The Great Horse? — Equine Stature and Morphology in the European Middle Ages

Abstract

The horse is one of the most important animals in human history and it has long held a special place in societies from prehistory to the present. During the Middle Ages (5th–16th c. AD), the horse became a fundamental pillar to European society in many ways. Horses have been extensively studied as a weapon of war by historians but (zoo)archaeologically they have received little scholarly attention until very recently. This thesis has collated metrical data from c. 15,000 equid specimens from 471 distinct sites across Europe between the post-Roman and early modern period. Horses are usually present in only small numbers. Despite traditional horse-related customs disappearing with the rise of Christianity and changing equine symbolism, horses never lost their importance due to a variety of societal factors. In the Middle Ages it is their use in warfare, particularly, which places immense value on these animals. Horse breeding and trading begin thriving again and it is clear that many different types of horses existed amongst which the destrier or Great Horse was the most valuable. Nonetheless, biometrical data show that medieval horses were, on average, of medium size (c. 130– 140 cm) and build — probably not dissimilar to modern breeds like Icelandic or Norwegian Fjord horses. While horses of 150–160 cm existed in small but increasing numbers there is no evidence for animals akin to modern heavy draft horses. It seems that this homogeneity reflects not only a common ideal in horse morphology but also the rise of a pan-European social aristocratic identity. Future work should focus on more in-depth investigation into small-scale developments of equine morphology.