23 



feathered legs, prove it an example of a breed 

 intimately allied to, if not identical with, the 

 English Great Horse. 



Our Frontispiece is reproduced from an 

 engraving of a picture by Hans Burgkmair, 

 a German artist, who lived 1473-1529. It 

 not only affords an excellent idea of the stamp 

 of horse ridden by armour-clad knights of 

 the period, but also of the armour borne by 

 the horse. 



THE LAWS OF HENRY VHI. 



In Henry VI 1 1. 's reign (1509- 1547) special 

 attention was directed to the breeding of 

 strong horses ; new laws were made which 

 sought to secure strength and stature by 

 requiring sires and dams of a certain size 

 and mould. Breeding was allowed only 

 under restrictions, and a distinct element of 

 compulsion is the enactment that all prelates 

 and nobles (" whose wives wore French 

 hoods or velvet bonnets ") should maintain 

 stallions of the required standard. The law 

 passed in 1535 (26 Hy. VIII.) runs : — 



" For that in many and most places of this Realm, 

 commonly little Horses and Nags of small stature 

 and value be suffered to depasture, and also to cover 

 Mares and Felys of very small stature, by reason 

 whereof the Breed of good and strong Horses of this 



