GERMAN RECORDS. 205 



Grosz ' says that the shoeing of two horses is noticed 

 in a Westphalian record of 1085. 



In the year 1336, we find the Abbot of Waltersdorf, 

 in Bavaria, making the following contract with his smith 

 concerning the work to be accomplished, and its payment. 

 ' He (the smith) is to make for his (the Abbot's) riding- 

 horse three new steeled shoes {gestaehlte ei.seii) for two 

 pence ; and to repair three old ones for one penny. For 

 two or three nails to fasten them, he is to receive nothing 



and the work above stated is to be done with 



the Abbot's iron,' &c. 



In 1400, a tax was fixed at Stuttgard for smith's 

 work, and among other items, ' 6 heller (halfpennies or 

 farthings) was to be paid for forging a new shoe.' "" 



Horses appear to have been early employed by the 

 Germans to draw carriages or carry litters, for it is re- 

 corded that in the campaign of Arnulph or Arnold, 

 Emperor of Germany, in Upper Italy, in 896, when 

 returning across the Alps, a disease broke out among his 

 horses which was so fatal, that, ' contrary to custom, oxen 

 were employed to draw the litters instead.' ^ The use of 

 horses in draught or carriage would have been very 

 limited for Alpine travelling had they not been shod. 



In Germany, as elsewhere at this early period, the 

 blacksmith held a good position, if we may judge by the 

 price of his luekr-geld, or ' blood-money.' The law of 

 Gondebaud or Gombette, the most ancient of the bar- 

 barian codes, makes it manifest that the life of a smith 



' Op. cit., p. 8. " Ibid., p. 9. 



^ Annales Fuldens. Pertz M., i. p. 411. 



