this period, and even up to the 16th century, necessitated the employment of horses more like our lumbering draught breed than chargers, and these were first obtained from Lombardy. Their excellence is described by Chaucer in the 'Squire's Tale':
' Great was the press that swarmèd to and fro,
To gazen on this horse that standeth so;
For it so high was, and so broad and long,
So well proportionèd for to be strong,
Right as it were a steed of Lombardy:—
Therewith so hoarsely and so quick of eye
As it a gentle Polish courser were;
For certes from his tail unto his ear
Nature nor Art could him not amend
In no degree, as all the people ween'd.'
But the Flemish horse, the probable progenitor of our heaviest breeds, was at an early period in high repute as a war-horse, and adapted to carry the enormous loads imposed upon him, when pace was not so much an object as strength to bear weight and withstand the shock of an encounter with couched lances. These horses were oftentimes severely tested before final acceptance as fit for the fray; and strong large shoes, with projecting calkins and nail-heads, were not only an indispensable necessity for ordinary duty, but for the more important contests in the field, where a good grip of the turf by the horse's feet was as requisite as a firm seat on its back. This is well illustrated in the case of the redoubtable Châtelain of Waremme, who, in 1325, was the leader of the Awans, a powerful faction in Belgium. He was a man of such gigantic bulk, that, when he was encased in his armour, it required the assistance of two strong esquires to lift him into the saddle. His friends, on the morning of a great
