Description
Book SynopsisSaying that horses shaped the medieval world – and the way we see it today – is hardly an exaggeration. Why else do we imagine a medieval knight – or a nomadic warrior – on horseback? Why do we use such metaphors as “unbridled” or “bearing a yoke” in our daily language? Studies of medieval horses and horsemanship are increasingly popular, but they often focus on a single aspect of equestrianism or a single culture. In this book, you will find information about both elite and humble working equines, about the ideology and practicalities of medieval horsemanship across different countries, from Iceland to China. Contributors are Gloria Allaire, Luise Borek, Gail Brownrigg, Agnès Carayon, Gavina Cherchi, John C. Ford, Loïs Forster, Jürg Gassmann, Rebecca Henderson, Anna-Lena Lange, Romain Lefebvre, Rena Maguire, Ana Maria S. A. Rodrigues, and Alexia-Foteini Stamouli.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Introduction: Of Horses and Humans in the Medieval World Anastasija Ropa Part 1: Socially Formative Horses 1 Horses as Status Indicators in Wolfram’s Parzival Anna-Lena Lange 2 The Role of the Horse in Tangut Society Romain Lefebvre 3 “Hrafn ok Sleipnir, hestar ágætir”: Horses of the Medieval North Rebecca Henderson 4 City of the Cavalrymen and House of the Rider: ‘Landscaped Hippodromes’ and Stable-Palaces in Mamluk Cairo Agnès Carayon Part 2: Literary Horses 5 Travel in the Middle English ‘Matter of England’ Romances, and the Changing Significations of Horses and Horsemanship John C. Ford 6 Information of Middle Byzantine Hagiographical Texts about Equids Alexia-Foteini Stamouli 7 Dead Horses in Arthurian Romance (and Beyond) Luise Borek 8 Horse Descriptions in the Unedited Prose Rinaldo da Montalbano (Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana MS Pluteus 42, codex 37) Gloria Allaire Part 3: Martial Horses 9 Vegetius, Arrian and the Battlefield Cavalry Formations of Medieval Europe Jürg Gassmann 10 Hunting, Jousting, and Fighting on Horseback according to King João I and King Duarte of Portugal Ana Maria S.A. Rodrigues 11 The Typology of Horses in Burgundian Chronicles of the Fifteenth Century Loïs Forster Part 4: The Hardware of the Horse – Real and Symbolic 12 The Origin of the Horse Collar Gail Brownrigg 13 Get off your High Horse: An Examination of Changes in Lorinery and Equitation in the Irish Early Medieval Period AD 400 to 700 Rena Maguire 14 Unbridled Horses and Knights Errant Gavina Cherchi Conclusion: Gendering Horse Riders in Medieval Romance and Modern Racing Media Anastasija Ropa Select Bibliography Index
