290 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



The first written evidence I can find that bears upon 

 this point, is in the laws of Malcolm II. (a.d. 1003 — 1033), 

 which were framed and in force for forty or fifty years 

 before the Norman invasion of England. In one of these 

 laws it is ordained, that when a man was condemned to 

 death, the Crown took possession of his ' hrohen^ unshod 

 horses, and not more than 20 sheep, goats, and pigs,' ' etc. 



More than four centuries later, this statute appears to 

 have been extant ; for in the new law of James III. (1487, 

 Parliament 13, cap. 1 13), it was limited only to those horses 

 intended for servile work {operas seniles destinantur-) ; for 

 ifthey were unbroken {indomitos) or intractable ; or broken 

 and shod, or, in fine, capable of carrying saddles, and 

 being ridden upon, they were not to belong to the Crown/ 



The Norman invasion and conquest of England 

 (1066) appears to have given rise to the supposition in 

 many quarters, that the art of shoeing was introduced into 

 this country by William the Conqueror. This is quite a 

 mistake, as we have sufficiently shown. Horses had been 

 shod for many centuries in Britain before the arrival of the 

 Normans ; and though this practice may not have been, 

 for various reasons, a general one, yet its benefits were 

 sufficiently manifest to make it appreciated, and resorted 

 to in particular circumstances. Another proof, if any more 

 were needed, that the Saxons employed this defence for 

 their horses' feet, would be found in the fact, that Wel- 



' Leges Malcomi Secundi, cap, 3. De Feodo Institiarii, Clericorum, 

 etc. 4. ' Item, de homine condemnato ad mortem. Coram Justitiaro, 

 coronator habebit eqiios domitos non ferratos ; oves infra viginti, capras, 

 et porcos, infra decern,' etc. 



^ Skeene. Regiam Majestatem Scoti<Te. Edinburgh, 1609. 



