Interdisciplinary approaches to the medieval warhorse

Abstract

The warhorse is arguably the most characteristic animal of the English Middle Ages. But while thedevelopment and military uses of warhorses have been intensively studied by historians, thearchaeological evidence is too often dispersed, overlooked or undervalued. Instead, we argue that tofully understand the cultural significance and functional role of the medieval warhorse, a systematicstudy of the full range of archaeological evidence for warhorses (and horses more generally) frommedieval England is necessary. This requires engagement with material evidence at a wide variety ofscales — from individual artefacts through to excavated assemblages and landscape-widedistributions — dating between the late Saxon and Tudor period (c. AD 800–1600). We presenthere a case study of our interdisciplinary engaged research design focusing upon an important Englishroyal stud site at Odiham in Hampshire. This brings together several fields of study, including(zoo)archaeology, history, landscape survey, and material culture studies to produce newunderstandings about a beast that was an unmistakable symbol of social status and a decisive weaponon the battlefield.

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