Destrier

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William Marshall riding a Destrier brings down an opponent during a joust .

The Destrier (of lat . Dextrarius ) was the most famous war horse of the Middle Ages . The Destrier promoted knights to battles, tournaments , and jousting . Because of its importance, it has been described as the Great Horse by contemporary sources .

The word Destrier is derived from the vulgar Latin Dextarius ( right-hand side ) and probably indicates that the Destrier was led by the squire on the right side of the knight or with the right hand or by the gait of the horse .

Though valued by knights and glaive , the Destrier was not a common horse. Most knights and mounted glaives rode other war horses , such as the courser and the runtzid .

Characteristics

The word Destrier does not designate a breed, but a type of horse: the best and strongest warhorse. These horses were usually stallions that were bred and raised for war. The Destrier was considered the best horse for the joust ; Coursers were used for other forms of martial arts . The Destrier had powerful buttocks, a short back, muscular loins, strong bones, and a well-formed neck. In medieval art, the destrier is depicted with a straight or light profile, a wide lower jaw and a good width between the eyes.

The Destrier was used specifically in battle or for tournaments ; For the daily ride the knight used a tent , his luggage was carried by a pack horse or in a carriage.

Breeding and size of the destrier

Caparisoned horses compete in a jousting , extract from the Manesse

Many theories exist as to what size Destriere reached, but they definitely did not reach enormous cold-blooded sizes. Recent studies by the Museum of London , using literary, figurative, and archaeological sources, show that warhorses (including Destiers) were between 14 and 15 handspreads in size and distinguished more for their strength, muscularity and training and less for theirs Great size. This assessment is supported by an analysis of a medieval horse harness in the Royal Armories . According to this, this armor was originally worn by a horse between 15 and 16 hand widths.

It is likely that the modern Percheron is in parts a descendant of the Destrier, although it is likely larger and heavier than the medieval horse. Other cold-blooded horses, such as the Shire Horse , may also be descendants of the Destrier, although there is little evidence.

Equestrian statues in Italy reveal a "Spanish" style of the horse and are nowadays assigned to the baroque horse , such as the Andalusian , the Friesian , or even a heavy, agile warmblood , such as the Irish Draft Horse . Modern estimates place the size of the Destrier at no more than 16 hands, despite a strong and heavy physique. Although the term "Great Horse" was used to refer to the Destrier, and some historians speculate that it is the forerunner of today's draft horse , historical records do not support this thesis.

Modern attempts to reproduce the Destrier are mostly based on a cross between an athletic horse and a light draft horse. These include crosses such as the Spanish-Norman horse , a cross between the Percheron and the Andalusian, and the Warlander , a cross between the Andalusian and the Friesian.

The value of good warhorses

A good Destrier was expensive. The Lex Salica from the seventh century names a price of twelve solidi as wergeld or reparation payment for a war horse, in comparison to three solidi for a healthy donkey or one solidus for a cattle. In later centuries the price of Destriern continued to rise: the average value of all horses in a company of 22 knights and squires on normal coursers was between 5 and 12 livres parisi in the county of Flanders in 1297 as opposed to seven coursers varying in value between 20 and 300 livres parisi.

See also

Web links

Commons : Destrier  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Christopher Gravett : English Medieval Knight 1300–1400 , Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002, p. 59
  2. ↑ Michael Prestwich : Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience , New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996, p. 30.
  3. ↑ Oakeshott, Ewart . A Knight and his Horse , Rev. 2nd Ed. USA: Dufour Editions, 1998, ff. 11-12
  4. ^ Ewart Oakeshott : A Knight and his Horse , Rev. 2nd Ed. USA: Dufour Editions, 1998, p. 11
  5. ↑ See eg: Clark, John (Ed). The Medieval Horse and its Equipment: c.1150 – c.1450 , Rev. 2nd Ed, UK: The Boydell Press, 2004, p 23; Prestwich, Michael. Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience , New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996, p. 30
  6. ↑ Clark, John (Ed). The Medieval Horse and its Equipment: c.1150 – c.1450 , Rev. 2nd Ed, UK: The Boydell Press, 2004, p. 25
  7. ^ Study by Ann Hyland , quoted in: Clark, John (Ed). The Medieval Horse and its Equipment: c.1150 – c.1450 , Rev. 2nd Ed, UK: The Boydell Press, 2004, p. 23
  8. ^ A b Prestwich, Michael (1996) Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience. New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 30 ISBN 0-300-07663-0
  9. ↑ Gies, Frances; Gies, Joseph (2005) Daily Life in Medieval Times. UK: Grange Books (originally published by Harper Collins in three volumes, 1969, 1974, 1990) ISBN 1-84013-811-4 , p. 88
  10. ^ Clark, John (Ed) (2004) The Medieval Horse and its Equipment: c.1150 – c.1450. Rev. 2nd Ed, UK: The Boydell Press ISBN 1-84383-097-3 , pp. 25, 29
  11. ^ "Breed Profile" , Spanish-Norman Horse Registry , Retrieved August 12, 2008.
  12. ^ J. de St. Genois, Inventoire analytique des chartes de comtes de Flandres , Ghent, 1843-1846