134 INTRODUCTION. 



cross with the Gallician mountain race, was soon 

 noticed in France by the names of Ferrant, Aufer- 

 rant) and Blancferrant, as they were of different 

 shades of their colour. We find in the older poets 

 and troubadours, repeated reference to them ; such 

 as, 



M Chacuns (Teux broche son auf errant Gascon. 



La peust on voir maint auferrant d'Espagne. 



D'Estriers, auferrant et Gascon," 



occur, showing that auferrant is occassionally in- 

 tended to express the native country of the destrier 

 or charger ; for dextrier^ destrier^ or dextrarius, were 

 terms given to a war-horse because it was led by a 

 groom or squire until wanted for battle : the word, 

 besides, was synonymous with great-horse and war- 

 horse, and denoted his quality, without reference to 

 colour or race. * 



In Britain, we have already pointed out the gra- 

 dual importations in the time of the Romans and 

 during the Saxon invasions, although the last men- 



* These terms stood in contradistinction to the smaller 

 sized horses, called achinece, in French hacquenes, with us Jtack- 

 neyS) and in Italian ubinas ; there were, besides, arlanni, scoppa, 

 and palfreys, all under-sized horses, usually bred to ambling, 

 and the last mentioned almost exclusively reserved for the use 

 of ladies, was if possible white or marked with some peculiar 

 colours. I know of only one instance where a knight in full 

 armour is pourtrayed riding a mule dressed in armorial trap- 

 pings, and that is of Piero Farnese, 1363, a statue in the pro- 

 portions of life, and perhaps in real armour, over a door in the 

 cathedral of Florence ; for a drawing of which I am indebted 

 to my friend Seymour Kirkup, Esq. 



