THE ANCIENT PROVINCE OP THE PEKCHE 23 



now known as Nogent-le-Rotrou, is, and for years 

 past has been, the Percheron capital. 



Charles Du Hays, Master of Horse to Napoleon 

 III, in his ' ' Le Cheval Percheron, ' ' quoting from the 

 Abbe Fret, the author of a history of the province 

 of The Perche, and accepting as correct the state- 

 ment that Rotrou and other nobles participating in 

 the Crusades brought back stallions from the Holy 

 Land, asserts that they were largely used. This 

 may be true. Indeed, it is by no means improbable, 

 and yet a careful reading of the "Suite Chrono- 

 logique des Seigneurs de Nogent-le-Rotrou ' ' by Odo- 

 lant-Desnos, published in 1785, which includes a de- 

 tailed account of the homecoming of that knight, 

 yields no reference to his having brought back Ara- 

 bian horses. Indeed, we have searched in vain in 

 early French literature for any specific statements 

 to substantiate the generally accepted dicta on this 

 point. 



Modem Records Begin. — ^As war gradually ceased 

 to be the chief business or diversion of the great 

 nobles and landed proprietors the gentler arts of 

 agriculture naturally received more attention, and 

 it followed, as a matter of course, that efforts were 

 finally made to increase the value of the horse for 

 farm purposes. Louis XI (1461-1483) first curbed 

 the power and fighting spirit of the great feudal 

 barons and war lords who had for so long made 

 France a hotbed of internal strife, and he asserted 

 the majesty of centralized authority. 



Although we have made diligent search through 



