Thames, about midway between Dowgate and Blackfriars Bridge.'[1]
We may be allowed to entertain some doubts as to the meaning of the Anglo-Saxon term 'calc-rond,' especially as applied to a 'rim-shoe' for horses. The Saxon for shoe is 'sceo' or 'þcoh;' and the verb to shoe 'þceozan;' while the smith is written as in German, þmið.
It would appear certain that, as with the invasion of Gaul by the Franks, another form of shoe gradually came into use in England on the arrival of the Saxons. We have but little to lead us to believe that this German race cared much for the horse, or employed it to any extent at first. In this respect they resembled the Frank. In process of time, however, they became expert horsemen, and placed much value upon the noble beast; in this they again followed the example of the Franks—a change that might be attributed, in both instances, to their having come into contact with another race—the Celtic,—to whom the horse had for ages been an all-important adjunct of existence. This is rendered apparent from the fact, that those of the Britons who cared to remain among the invaders, were intrusted with the studs of the Anglo-Saxon kings. In the laws of Ina, written towards the termination of the seventh or commencement of the eighth century, the 'hors-wealh' stands in high estimation. This functionary was a Welshman, or rather an ancient Briton, who had the charge of the king's stud, his knowledge of horses apparently justifying his being selected to attend to them, as the British inhabitants excelled in the care and management of these creatures,
- ↑ Op. cit. vol. xiv.
