CHAPTER I
The Conqueror's cavalry—Horse fairs and races at Smithfield—King John's foolish fad—The Persians and their horses—Relics of Irish art; what they indicate—Simon de Montfort the first master of foxhounds—The king's right to commandeer horses—Sir Eustace de Hecche; Battle of Falkirk—Marco Polo and white horses; curious superstitions—Edward III. and Richard II. encourage horse breeding—Battle of Crecy
THE beginning of William the Conqueror's reign marks a turning-point in the story of the horse's influence upon the British nation, also, incidentally, in the general development of the horse.
Roger de Bellesne, Earl of Shrewsbury, who is said to have been an accomplished horseman—as fine horsemanship was understood in those days—obtained leave of the king to import from Spain a number of stallions of great value.
These stallions, indeed, were said at the time to be “the best procurable in Spain,” and we are told that when King William beheld them he displayed great delight, at the same time “expressing his approval in a very forcible way.”
The king himself apparently was not a finished horseman; yet he had a strong liking for horses, possibly in the same way that “he loved the great deer of the forests as though he had been their father”(!) Most likely he was too heavily built a man to make a graceful rider, though it is said that upon the arrival of Lord Shrewsbury's stallions he went on horseback to inspect them, and, as we know, towards the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century the poet Drayton praised very highly the progeny of these same horses.
Naturally this importation of valuable stallions greatly improved the breed of horses in Britain, and from the time of the Conquest onward the improvement was distinctly noticeable.
Though some historians tell us that the Anglo-Saxons rode on horseback, others maintain that they did not ride. There can be no doubt, however, that they did not fight on horseback. The well-known scene on Bayeux tapestry that represents the battle of Hastings shows us Harold fighting on foot when the arrow strikes him in the eye.