Noblemen bought best horses from overseas to solidify social status

By Stephen Beech via SWNS

Tudor monarchs and noblemen bought the best horses from overseas as status symbols - like the "supercars" of their day - to ride in jousting tournaments, reveals new research.

The international scale of equine trading by the elites of Tudor England has been discovered by archaeological analysis of a near unique animal cemetery discovered in London.

Employing advanced science techniques, including studying chemical composition, researchers have been able to identify the likely origins of several "physically elite" horses and the routes they took to reach British shores.

Scientists say the equine stars were sourced from several locations across Europe specifically for their height and strength and imported for use in jousting tournaments and as "status symbols" of 14th to 16th Century life.

They include three of the tallest animals known from late medieval England, standing up to 1.6 meters, or 15.3 hands, high, which while quite small by modern standards would have been "very impressive" at the time.

The horse skeletons were recovered from a site under present day Elverton Street in the City of Westminster, which was excavated to make way for building works in the 1990s.

Historians say that, in medieval times, the cemetery would have been located outside the walled City of London, but was close to the royal palace complex at Westminster.

The findings of the study, led by University of Exeter scientists, were published in the journal Science Advances.

Lead researcher Dr. Alex Pryor, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at Exeter, said: “The chemical signatures we measured in the horse’s teeth are highly distinctive and very different to anything we would expect to see in a horse that grew up in the UK.

“These results provide direct and unprecedented evidence for a variety of horse movement and trading practices in the Middle Ages.

"Representatives for the King and other medieval London elites were scouring horse trading markets across Europe seeking out the best quality horses they could find and bringing them to London.

"It’s quite possible that the horses were ridden in the jousting contests we know were held in Westminster, close to where the horses were buried.”

In the first experiment of its kind to be conducted on medieval horse remains, the researchers took 22 molar teeth from 15 individual animals and drilled out portions of the enamel for isotope analysis.

By measuring isotope ratios of the elements strontium, oxygen and carbon within the teeth and comparing the results with known ranges in different locations, the team was able to identify the potential origin of each horse – and rule out others, including top European horse-breeding centers such as Spain and southern Italy.

Dr. Pryor said that at least half of the horses had "diverse" international origins, possibly Scandinavia, the Alps and other northern and eastern European locations.

The team concluded that the findings were "consistent" with the breeding patterns of royal stud farms, where horses would reside until their second or third year, before they would either be broken and trained or sent elsewhere to be sold.

Physical analysis of the teeth revealed wear suggestive of heavy use of a curb bit, often employed with elite animals, especially those groomed for war and tournaments after the 14th Century.

Dr. Pryor said bit wear on two of the mares also suggested they were used under saddle or in harness and for breeding.

Further analysis of the skeletons revealed many of them to be well above average size, with several instances of fused lower thoracic and lumbar vertebrae indicative of a life of riding and hard work.

Professor Oliver Creighton, a medieval specialist at the University of Exeter, added: “The finest medieval horses were like modern supercars – inordinately expensive and finely tuned vehicles that proclaimed their owner’s status.

“And at Elverton Street, our research team seem to have found evidence for horses used in jousting – the sport of kings, in which riders showcased their fighting skills and horsemanship on elite mounts.

“The new findings provide a tangible archaeological signature of this trade, emphasizing its international scale. It is apparent that the medieval London elite were explicitly targeting the highest quality horses they could find at a European scale.”