FROISSART. 4iy 



interesting details about shoeing. Describing the first 

 attempted invasion of Scotland by Edward II., he gives us 

 an instance of the importance this art was assuming, and 

 what an amount of inconvenience might be apprehended 

 when circumstances prevented its being attended to. 

 When the army of that king had marched as far as New- 

 castle-on-Tyne, the cavalry were in a miserable plight, 

 and apparently ineffective. ' It never seased to rayne all 

 the hoole weeke, whereby theyre saddels, pannels, and 

 counter-syngles were all rottyn and broke, and most part 

 of their horses hurt on their backs : nor they had not 

 wherewith to sfioo them that were unshodde.' When the 

 troops reached Durham, however, they were obliged to 

 rest there for two days, ' and the oste rounde about, for 

 they coulde not all lodge within the cite, and tlieyre 

 horses were newe shoode, and set out on theyre march to 

 York.' ' 



In these chronicles, embracing as they do, the latter 

 part of the reign of Edward II., and terminating with the 

 coronation of Henry IV., there is repeated mention of 

 shoeing, and particularly in the wars which England was 

 then waging on the Continent. In the great army 

 Edward III. carried into France in 1359, — the greatest, 

 according to Froissart, that had ever left England, we 

 find a completeness in equipment and material which is 

 somewhat astonishing when we look at the present con- 

 dition of our army and consider its fitness for a continental 

 war, particularly in the matter of land transport. Our 

 warrior king appears to have omitted nothing that could 

 render success impossible. On arriving at Calais, he 



' Chronicles, edit. 1812. Vol. i. p. 21. 



