They Rode Into Europe

[Pat Holscher]

The Rode Into Europe
The Fruitful Exchange in the Arts of the Horsemanship between East and West

By Miklos Jankovich
Translated by Anthony Dent

The Long Riders' Guild Press

Simply put, this is a fascinating book. Originally published in German, and then translated into English in 1971, the book offers an absolutely fascinating look in to the history of horsemanship. In doing so, it goes back into vast antiquity, examining the origins of riding, and goes right up to the post World War Two era in an insightful, and very entertaining, manner. From there, it details the impact of the incursions of invading Eastern peoples into Europe, the impact of warfare between Asian and European cultures and the impact of the same with Middle Eastern peoples.

The detail and content of the book is absolutely fascinating. Certain details, such as the links between pastoral people, and the origins of riding, were wholly new to me, and very interesting. Some details, such as the likelihood of reindeer as a saddle animal predating equines, and the natural geographic limit's to horse ranges, would not have occurred to me at all.

Suffice it to say, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the history of the horse, and the history of riding. It's an excellent book. Moreover, even though it is a translation, it is a highly engaging and very readable text, which isn't always the case with a translated work. Even the translators notes are engaging, as they add to the text with additional examples and commentary in various places.

Excellent book, and very highly recommended.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

To add a bit on this one, I read a lot of this book while on the road. As I did that, I dog eared a lot of pages with items I was going to post about here. By the time I was back home, and finished the book (I finished it while traveling), I had so many dog eared pages, it would have been like setting the book out in print here.

The point is, that there's something on nearly every page that's interesting, and often quite illuminating. Highly recommended.

Pat

[selewis]

It sounds like this book would dovetail nicely with Ann Hyland's " The Medieval Warhorse", which I've slowly been working my way through this summer.

S.

[Pat Holscher]

Originally posted by selewis
It sounds like this book would dovetail nicely with Ann Hyland's " The Medieval Warhorse", which I've slowly been working my way through this summer.

S.

I haven't read that book, nor am I aware of it, but I suspect your view is correct. They Rode Into Europe has a lot of interesting information about the horse in Medieval Europe, as well as the state of horsemanship in Medieval times.

One item on the Medieval horse I found interesting was the discussion on the palfrey, that is the saddle mount, as opposed to the "war horse". As has been noted here elsewhere, it seems to be the rule that the palfrey was gaited.

Pat

[selewis]

Originally posted by Pat Holscher

Originally posted by selewis
It sounds like this book would dovetail nicely with Ann Hyland's " The Medieval Warhorse", which I've slowly been working my way through this summer.

S.

I haven't read that book, nor am I aware of it, but I suspect your view is correct. They Rode Into Europe has a lot of interesting information about the horse in Medieval Europe, as well as the state of horsemanship in Medieval times.

One item on the Medieval horse I found interesting was the discussion on the palfrey, that is the saddle mount, as opposed to the "war horse". As has been noted here elsewhere, it seems to be the rule that the palfrey was gaited.

Pat

I'm surprised: I assumed that I was the only one here who had NOT read it. I will try to do it justice with a short review when I've finished, but I confess beforehand that it's stretching my smorgasbord education to the limit. With my trusty old 13th Britannica still packed away I'm probably averaging 2 googles per paragraph to keep up with her text.

Sandy

[selewis]

On couriers, from "The Medieval Warhorse" by Ann Hyland

"Malagina was also the main depot for the imperial post, which although not directly under the army, was linked to it as a means of rapidly disseminating news. Procopious outlines the postal system and criticizes Justinian for running the system down, substituting donkeys for horses on eastern routes, and making couriers use slow maritime travel between Chalcedon and Dacivicza. Only the road to Persia continued to have the normal horse post. The journey of Haroun ibn Jahja
shows the systems speed. Haroun, an Arab, was taken prisoner at Ascalon around 880 and traveled three days by ship to Attalia, capital of the coastal Cibyrrhaeot theme. From there by horse or mule it took eight days to arrive at Constantinople, over 300 miles (480km) away. In the service's heyday when the main stations, or 'mansiones',held 40 head of picked horses, and staff capable of giving veterinary treatment, a courier on urgent business could cover 240 miles (385km) in a single day, ten times faster than the normal daily stint of 24 miles (38.5km). Such a service clearly had military as well as civic value.

Until the eruption of the Seljuks into Asia Minor, and the disasterous battle of Manzikert in 1071, the service remained operarive, particularly along the military route into Armenia and Mesopotamia, but subsequently it ceased functioning, urgent dispatches being carried by state officers. In the time of Alexius Comnenus (1080-1118) a corps of couriers raised from among the Pechenegs carried urgent dispatches. Anna Comnena refers to a Scyth, the 'proverbial winged messenger' when she writes of the Norman invaders landing under Bohemund and their subsequent encampment on the Illyrian plain in 1107."

[Pat Holscher]

Originally posted by selewis

Originally posted by Pat Holscher

Originally posted by selewis
It sounds like this book would dovetail nicely with Ann Hyland's " The Medieval Warhorse", which I've slowly been working my way through this summer.

S.

I haven't read that book, nor am I aware of it, but I suspect your view is correct. They Rode Into Europe has a lot of interesting information about the horse in Medieval Europe, as well as the state of horsemanship in Medieval times.

One item on the Medieval horse I found interesting was the discussion on the palfrey, that is the saddle mount, as opposed to the "war horse". As has been noted here elsewhere, it seems to be the rule that the palfrey was gaited.

Pat

I'm surprised: I assumed that I was the only one here who had NOT read it. I will try to do it justice with a short review when I've finished, but I confess beforehand that it's stretching my smorgasbord education to the limit. With my trusty old 13th Britannica still packed away I'm probably averaging 2 googles per paragraph to keep up with her text.

Sandy

You should never assume that!

As you'll note from my review of Russian Hussar, at the time I read his book, I had no idea he was a well known equestrian writer. I'm sure everyone else here was well aware that he was.

One of the really neat things about the reviews, when they are active, is that we learn of a lot of other titles we'd miss. I would have missed the one you mention.

Pat

[Pat Holscher]

Bumped up for the same reasons Horses In Society and War Horse were just bumped up.

[Dave J.]

One item on the Medieval horse I found interesting was the discussion on the palfrey, that is the saddle mount, as opposed to the "war horse". As has been noted here elsewhere, it seems to be the rule that the palfrey was gaited.

Pat

Then the "war horse" was further divided into the courser, and the destrier, and the rouncy. These three types of horses were often referred to generically as chargers


While the destrier is the most well-known warhorse of the Medieval era, it was the least common, and coursers were often preferred for hard battles. They were both expensive, highly trained horses prized by knights and nobles, and the poorer knight, squire or man-at-arms would use a rouncey for fighting. A wealthy knight would provide rounceys for his retinue.

[Pat Holscher]

Bump.