From the Time of Edward III. to Edward IV
Edward III. (1327-1377) added measures dealing with the matter to the Statute Book. This King also, as history records, spent very large sums on horses. We find him indebted to the Count of Hainault to the extent of 25,000 florins for horses; and Mr. Edward Burrows in his Introduction to Lord Ribblesdale’s The Queen’s Buckhounds, says:—
“In the long lists which occur in the Exchequer accounts of the wardrobe of numerous classes of horses belonging to the King—coursers, palfreys, trotters, hobbies, genets, hengests and somers—the ‘dextrarii’ or great horses received most attention. Provision was made for 102 of their housings out of 441 ells of canvas and 360 ells of cloth. The boundary between the great cavalry establishments was formed by the Trent, the division to the north of that river having its separate ‘custos’ under the Master of the Horse. The studs were distributed among the King’s manors, such as Windsor, Guildford, Odiham, Woodstock and Waltham. The due proportion of expense necessary was borne by the sheriffs of the various counties. Special provision was made for a tunic of blue and a cape of white Brussels cloth as the attire of ‘John Brocaz,’ styled in these records ‘Custos equorum regis,’ or ‘Gardein de nos grands chevaux.’”
The great cavalry department of Edward III., Mr. Burrows adds, appears to have been kept at its full war complement for about twenty years, until the power of France was supposed to have been finally broken at Poitiers. Sir John de Brocaz and his son Oliver were employed by the King to buy horses in Gascony before the campaign of Crecy.
Richard II. also gave proof of his anxiety to improve the breed of horses by passing laws on the subject.
The troublous times of the Wars of the Roses (1450-1471) were productive of injurious results. Horses of power and substance were, of course, required for all military purposes, and “Strong Horses” were seized whenever found and pressed into service by the contending parties. The owners of many of the best horses seem to have sent them out of the country to be sold beyond seas lest they should be thus confiscated. The fame of the Equus Britannicus had ere this period spread to the continent, where a ready market awaited it; Sir John Hawkewood in his Travels states that in the States of Northern Italy English horses were cherished and sought for breeding purposes. For the twenty-one years during which England was the scene of civil war it was worth no man’s while to breed, much less attempt to improve, the Great Horse; thus much of the good which had been done was nullified.