INTRODUCTION. 133 



gians, Braise^ for such is the interpretation of 

 Brussels, the site where the city stands being an- 

 teriorly a breeding pasture, on the river Senne, 

 fonned by the counts of Louvain before Brabant 

 was raised into a duchy. The fair of Beaucaire 

 became the great mart for horses as early as 832, 

 when the count of Barcelona built the castle : others 

 existed from the Celtic or Roman times, at those 

 places called Venice^ as Yienne on the Rhone, 

 Vienna on the Danube, Vannes in Brittany, Venta 

 Belgarum, or Winchester, Venemaere near Ghent, 

 and new horse-fairs sprang up in many places. 



It was then that the nobility and chivalry of 

 Europe, leading almost a nomad life, in quest of 

 war and adventures, began to pay large prices for 

 tall, fleet, and strong horses : the Christian kings of 

 Oviedo and Leon were often pressed to sell or pro- 

 cure war-horses. We find a pope, John, applying to 

 the king of Gallicia for " Aliquantos utiles et opti- 

 mos Mauriscos, quos Hispani caballos Alfaraces 

 vocant." These Alfaras^ or Andalus^ were a cross 

 breed of Arab blood upon the black Vandal and 

 other Gothic races, themselves crossed with Roman 

 and the ancient Spanish Calpe studs; which last 

 retained the name of Ginetas because they were 

 smaller and fit only for light armed cavalry. Afri- 

 can and Barbary blood, by crossing with the Gothic, 

 likewise rose in stature, and spread in Navarre to 

 the Garonne. These two formed the first well 

 bred horses in Christian Europe, and the grey being 

 most accessible, probably in consequence of a farther 



