INTRODUCTION 7 



' Gustos equorum regis ' or ' Gardein de nos grands chevaux.' 

 The j)rices paid for horses in 1330 are shown by the follow- 

 ing sums which passed through the hands of Brocas. ' To 

 Master Thomas de Garton, Keeper of the King's Wardrobe, 

 in money paid to him by the hands of John Brocaz for the 

 purchase of the three undermentioned chargers, to wit, one 

 called Pomcrs, of a grey colour with black head, price 120Z. ; 

 another called Lebryt, a dappled grey, price 70/. ; and a tliird 

 called Bayard, a bright bay with hind fetlocks white, price 

 50/.' ' 



The great cavalry department appears to have been kept- 

 at its full war complement for about twenty years, until the 

 power of France, after the battle of Poitiers, seemed finally 

 broken. Thus in 1357 the King commissions Sir John de 

 Brocas, Edmund Eose, and AYilliam of Wykeham to sell off 

 that portion of the stud kept in Windsor Park, and the next 

 year the horses beyond the Trent which were of no further 

 use were sold ; while in 1360, after the Peace of Bretigny, 

 all the royal studs south of Trent w^ere disposed of and the 

 proceeds handed to William of Wykeham, ' surveyor of the 

 King's work in Windsor Castle.' Too soon were frustrated 

 the fond hopes that it would never again be necessary to 

 sweep over France with English squadrons, and great was the 

 need of this magnificent cavalry before the end of the reign. 



Many and various were the duties of this active Master 

 of the Horse. After employment with his son Sir Oliver 

 in buying horses for the King in Gascony before the great 

 campaign of Creyy, he is found in command of a consider- 

 able company at the siege of Calais, and he w^as chosen 

 as ambassador to congratulate Alfonso XL of Castile on 

 his capture of Algeciras from the Moors, and to negotiate 

 concerning the marriage of Edward III.'s daughter to the 



' The proper multiple for money of this date, for the sake of comparison 

 with the present daj-, is approximately 20. 



