THE HORSE IN BRITAIN 541 



induced. Upon such steeds the warriors of okl faced their enemies in the 



battle-field and on the tilting-ground, encased in armour so weighty that 



it sometimes demanded the assistance of two squires to mount them. 



Chargers of great size were imported by Arigio-Normans, by Plantagenets, 



and by Tudors from Flanders and from Lombardy, and Chaucer gives a 



distinct picture of this breed when he depicts its grand conformation in the 



following verse : — 



" For it so high was, so broad and long, 

 So well proportioned for to be so strong, 

 Right as it were a steed of Lombardy ". 



After the time of Richard the First there is little to record of impor- 

 tance relative to the breeding, rearing, and importation of horses, until the 

 reign of Richard the Third, when we learn for the first time that during 

 1483 post-horses and stages were first introduced, and that horses were 

 specially employed in this service. Soon after the first Tudor ascended the 

 throne we are put in possession of interesting facts relative to the treat- 

 ment and disposition of horses by Polydore Virgil, who tells us how cattle 

 and horses browsed over English pastures and common lands, and that 

 horses, both mares and entire horses, were mingled together, which caused 

 so much confusion and disorder that Henry VII enacted that no entire horse 

 should be pastured out on fields or common lands. This law caused such 

 horses to be kept within bounds and tied in stalls, whence the name 

 " stallion " or " stalled one " was applied to the entire horse. The incon- 

 venience of this enactment in causing so many horses to be stabled led tO' 

 their emasculation, which from this date became a common practice. The 

 exportation of stallions and of mares of less value than six shillings and 

 eightpence was prohibited, but the importation of foreign horses was warmly 

 encouraged as previously. Henry VIII, like his father, paid particular 

 attention to the raising and the improvement of horses, and it is evident 

 from the laws that were passed during his reign that small horses were 

 too numerous. In his endeavour to obtain a stronger and better type of 

 animal a law was enacted that no stallion less than 15 hands high and 

 no mare less than 13 hands should run wild in the country. A colt two 

 years old and under 11^ hands high was not allowed to run on any moor, 

 forest, or common where mares were pastured; and at Michaelmastide the 

 neighbouring magistrates were ordered to drive all forests and commons, 

 and not only to destroy such stallions, but also " all unlikely tits whether 

 mares or foals". 



Other enactments were passed during this reign with a view to obtain 

 more powerful horses. It was enjoined that every bishop and duke was to 

 keep seven entire horses, each above three years old and not less than 



Vol. hi. 100 



