Customer Reviews

Medieval Warhorse From Byzantium to The

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As a medievalist since my teens, I had long heard how the medieval charger survived as the Shire or Suffolk draft horse. However, my recent research, starting with just looking at how the Middle Ages represents horses, had convinced me this was not so. Hyland provided superb support to this idea. She analyses the size of horse that can go through known openings, the size of horseshoes from battlefields of the period, and many other pieces of evidence to show that the early medieval Great Horse was about 15.2 hands high -- often considered small by modern competition riders, who like 16-17 hh Thoroughbreds and warmbloods. She actually traces horse descent from the beginning of domestication, though I believe she is too obsessed with Nesaeans while totally ignoring Scythian contributions to horsemanship (like the saddle and stirrup). Other than this, she gives a good if not impressive picture of the ancient horse as well. She covers not only the European warhorse, but its Byzantine and Saracen counterpart and their riders as well. It's good reading, not overly technical for the non-rider but with enough depth for the incurably horsey, too.

This is an excellent reference for anyone interested in warhorses. Hyland has done extensive work to shed light on a little known area of the middle ages. She does a good job arguing some of the typical stereotypes of the medieval warhorse (size) and backs up her findings in a believable fashion. She does show some definate biases, which are easy to ignore. A good book.