; pedigree; horse
- Summary/Abstract:This chapter explores the content of the premodern Arabic document Kitāb al-Khayl and the modes of transmission which resulted in it being frequently referenced in popular narratives of the history of the Arab horse. Contextualising the work shows that it is part of early Islamic reimagining of the past in order to create a history for emerging Arab identity during the early Islamic period. Contrary to the modern idea that this work represents the first Arab horse stud-book, the “Book of Horses” by Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d.ca. 819 CE) cannot be viewed as evi-dence of an ancient breeding tradition among the Arabs.
- Price: 5.00 €
Equestrian Military Equipment of the Eastern Roman Armies in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries
Equestrian Military Equipment of the Eastern Roman Armies in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries
(Equestrian Military Equipment of the Eastern Roman Armies in the Sixth and Seventh Centuries)
- Author(s):Mattia Caprioli
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Military history, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries
- Page Range:221-237
- No. of Pages:17
- Keywords:Equestrian military equipment; Eastern Roman Empire; horse armor; saddle; stirrups; decorative devices.
- Summary/Abstract:This study examines artefactual, literary, and other evidence relating to equestrian military equipment of the sixth and seventh centuries from the reigns of the Emperors Justinian and Heraclius. Evidence from these sources are compared with that of territories and cultures outside the empire such as those of the Sasanians and Avars. Research questions explored and analyzed include: how widespread was the use of horse armor in the Eastern Roman army; were two types of saddle possibly in use; how widespread was the adoption of stirrups, newly introduced at this time; what evidence is there for equestrian decorative pieces; how was equestrian military equipment produced. Some major issues are analyzed: how widespread was the actual use of horse armors in the Eastern Roman army; the possibility of the usage of at least two different types of saddle; how widespread actually was the use of the newly introduced stirrups; the actual evidence for equestrian decorative devices; the production of the equestrian military equipment.
- Price: 4.50 €
Horse Burials among the Lombards and Avars
Horse Burials among the Lombards and Avars
(Horse Burials among the Lombards and Avars)
- Author(s):Annamaria Fedele
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Archaeology, Comparative history, Military history, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries
- Page Range:239-259
- No. of Pages:21
- Keywords:Horses; burials; Harnesses; Lombards; Avars; sacrifice; ‘mort d’accompagnament’.
- Summary/Abstract:In Lombard cemeteries there are numerous burial pits containing horses, confirming that this animal was the sacrificial victim par excellence among Germanic and Nomadic cultures in the Early Middle Ages. The majority of horse burials found in Italy shows similar deposition methods to some discovered in the cemeteries of Central and Eastern Europe, which belong to both Lombards and other Germanic peoples. This permits tracing of the main characteristics of the Germanic funerary custom, and its differentiation from another ritual recognised in the Italian cemetery of Campochiaro (Southern Italy, Molise), where horses were buried in a manner similar to that observed among the Avars, a nomadic population who settled in the Carpathian Basin in the last decades of the 6th century AD. This paper describes the main archaeological discoveries in Italy, with the aim of clarifying the distinctions between the two cultural heritages identified there, and providing some explanations thereof.
- Price: 5.00 €
The Irish “Deer” Series of Cheek-Pieces
The Irish “Deer” Series of Cheek-Pieces
(The Irish “Deer” Series of Cheek-Pieces)
- Author(s):Brian G. Scott
- Language:English
- Subject(s):History, Archaeology, Cultural history, Ancient World, Middle Ages, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, 15th Century
- Page Range:261-294
- No. of Pages:34
- Keywords:cheek-piece; stag; buck; red deer; fallow deer; high cross; key; zinc; brass; Bristol ceramics
- Summary/Abstract:Ireland has nearly one hundred and seventy examples of cheek-pieces, two examples dating from the Later Bronze Age, the rest from c. sixth to seventeenth centuries AD, the great majority of which are of insular design and manufacture. There is a highly distinctive class that has been categorised as “horse pattern,” by far the greatest number being in the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, It is clear, however, from the basic anatomical details depicted that the animal incorporated into the design is a male deer, a red deer stag or a fallow deer buck. It is a distinct group, but one without immediate parallels, datable provenances or associations, and it is very difficult to find any convincing precursor inside or outside Ireland, or to use stylistic features to provide a reasonably close date-range. Metal analysis would tend to indicate later rather earlier mediaeval, a view that might be supported by ceramic motif parallels and, by the dating of the introduction of fallow deer to Ireland at the start of the thirteenth century AD.
- Price: 5.00 €
