where it is said: 'Thou knowest that we have assigned thee as many horse-shoes and nails as may be necessary for the shoeing of the horses of our stables in our present travelling, with Fabros et ferrum, and all other necessaries required for the office of shoeing {ferruræ)' In connection with the various designations for the farrier in use during the Middle Ages, we also find a diversity of names for the horse-shoes, not the least frequent of these being 'ferratura.' So early as 1184, in Charta Lucii III.[1] it is enacted: 'Pro se et duobus scuteriis et tribus equitaturis fenum et avenam habeat, et candelas, et Ferraturas equorum de curia ipsa percipiat.' In another charter for the year 1252, it also occurs, 'Una Ferratura equi.'
The general name, however, was ferrum or ferrus. In the 'Regestum Constabulariæ Burdegal' (fol. 106) the former is expressed: 'Dixit se teneri facere D. Regi Sex Ferra nova equi cum suis clavis in mutatione Domini;' and the latter in the Acta St Raynerii Pisani (vol. iii,, Junii, p. 432), 'Ferrati enim equi qui illuc equitabant, sine aliquo ferro in pedibus regrediebantur, et qui suos Ferros reservabant, optimos habere pedes perhibebantur.' This affords us some evidence as to the insecure manner in which the shoes were attached to the foot at this period, as well as the wise conclusion arrived at, that those hoofs which longest retained their armour were generally the best. With regard to the word 'maréchal,' it is still the only designation for the farrier in France; but to distinguish between the shoer of horses and the highest dignitary in the land—though both originally were one—
- ↑ Miræus, vol. iii. Diplom. Belgic. p. 1189.
