V] 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF EQUITATION 



499 



rider to mount. The Germanic origin of the names for the 

 stirrup and the known difficulty in mounting on horseback and 

 retaining the seat when mounted experienced not by the 

 Germans of the south and west, whom Caesar knew, but by 

 those of the north-west such as the Angles and their immediate 

 kindred (p. 353), clearly indicate that the stirrup was the inven- 

 tion of the large-limbed heavy-built Teutonic tribes of the 

 Lower Rhine and the contiguous region, from whence it 

 gradually spread southwards and eastwards along with the con- 



FiG. 140. Persian Stirrup (bronze inlaid with silver; 15th century). 



quests of the Franks. The next stage was to attach to the strap 

 or rope a piece of metal in which the foot might rest more 

 comfortably and securely. This stage can be clearly seen at 

 the present day in Abyssinia, where the stirrup-leather and 

 stirrup consist of a rope and a metal ring just large enough 

 to receive the great toe. The next step would be to insert 

 the whole of the bare foot in a larger ring. A reminiscence 

 of this step can be seen in medieval Persian stirrups, which 

 are formed of a circular piece of bronze with a plate for the 

 foot shaped and ornamented to resemble a naked foot, as is 



32—2 



