The Laws of Henry VIII
In Henry VIII.’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 Realm is now lately diminished, altered, and decayed, and further is like to decay if speedy Remedy be not sooner provided in that Behalf.”
“It is provided that all Owners or Fermers of parks and enclosed grounds of the extent of one mile in compass, shall keep two Mares, being not spayed, apt and able to bear foals of the altitude or height of thirteen handfuls at least, upon pain of 40/.”
“A penalty of 40/ is imposed on the Lords, Owners, and Fermers of all parks and grounds enclosed as is above rehearsed, who shall willingly suffer any of the said Mares to be covered or kept with any Stoned Horse under the stature of fourteen handfuls.”
The year 1541 saw another statute (32 Hy. VIII.) This enacted that—
“No person shall put in any forest, chase, moor, heath, common, or waste (where mares and fillies are used to be kept), any Stoned Horse above the age of two years, not being 15 hands high, within the SHIRES and territories of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, Buckingham, Huntingdon, Essex, Kent, South Hampshire, North Wiltshire, Oxford, Berkshire, Worcester, Gloucester, Somerset, South Wales, Bedford, Warwick, Northampton, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Staffordshire, Lancashire, Salop, Leicester, Hereford, and Lincoln.”
“And furthermore be it enacted, that if in any of the said drifts, there shall be found, any mare, filly foal or gelding that then shall be thought not to be able nor like to grow to be able to bear foals of reasonable stature, or not able nor like to grow to be able to do profitable labours, by the discretions of the drivers aforesaid or of the more number of them, then the same driver or drivers shall cause the same unprofitable beasts, and every of them to be killed, and the bodies of them to be buried in the ground or otherwise bestowed, as no annoyance thereby shall come or grow to the people, there near inhabiting or thither resorting.”
By another Act the exportation of horses beyond the seas is strictly forbidden; and this Act is extended to Scotland; selling a horse in England to a Scotchman without a Royal permission, is declared to be felony in both buyer and seller (32 of Henry VIII. cap. 6). This statute is entitled, “An acte for the tryall of felonies upon conveiynge of horses into Scotland.”
The use of the word “Shire” will be noted in the foregoing extract. It is of interest in view of the diversity of opinion expressed when the Shire Horse Society was formed, concerning the propriety of using this term. In this statute of Henry VIII. for the first time we find the word “Shire” used in connection with horses.
Ralph Holinshed, in his Chronicles (Ed. London, 1807, vol. vi., p. 3), has an entry which indicates that this monarch set his subjects a good example in this particular respect:—
King Henry VIII. erected a noble studderie for breeding horses, especially the greatest sorte, and for a time had verie good success with them. The officers however seemed wearie: and procured a mixed breed of baser races, whereby his good purpose came to little effect.”
That horses of “the greatest sorte” were absolutely essential at this time the immense weight of iron worn by both rider and horse proves to us. The engraving represents a knight clad in a suit of tilting armour, which is now to be seen in the Tower of London. This armour was described in 1660 as having belonged to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, Henry VIII.’s brother-in-law. The Tower officials give the weight as follows:—Man’s armour, 99lbs. 9oz.; horse’s armour, 80lbs. 15oz. The mail would fit only a big and powerful man (none other could profitably wear it) whose weight must have been at least 16 stone. Thus we have:—
| Lbs. | oz. | |
| Weight of rider | 224 | 0 |
| Rider’s armour | 99 | 9 |
| ″ spear | 20 | 0 |
| Horse’s armour | 80 | 15 |
| Total | 424 | 8 |
or 30 stone 4lbs. 8oz. As we must allow for the knight’s clothing and the horse’s gear, bridle, &c., the total weight would not fall short of the four hundredweight mentioned by the old chronicler quoted on the next pages as the burden the Great Horse will “carrie commonlie.”