CHARGES OF THE STABLE. HARNESS. 533 



an article through the whole accounts. Collars, too, are very 

 rarely mentioned, only four having come before me, though 

 these are both early and late ; the first entry appearing under 

 1268, the last in 1400, three being subsequent to the Plague. 

 The price of the first is 9^., the average of the others is. \d. 

 It is probable that collars were generally manufactured at 

 home, and made of closely-woven straw lined with canvas or 

 sacking; the hames being fashioned out of bar-iron, and 

 fastened by chains to the shafts of the cart or wagon. Similar 

 labour at the village smithy supplied the farm-horse bit, if 

 indeed this part of the modern harness was general in the 

 Middle Ages. It is more likely, however, that it was rarely 

 used, and that the horse was guided by a halter or a switch. 

 Bits were, of course, needed for saddle-horses, and the price 

 of a colt's bit is given in 1305 at 8^. I have found one other 

 entry, that, namely, of a bit and reins, bought for the warden of 

 Merton in the year 1300. The reins used for saddle-horses 

 were made of the same white leather as the harness on the 

 farm. Surcingles are mentioned in the year 1305, as also 

 horse-cloths. 



There are a few entries of the price of saddles. In all cases, 

 however, the purchase is made on behalf of some person of 

 consideration. Thus the saddle at Holderness in the year 

 1260 is bought for one of the retainers of Isabella de Fortibus; 

 those in 1300, 1346, 1355, 1369, 1394, for the warden of 

 Merton. The third and last are very expensive affairs, costing 

 185-. and \ os.^d. respectively. I find no mention of stirrups. 

 Spurs, however, are quoted. A pair of gilt spurs cost at 

 Lyswere, in the year 1320, 6</.; another pair at Kingesdonne, 

 in the following year, $d. ; a third pair in the next year, at 

 Crookham, also gilt, cost 6d. ; but a fourth pair, given under 

 the year 1380, and purchased for the warden of Merton, cost 

 is. $d. We cannot but be struck with the low price at which 

 these gilt spurs were sold, and must conclude that the art of 

 gilding was familiarly known to our forefathers. 



The interior of the stable was, of course, furnished by the 



