38 A HISTORY OF THE PERCHKRON HORSE 



Count Roger of Bellesmer, Goroze, the lord of Saint 

 Cerney, Courville and Courseroult, and Rotrou, 

 Count of The Perche, as personages of high degree 

 who aided in this undertaking. It is further alleged 

 that while the blood was also brought into other 

 provinces it was nowhere so carefully conserved or 

 in-bred as in The Perche. All of which may be true, 

 or it may be pure invention. The fact is, that if the 

 traditions as to the type of horses used by the Cru- 

 saders and the knights of the feudal ages handed 

 down from one generation of artists to another are 

 to be relied upon in any degree whatsoever, it is 

 more probable that the Crusaders waged war with 

 horses of their own production much better adapted 

 to their needs than was any desert stock. 



In concluding his discussion of the effects of these 

 expeditions upon European progress the great 

 French authority, Michaud, in his "History of the 

 Crusades," speaking of various benefits accruing 

 to the participating nations, takes up in detail the 

 contributions to the arts and industries growing out 

 of those conflicts. Among other things he mentions 

 the effect of the Crusades on European agriculture 

 and tells of wheat and of various fruits and plants 

 that were brought back to Europe. But the only 

 reference he makes to the horse in this connection is 

 in the following sentence: 



"A short time after the first expedition of Louis 

 IX Birbar sent to Mainfrey, son of Frederick II, 

 several Mogul prisoners with their horses, which 

 were of Tartar breed." 



