390 CHAPTER IX. SHOEING IN ENGLAND AFTER THE NORMAN CONQUEST. EUSTATHIUS. REVIVAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE. JORDANUS RUFFUS. PETKUS DE CRESCENTIUS. LAURENTIUS RUSIUS. SHOD OXEN. SHOEING FORGES. COUNTING THE HORSE-SHOES AND HOB-NAILS. LIBER QUOTIDIANUS. THE DEXTRARIUS AND HOBBY. HAWKING. STRATAGEM OF REVERSING SHOES. ROBERT BRUCE AND DUKE CHRISTOPHER OF WURTEMBERG. VALUE OF SHOES AND NAILS FOR HORSES IN ENGLAND IN THE 13TH AND 14TH CENTURIES. COAL. THE REVOLT OF THE DUKE OF LANCASTER. TUTBURY CASTLE AND THE RIVER DOVE. CURIOUS DISCOVERY THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY. FAMILY COATS OF ARMS. LOMBARDY AND FLEMISH HORSES. THE CHATELAINE OF WARRENNE. HAMERICOUrt. FARRIERY IN SCOTLAND. AN UNJUST LAW. STATUTES OF EDWARD VI. HENRY VIII. AND SHOEING WITH FELT. CURIOUS CUSTOMS AND EXTRAVAGANCE. GOLD AND SILVER SHOES. FARRIERS. CÆSAR FIASCHI. DIVERSITY OF SHOES. GERMAN WRITERS. CARLO RUINI. AFTER the Norman invasion of England, the shoeing of horses, and indeed everything relating to that noble animal, received much attention. Instead of being an obscure art, and apparently but rarely resorted to among the Anglo-Saxons, the Norman knights brought with them from the continent their maréchals of high rank, and their esteem for chivalry, which, without horses, could scarcely have existed. The advantages arising from the SHOEING AFTER THE NORMAN CONQUEST. 391 employment of horsemen had been amply demonstrated to them at the battle of Hastings, where their victory was mainly due to the well-equipped cavalry force they carried from Normandy. We have seen that in France shoeing was extensively practised at this time, and was, indeed, an inevitable necessity, from the custom introduced of cumbering men and horses with heavy weapons, and encasing them in massive armour. At Hastings, even the steeds were rendered proof against the attacks of the AngloSaxons by an impenetrable covering. Roger de Hovenden, writing of this period, says, 'Cepit Rex Anglia 100 milites, et septies viginti equos coopertos ferro, et servientes equites, et pedites multo."1 So that in England the practice of shoeing horses with iron shoes attached to the hoofs by nails, was, after the settlement of the Normans, completely established and general. The form of shoe introduced by them was, perhaps, more artistic than that of the earlier periods, and the same as that in use in France; being usually furnished with calkins, heavy, larger in size than those found before their arrival, and having three, or more rarely four, nailholes on each side. These nail-holes were nearly square, and wider at the top or ground-surface than the bottom or foot-face. The heads of the nails were also square, to fit the holes, and projected more or less from the surface of the shoe. The points of the nails, when driven through the hoof, were cut off, and only enough of the nail left to double over and form a clench or clinch. Examples of I 2 Annal. p. 444. This term would appear to be neither of Greek, Latin, nor French origin, but derived from the Anglo-Saxon Glh-lenched, twisted, gradually www these shoes are to be found in the seals of Walter Marshall, and Ralph of Durham, already figured. Some years ago, at the formation of the London, Chatham, and Dover railway, in a cutting near Meopham, Kent, a shoe of this description (fig. 145) was disinterred. It is very heavy, large, and shaped as if fig. 145 for the foot of a mule. The nail-head yet remaining has been somewhat worn, yet enough is left to exhibit its peculiar square shape. The shoe appears to have been pulled off, as it is much twisted. The toe looks as if it had been slightly bent or 'curved' up, like the present French shoe, and there are four nails on each side. The calkins are solid, thick, and high, and altogether it is a clumsy shoe; measuring, as it does, 4 inches across the quarters, 5 inches long, and 1 inch wide in cover; and though much oxidized, weighing 181 ounces! O fig. 146 Another specimen is here shown from the excavations at Besançon, and which is supposed by M. Megnin to belong to the middle ages' (fig. 146). And a curious example of the shod horse, in which the nailheads and calkins are very con becoming glenced, clenced, and clenched. The word has been in use from a very remote period in the history of this craft in Britain. Hist. Ferrure, p. 26. spicuous, is now also copied from a French manuscript of the Apocalypse, written in the 13th century. The prominence given to the armature on the horse's hoofs shows how important it was deemed (fig. 147). Another fig. 147 delineation will be found in a rare pamphlet printed in 1485, entitled 'Jacobi publici Florentini. Oratoris Institutio.' In nearly all the manuscripts of this period, in which horses figure, their hoofs are represented as shod. We will give some additional examples of these presently. Writers more frequently mention shoeing. Eustathius, who wrote a commentary on Homer, in the 12th century, is the first to mention the Greek horses of antiquity as shod, a statement we conclude to be erroneous, but which shows that Eustathius was well acquainted with the art. With the revival of learning, what may be designated veterinary medicine was again attracting atten tion, and the writers who previously treated of this branch of science, and were altogether silent regarding shoeing, now speak of it and its requirements. Foremost among these was the Calabrian, Jordanus Ruffus, Master of the Horse (Comes Marestalli) to the great Frederick, who lived in the 13th century. This hippiatrist appears to have held high rank at Frederick's Court, for in one manuscript he signs his testament, 'Ego Jordanus, magnus justitiarius Ruffus de Calabria imperialis Marescallus major interfui his et subscribi feci.' In the Harleian Codex of the British Museum is a manuscript in the Sicilian language, beginning, 'Izi cominza la libra di manischalchia compostu da lu Maestro Giordano Russo di Galicia, mariscalo del imperatore Federica.' Another codex is in the Damiani library at Venice, a Latin translation of which begins, Incipit liber manescalchiæ. Nui Messeri Jordan Russu de Calabria volimo insignari achelli chi avinu a nutricari cavalli secundu chi avimu imparatu nela manestalla de lu imperaturi Federicu chi avimu provatu e avimu complita qusta opira nelu nomu di deu, e di Santu Aloi.' The patron saint of farriers was thus, it appears, invoked to countenance his labours. The only good edition to which I have had access, is that published at Bologna in 1561, with the title, 'Il dottisimo libro non più Stampato delle Malscalzie del Cavallo, del Signor Giordano Rusto, Calaurese.' The work is curious, but by no means despicable; and his brief remarks on shoeing are sensible enough. After mentioning that it is useful to wash out the horse's mouth and rub it with powdered salt, particularly if the animal does not drink |