510 THE HORSE. 



arms, for whom horses of good strength and size were re- 

 quired. The great Black Horse of Flanders and the plains 

 of Germany was in especial request ; and our earlier re- 

 cords shew that the Norman princes largely resorted to 

 these countries for supplying their studs and armies. The 

 Crusades, too, had conveyed a knowledge of those gay and 

 elegant steeds which happier climes and distant lands pro- 

 duced ; and by degrees horses from Spain and Italy, Bar- 

 bary and the countries of the Levant, found their way to the 

 land of the Anglo-Normans. King John, during his troubled 

 reign, found time to devote his attention to the improvement 

 of the native Horse. He imported at one time a hundred 

 stallions from Flanders. Edward II. imported Horses from 

 Lombardy ; and Edward III. took yet more active means to 

 obtain the horses of foreign countries. The annals of his 

 reign shew that he was indebted in large sums to the Prince 

 of Hainault and other powers, for horses obtained for the 

 supply of his cavalry. He devoted the sum, great in those 

 days, of 1000 merks for the purchase of Spanish stallions. 

 While eager to avail himself of foreign horses to improve 

 the native races, and pursue his wars, he resolved that other 

 countries should not reap a corresponding advantage. He 

 prohibited the exportation of horses from England under 

 heavy penalties, and succeeding princes continued the sys- 

 tem ; and up to the reign of Elizabeth, it was felony to carry 

 horses even from England to Scotland. In these ages, then, 

 it appears that not only were the larger horses fitted for 

 heavy armour and the tournament brought into England, but 

 by degrees the lighter and more active horses of the South 

 and East; and the employment of fusees in war, and the 

 gradual change of heavy armour, led to a more general pre- 

 ference of horses of lighter form and easy action. Henry 

 VIII. was the last of the English kings who maintained the 

 usages of chivalry. But even he saw the superiority of the 

 finer horses of the South and East, and imported them in 

 some numbers from Turkey, Naples, and Spain, for the im- 



