24 THE HORSE. 



horse. To his superiority m cavalry this prince was chiefly indebted for 

 the victory of Hastings. The favourite charger of WilUam was a Spaniard. 

 His followers, both the barons and the common soldiers, came principally 

 from a country in which agriculture had made more rapid progress than 

 in England, A very considerable portion of the kingdom was divided 

 among these men ; and it cannot be doubted that, however unjust was the 

 usurpation of the Norman, England benefited in its husbandry, and par- 

 ticularly in its horses, by the change of masters. Some of the barons, 

 and particularly Roger de Boulogne, earl of Shrewsbury, introduced the 

 Spanish horse, on Iheir newly-acquired estates. The historians of these 

 times, however, principally monks, knowing nothing about horses, give us 

 very little information on the subject. 



In the reign of Henry I. (a. d. 1121) the first Arabian horse, or, at 

 least, the first on record, was introduced. Alexander I., king of Scotland, 

 presented to the church of St. Andrew's, an Arabian horse, with costly 

 furniture, Turkish armour, many valuable trinkets, and a considerable 

 estate. 



Forty years afterwards, in the reign of Henry II., Smithfield was cele- 

 brated as a horse-market. Fitz-Stephen, who lived at that time, gives the 

 following animated account of the manner in which the hackneys and 

 charging -steeds were tried there, by racing against one another. " When 

 a race is to be run by this sort of horses, and perhaps by others, which also 

 in their kind are strong and fleet, a shout is immediately raised, and the 

 common horses are ordered to withdraw o\it of the way. Three jockeys, 

 or sometimes only two, as the match is made, prepare themselves for the 

 contest. The horses on their part are not without emulation ; they tremble 

 and are impatient, and are continually in motion. At last, the signal once 

 given, they start, devour the course, and hurry along with unremitting 

 swiftness. The jockeys inspired with the thought of applause, and the 

 hope of victory, clap spurs to their willing horses, brandish their whips, 

 and cheer them with their cries." This description reminds us of the more 

 lengthened races of the present day, and proves the blood of the English 

 horse, even before the Eastern breed was tried. 



Close on this followed the Crusades. The champions of the Cross cer- 

 tainly had it in their power to enrich their native country with some of the 

 choicest specimens of Eastern horses, but they were completely under the 

 influence of superstition and fanaticism, and common sense and usefulness 

 were forgotten. 



An old metrical romance, however, records the excellence of two horses 

 belonging to Richard Coeur de Lion, which he purchased at Cyprus, and 

 were therefore, probably, of Eastern origin. 



Yn this worlde they hadde no pere*. 

 Dromedary nor destrere f , 

 Stede, Rabytej:, ne Cammele, 

 Goeth none so swifte, without fayle : 

 For a thousand pownd of golde, 

 Ne should the one be solde. 



The war-steed was defended by mail or plate, much on the plan of the 

 harness of the knight himself. His head was ornamented with a crest. The 

 head, chest, and flanks, were wholly or partially protected ; and sometimes, 

 he was clad in complete steel, with the arms of his master engraved or 

 embossed on his hardings. The bridle of the horse was always as splendid 



* Peer, equal. f War horse, X Arabian. 



