From the Conquest to the Reign of King John
For six centuries after the Norman conquest the use of armour was universal. True mail of interlinked rings was generally adopted about the time of the Crusades (1190-94) and its use continued until the fourteenth century; but from about 1300 the practice of protecting the more exposed parts of the body with plates of iron instead of chain mail began to extend, and the character of personal armour gradually changed until it became a complete panoply of plates. The authorities give the period of mixed chain and plate armour as from 1300 to 1410. By the latter date this had disappeared in favour of complete armour of plate, the use of which continued until the beginning of the seventeenth century, growing heavier and stronger in ratio with the increasing efficacy of offensive weapons. We need not follow the decadence of armour through the age when buff coats and jerkins, under “demi-suits of plate,” were in vogue, to its final disappearance far on in the seventeenth century. Our concern lies with those ages during which heavy armour was in use; for this was the long period when the development of the Great Horse was continuously the anxious care of kings and parliaments. The steady increase in the weight of armour is a factor of the first importance in our present investigation; for therein we find the sufficient motive which impelled our ancestors to develop to the utmost the size and strength of the only breed of horse which could carry a man-at-arms. When we find that the weight a horse might be called upon to bear amounted to 4 cwt.—32 stone—at the period when plate armour reached its maximum strength, no further stress need be laid on the power of the animal required. We may find opportunity later on to consider in minuter detail the weight of armour.
At an early date we find the chroniclers speaking of the horse used in warfare as Dextrarius or Magnus Equus; later on the English terms “War Horse” or “Great Horse” are used indifferently as the equivalents of the Latin. The history of the period between Henry II.’s accession (1154) until the reign of Elizabeth (1538-1603) shows that it was the constant aim of the Legislature to increase and improve the stock of these horses in England. In Henry II.’s reign several foreign horses were imported (A.D. 1160); but there is nothing to show to what breed these belonged. Maddox’s History of the Exchequer contains mention of disbursements “for the subsistence of the King’s horses that were lately brought from beyond the sea;” but unfortunately we are not informed for what special purpose they were procured. It is more than probable that they were Norman horses suitable for breeding stock to carry men-at-arms; for the first years of Henry’s reign were spent in evolving order from the anarchy which England had endured under his predecessor Stephen—a task which implied forcible measures. The earliest mention of “Cart Horses” that we have found is made by one William Stephanides, a Canterbury monk born in London, who wrote in the year of Henry II.’s accession:—
“Without one of the London City gates is a certain Smoothfield [Smithfield]. Every Friday there is a brave sight of gallant horses to be sold. Many come out of the city to buy or look on—to wit, earls, barons, knights and citizens. There are to be found here maneged, or War Horses (Dextrarii), of elegant shape, full of fire and giving every proof of a generous and noble temper; likewise Cart Horses, fit for the Dray, or the Plough or the Chariot.”
At this time, therefore, it appears that horses were beginning to replace oxen to some extent, and at all events for farm and draught work; but it would not be safe to conclude that the animals “fit for the Dray or the Plough or the Chariot” were of the Great Horse stamp; probably they more nearly resembled the inferior animals which were used for light cavalry purposes.