Knights and Warhorses: Military Service and the English Aristocracy Under Edward III

by Andrew Ayton

The mounted, armoured knight is one of the most potent symbols of medieval civilisation, a persistent image leaping out from the folios of illuminated manuscripts and the texts of the chroniclers of chivalry. For much of the middle ages the armoured warhorse was what defined a man-at-arms at muster, and what set him apart as a member of the military class. However, despite the status of the knightly warrior in medieval society, the military service of the later medieval English aristocracy remains an unaccountably neglected subject, while the warhorse itself has never attracted a major study based upon archival sources. This book seeks to open up what are, then, effectively new fields of research.
Andrew Ayton focuses in particular on the horse inventories, documents which offer detailed lists of men-at-arms and their appraised warhorses. They are of importance as a guide to the identities, status and attitudes of men-at-arms, from wealthy earls to humble esquires, and few records of military service are as reliable or as complete. But the unique value of these inventories lies in their association of warhorse and man-at-arms, for a horse's valuation and other attributes can be used as a measure of its owner's social and military status.
Dr. Ayton is primarily concerned with the inventories and related records for Edward III's reign, a period which witnessed significant changes in the organisation of the English fighting machine; the documents produced during this period of 'military revolution' cast valuable light on the character and attitudes of the aristocratic military community at a time when their traditional role was in the course of re-evaluation.
Attention is also given to the administrative mechanisms and other circumstances involved in the generation of the inventories; and also to the place of horse appraisal in the package of payments and benefits (the terms of service) offered to men-at-arms serving for the king's pay.

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1994

About the author

Senior Lecturer in Medieval History at the University of Hull.