THE HOKSE IN BRITAIN 539 



since it is from such stock that Eclipse and Flying Childers descended. 

 Fitz-Stephen, who lived duiiiio- Henry H's reign, gives a description of 

 the public exhibition of horses; how at Smithfield [planus campua) they 

 were paraded for sale. " Every Friday, except some festival intervene, 

 theiie is a line sight of horses brought to be sold. Many of the city 

 come to buy or look on, to wit, barons, knights, earls, and citizens. 

 It is a pleasant thing to behold the horses there, all gay and sleek, 

 moving up and down, some on the amble and some on the trot, which 

 latter pace, although rougher to the rider, is better suited to men who 

 bear arms. There are yet colts, ignorant of the bridle, which prance 

 and bound and give early signs of spirit and courage; there are also 

 managed war - horses, of elegant shape, full of fire, and giving every 

 evidence of a generous and noble temper; horses also for the cart, dray, 

 and plough are to be found here." 



The tournament on the Continent had been for many years a pastime 

 with warriors, but the love of hunting to which the English nobles were 

 devoted delayed its becoming a British institution until the time of Henry 

 H. At this time Fitz-Stephen tells us that on every Friday in Lent a 

 tournament was held at Smithfield, where young Londoners armed and 

 mounted on horses performed a variety of warlike evolutions, and from this 

 age the tournament ruled supreme both in England and on the Continent 

 until the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the race-course gradually pushed out 

 of existence this ancient pastime. The tournament was not established in 

 England until sixty years after the Norman conquest, but from the account 

 of Stephanides of Canterbury it is evident that during the reign of Henry 

 H various equine breeds were common in England, the charger or tourna- 

 ment horse being spoken of as distinct from the cart-horse. These animals 

 were the descendants of imported Norman horses, and were representatives 

 of an improvement that had been impressed upon native stock by the 

 judicious selection of parents under the supervision of their owners. 

 During the Plantagenet dynasty the cha.se became the incentive which led 

 to the propagation of swift horses, and in the same way the tournament 

 operated in causing the production of the great horse; and consequently we 

 find that during the reign of King John the development of the great horse 

 ■was continued. We read that this monarch imported one hundred stallions 

 from Flanders, and, as the tournament was jit this period a great national 

 institution, we may presume that these animals were destined for perform- 

 ance in the tilting yard and at the same time for purposes of the stud. The 

 value set upon these horses during this reign is indicated by a fine that King 

 John imposed upon a person named Till, who " possessed a noble breed of 

 horses", ])ut falling imder the king's displeasure was condemned to pay 



