and curled upwards, probably for a foot the back tendons of which were contracted, and caused the horse to walk on the point of the toe (fig. 179).

1

In Germany, the first veterinary treatises published in which shoeing is mentioned are those by Albrecht, 'des Kaiser Friederich huffschmid; ' Hörwart von Hohenburg; and Seuter.3 There does not appear to be anything novel on the subject in these works, beyond what we have already epitomized from the Italian writers.

In 1598 appeared the excellent treatise of Carlo Ruini, a Senator of Bologna, on the anatomy and diseases of the horse; in which the maladies and defects of the feet were specially considered, and in a manner truly wonderful, for that time. Indeed, his instructions for the relief or cure of many foot maladies by shoeing are repeated in modern days. From his descriptions, we learn that the cruel and unscientific fashion of opening the heels, as it is termed, and paring the soles until the horn was quite thin, as well as shoeing with high calkins, was producing those effects with which we are so familiar now-a-days. His treatment of contracted heels consisted chiefly in applying lunette, or thin-heeled shoes, to allow the posterior parts of the hoofs to come in contact with the ground; and also to employing shoes with clips at the inner angles of the heels to grasp the inflection of horn, named the bars,' so as to press them outwards a mode of expansion still very common on the

Das Kleine Rossarzneibüchlein. Benedig, 1542.

* Von der Höchberümpten, Adeligen und Ritterlichen Kunst der Reyterey. Tegernsee, 1577.

3 Buech von der Rossarzney, etc. Augsburg, 1588.

* Dell' Anatomia e dell' Infirmita dell Cavallo. Bologna, 1598.

fig. 180

continent, and for which several patents have been secured during this century.

The fashion of arming the hoofs with heavy shoes and great calkins, appears to have prevailed generally for several centuries; a specimen from the church door of Saint-Saturnin, where it had been attached by

some farrier anxious to exhibit his skill, may serve to give us an idea of what was considered a proper model. It bears the date 1573 (fig. 180).'

Megnin. Op. cit. p. 62.

452

CHAPTER X.

HORSE-SHOEING IN THE 16TH AND 17TH CENTURIES.

INFLUENCE OF THE ITALIAN HIPPIATRISTS. DIFFERENT FORMS OF SHOES IN ENGLAND. ESCAPE OF CHARLES II. AN OBSERVANT FARRIER. THE FARRIERS' COMPANY. THE EDINBURGH HAMMERMEN'S COR

PORATION. MARSTON MOOR SHOE. THOMAS BLUNDEVIL. ITALIAN TECHNICAL TERMS. BLUNDEVIL'S ART OF SHOEING. THE BUTTER.'

ITS DERIVATION. MANNER OF MAKING AND PUTTING ON SHOES. UNPROFITABLE DEVICES. THE GERMAN AND ITALIAN ANTI-SLIPPING SHOES. SHOES WITHOUT NAILS. JOINTED SHOES. EVERY GENTLEMAN COULD SHOE HIS HORSE IN GERMANY. THE " PLANCHE' SHoe. INJURIOUS RESULTS OF BLUNDEVIL'S TEACHING. BARET AND MARKHAM. SNAPE. FRANCE. THE MARECHAUX FERRANTS. SOLLEYSEL. ROYAL FARRIERS. HOME'S TRANSLATION

OF SOLLEYSEL. SHOEING IN FRANCE.

FOR the remainder of this history, we will confine our attention to England and France, alone; countries which have vied with each other in researches into the functions of the horse's foot, and the best mode of protecting it by shoeing.

During the 17th century, there appears to have been an increasing desire to enhance the services of this noble animal, and, thanks to the influence of the Italian hippiatrists, the men who now began to study the horse in health and disease were capable of greatly adding to the small amount of knowledge previously possessed on the

VARIATION IN FORM OF ENGLISH SHOES. 453

subject of shoeing; although it is probable their efforts to improve it met with little success.

In England, the form of the shoes in ordinary use would seem to have varied to a notable degree in different parts of the country, and on one occasion this variety gave rise to a remarkable incident connected with the Civil War that broke out about the middle of the century. When Charles II. was making his escape from England in the winter of 1649, and got as far as Lynne, he put up at an inn in a village where his attempts at getting away, and his being somewhere in the locality, were well known. "The passengers who had lodged in the inn that night, had, as soon as they were up, sent for a smith to visit their horses, it being a hard frost. The smith, when he had done what he was sent for, according to the custom of that people, examined the feet of the other two horses (the king's) to find more work. When he had observed them, he told the host of the house, "that one of those horses had travel'd far; and that he was sure that his four shooes had been made in four several counties." Which (says Lord Clarendon), whether his skill was able to discover or no, was very true. The smith going to the sermon (it was Sunday), told this story to some of his neighbours; and so it came to the ears of the preacher, when his sermon was done.' This preacher was a most enthusiastic puritan, and having strongly suspected Charles to be in the neighbourhood, at once gave the alarm; the king, however, contrived to make a very narrow escape.

Whether it was in grateful recognition of the acuteness manifested by this son of Saint Eloy, or a necessity Hist. of the Rebellion, vol. iii. p. 330. Oxford, 1702.

6

imposed by the important development this art had assumed, certain it is, that some years after the king's return from exile to England, and the restoration of the monarchy, the Company of Farriers was incorporated (1763) by the style of the Master Wardens, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Company of Farriers, London.' This local corporation was, and is now, a livery company, and governed by a master, three wardens, and twenty-four assistants. In 1736, it had, besides these, thirty-nine on the livery.

The arms of the corporation are: Ar. three horseshoes. Sa. pierced of the field. CREST. An arm embowed, issuing from clouds on the sinister side, all proper, holding in the hand a hammer az. handled, and ducally crowned or. SUPPORTERS. Two horses Ar. Motto, i

et Virtute.'

In Scotland, the artificers had, from an early period, formed a corporation at Edinburgh, designated the Hammermen's Corporation. This was one of the chief guilds or public bodies, and included every handicraft; though at first it appears that that of the iron, or black-smith, greatly predominated. The earliest entry, which occurs in 1582, though the corporation had been embodied for some considerable time before this date, gives us to understand that among the essays' or specimens of skill and proficiency required to obtain admission, that of the smith was 'ane door cruick (hook) and door-band, ane spaide iron (a spade), ane schoile iron (a shovel), and horse-shoe and six nails thereto.'

Many distinguished men were presented with the freedom of this Corporation of Hammermen. An entry for