Horses

Texts:Erec and Enide and Lancelot    

   

 

The Medieval Bestiary on horses:

"Horses are lively and high-spirited. They are happy in fields, can smell war, are provoked to race by a voice, are called to battle by the sound of the trumpet, grieve when defeated and exult when victorious. Some horses can recognize an enemy in battle and attack by biting. Some recognize only their masters and will allow no other to ride them. Only the horse weeps and grieves for its dead or dying master. Mares are sometimes impregnated by the west wind."       

Literary Context     

From Eric and Enide: "Enide had hard work to lead them all; for he hands over all five of them to her with the other three, and commands her to go along smartly, and to keep from addressing him in order that no evil or harm may come to her. So not a word does she reply, but rather keeps silence; and thus they go, leading with them all the eight horses."          

From Lancelot: "My lord Gawain was riding far in advance of the rest of the party, and it was not long before he saw coming slowly a knight on a horse that was sore, painfully tired, and covered with sweat. The knight first saluted my lord Gawain, and his greeting my lord Gawain returned. Then the knight, recognising my lord Gawain, stopped and thus spoke to him: "You see, sir, my horse is in a sweat and in such case as to be no longer serviceable. I suppose that those two horses belong to you now, with the understanding that I shall return the service and the favour, I beg you to let me have one or the other of them, either as a loan or outright as a gift." And he answers him: "Choose whichever you prefer." Then he who was in dire distress did not try to select the better or the fairer or the larger of the horses, but leaped quickly upon the one which was nearer to him, and rode him off. Then the one he had just left fell dead, for he had ridden him hard that day, so that he was used up and overworked."         

Horses are everywhere in Chretien's romances; they have a duel role as not only the most efficient mode of transportation but as direct markers of economic class and social status -this is perhaps why Chretien will pause to announce who is riding a Spanish destrier and who is riding a dappled palfrey  -much like how he will pause to announce what everyone is wearing. The first passages ties horses to martial worthiness and the abundance of which is a signifier of wealth. Also, this episode is symbolic of how Enide must reign in her tempestuous husband; in this reading, horses embody human spirit.   

The bestiary entry  above, the text, and the modern representation below express the idea that the role of horses go beyond labor or transportation; a horse represents their rider's identity. Horses seem to be intuitive, can judge a human's intrinsic worth and form loyalty. The bestiary entry paints them as being emotionally invested in the affairs of humans and notes how they will form a life-long bond with their master (who they must judge as worthy). Lancelot's poor treatment of his horse has attention called to it because it emphasizes his personality flaw of single-mindedness, and should be frowned upon. The modern representation below plays upon these traditions by creating a society that revolves around the idea that it is horses who judge who are worthy to ride, and the best horses go to the best warriors.

 

Modern Representation

Game of Thrones' Daenerys becomes the queen of a horse-worshipping tribe, The Dothraki, who believe that horsemanship is directly tied to ability to rule and that you are not a man without a horse