Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
This 15th-century battle scene shows the powerfully built horses used in warfare. From The Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello.. During the Decline of the Roman Empire and the Early Middle Ages, much of the quality breeding stock developed during the classical period was lost due to uncontrolled breeding and had to be built up again over the following centuries. [1]
Side view of the Aragonese tarida Sant Pere de Roma.Used during the 14th century, she was able to carry 15 to 20 horses. The Romans had developed efficient methods of sea transport for horses, which were improved by the Arabic nations in the Early Middle Ages; these transports became common in Europe from the tenth century. [1]
A palfrey usually was the most expensive and highly bred type of riding horse during the Middle Ages, [1] sometimes equalling the knight's destrier in price. Consequently, it was popular with nobles, ladies, and highly ranked knights for riding, hunting, and ceremonial use. [2]
The destrier is the best-known war horse of the Middle Ages. It carried knights in battles, tournaments, and jousts. It was described by contemporary sources as the Great Horse, due to its significance. While highly prized by knights and men-at-arms, the destrier was not very common. [1]
Pitched battles were avoided if possible, with most offensive warfare in the early Middle Ages taking the form of sieges, [138] and in the later Middle Ages as mounted raids called chevauchées, with lightly armed warriors on swift horses. [note 3] Jousting is a sport that evolved out of heavy cavalry practice.
Horses were part of everyday life in the Middle Ages. It was the attribute of knights and was the subject of a specific vocabulary: palfrey, destrier, or rouncey designate different types of horse for different uses. Fictional horses such as Pegasus have populated tales and legends since Antiquity.
A variety of horses can be seen. The term rouncey (also spelt rouncy or rounsey) was used during the Middle Ages to refer to an ordinary, all-purpose horse. [1] They were used for riding, but could also be trained for war. It was not unknown for them to be used as pack horses.
The small size of Celtic horses meant that the Celtic heavy cavalry of north-western and central Europe appear to have been employed as heavy skirmisher cavalry, rather than the shock cavalry of the Middle East and North Africa, the heavy cavalry of Gaul and Celtiberia being widely regarded as some of the finest horsemen of the ancient world ...