How to make a warhorse: violence and behavioural control in late medieval hippiatric treatises

Abstract

ABSTRACT Horses were vital to the military activities and social identities of the late medieval aristocracy. However, the process by which warhorses were broken and trained is poorly studied, in part because of a perceived lack of equestrian literature from Western Europe. This article uses the hippiatric tradition of horse care manuals as sources for training and behavioural control; analysing techniques that used pain and fear as well as magic and devotion to render a horse subservient. Medieval horsemanship reflected complex ideas of nobility, bellicosity and submission; using violence and bodily subjectification to turn a ‘wild’ foal into an elite warhorse that was recognisable by its gentility and politesse as well as its fierceness and bravery. As well as adding to our knowledge of medieval military provisioning and culture, this paper also contributes to a more nuanced picture of the lived experiences of animals in the Middle Ages.