358 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



to 5 marks. The bay charger with the white foot was therefore 

 worth nearly one-third more than any other horse in the list. 

 This animal belonged to the King and was ridden by Sir Eustace 

 de Hecche. 



Our analysis shows that the black horses were the heaviest, 

 and that in several cases they had the star and white feet 

 characteristic of the North African horse; the bay supplied 

 chargers in proportion next after the black (including the 

 most valuable one), the grey furnished the largest proportion 

 of hackneys, the bay coming second in that respect, the bay 

 and grey together supplying 15 out of 17 hackneys. But, as 

 we saw that in Western Asia grey was the result of the blend- 

 ing of the bay Libyan with the horse of Upper Asia, we may 

 infer that as the bays and greys supply nearly all the hackneys, 

 the light built horses of the day were largely the outcome of 

 North African blood. 



The fact that dun and sorrel have only three representatives 

 shows that the best horses of the age were not a development of 

 the old North European horse, but were largely the outcome 

 of North African blood. Indeed, as the dun in the list had a 

 star in the forehead, it was evidently not pure, but had a cross 

 of North African blood in it, which accounts for its being 

 valued at 20 marks. The same is probably true of the fawn 

 hackney with a star in its forehead and three white feet. The 

 results thus obtained harmonise completely with the order of 

 merit in which horses of different colours are placed by Olaus 

 Magnus (p. 348), for the black stands first in popularity as a 

 war-horse, the bay second, then the various shades of grey, 

 whilst dun including sorrel comes last in the list. 



The scarcity of good horses in this and in subsequent reigns 

 is proved by the enactments passed by Edward III 1 (1327-77) 

 and Richard II to promote the breeding of such horses. The 

 former spent large sums in the purchase of horses from the 

 Low Countries, buying to the amount of 25,000 florins from 

 the Count of Hainault. The King kept large studs of war- 

 horses at the various royal manors, such as Windsor, Odiham, 

 Woodstock, and Waltham, the sheriffs of the various counties 



1 Sir W. Gilbey, op. cit. p. 19. 



