13 



for sale, a circumstance which indicates that 

 the horse trade with the Continent was 

 even then considerable, and that ample use 

 could be found at home for animals of good 

 stamp. King x\thelstan had probably in- 

 terested himself in the improvement of the 

 breed, for in his will, quoted by Berenger, 

 he bequeaths the horses given him by 

 Thurbrand, together with the ivhite horses 

 given him by Liefbrand. These donors 

 were Saxons, so it is only reasonable to 

 suppose that the animals they gave were 

 representative samples of the Saxon breed, 

 which was one of the Great Horse type. 



FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE REIGN OF 

 KING JOHN. 



For six centuries after the Norman con- 

 quest the use of armour was universal. True 

 mail of interlinked rings was generally 

 adopted about the time of the Crusades 

 (1190-94) and its use continued until the 

 fourteenth century ; but from about 1 300 the 

 practice of protecting the more exposed parts 

 of the body with plates of iron instead of 

 chain mail began to extend, and the character 

 of personal armour gradually changed until it 

 became a complete panoply of plates. The 



