European War Mobilization and Campaign Costs
Michael Prestwich states that there was a noted difference in the numbers of mounted knights by the late 12th century, as well as in the manner in which they fought. And that such a change likely resulted from a change in battle tactics – more knights fighting on foot, with archers in support.[1] The fact remained that mobilization for war was expensive because almost all of the standard costs (except for permanent stabling and breeding) were replicated during wartime campaigns, and protective armor was required for both knights and their horses. A good example of such a mobilization is the campaign conducted by Henry V when he invaded France, culminating in the Battle of Agincourt, in 1415.
Henry V requisitioned or purchased war material, including horses. In other instances, he would dictate to his army – noblemen and archers alike – how many horses, servants, and other baggage they should provide with the understanding that they would be reimbursed by the king.[2]
Men-at-arms included archers (most of them mounted), as well as knights, and nobles. The breakdown of requirements for horses per participant was grouped by rank, with dukes allowed the most (50) and archers the least (1). Higher status individuals usually had larger retinues of baggage and servants, all requiring appropriate mounts for transport.
Henry V requisitioned or purchased war material, including horses. In other instances, he would dictate to his army – noblemen and archers alike – how many horses, servants, and other baggage they should provide with the understanding that they would be reimbursed by the king.[2]
Men-at-arms included archers (most of them mounted), as well as knights, and nobles. The breakdown of requirements for horses per participant was grouped by rank, with dukes allowed the most (50) and archers the least (1). Higher status individuals usually had larger retinues of baggage and servants, all requiring appropriate mounts for transport.
For the purposes of illustration, Julia Barker, author of Agincourt compares the value of English currency of 1415 (the English pound - £), and converts the costs to 2005 dollars. The pound was worth approximately $690.00 in 2005 dollars, so the amount of money involved in acquiring, maintaining and campaigning with horses was considerable.
The average sum for a quality warhorse was £25 ($17,250.00). Coursers (chargers – destriers - capable of carrying a fully armored knight) could cost as much as £100 ($69,000.00). Knights usually used two warhorses as well as a palfrey (a saddle horse for an unarmored knight), and one or two rouncies (lower quality horses) for his servants, and a packhorse or two.[3] How much would the total outlay for horses cost, in the example of a knight fulfilling his requirement of six horses? If you accept the figures given by Barker, that an English pound, in 1415, was equivalent to 690.00 2005 dollars, then the total for one knight, with six mounts of varying quality would amount to about £77, or $53,130.00 2005 dollars. It can be broken down as follows: 2 average war horses (£25 each, £50 total - $34,500.00), plus 1 standard palfrey for the knight to ride to the battle site (£15 or $10,350.00), plus 2 servant's horses at £5 each ($6,900.00), and finally, 2 packhorses at £1 each, $1,380.00.
Going on a military campaign with just six horses was very expensive. The knight rarely rode his warhorse to a battle. He rode his palfrey, while one or more squires led the warhorse(s) to the battle site, saddled and armored the warhorses, then cared for the other horses and equipment once the knight was engaged. If the knight used stallions as his warhorses, the animal’s natural aggression and power usually required two grooms to transport, handle, and maintain them safely. The cost of using horses, then, was increased by the manpower requirement to care, groom, and maintain them in the field.
The average sum for a quality warhorse was £25 ($17,250.00). Coursers (chargers – destriers - capable of carrying a fully armored knight) could cost as much as £100 ($69,000.00). Knights usually used two warhorses as well as a palfrey (a saddle horse for an unarmored knight), and one or two rouncies (lower quality horses) for his servants, and a packhorse or two.[3] How much would the total outlay for horses cost, in the example of a knight fulfilling his requirement of six horses? If you accept the figures given by Barker, that an English pound, in 1415, was equivalent to 690.00 2005 dollars, then the total for one knight, with six mounts of varying quality would amount to about £77, or $53,130.00 2005 dollars. It can be broken down as follows: 2 average war horses (£25 each, £50 total - $34,500.00), plus 1 standard palfrey for the knight to ride to the battle site (£15 or $10,350.00), plus 2 servant's horses at £5 each ($6,900.00), and finally, 2 packhorses at £1 each, $1,380.00.
Going on a military campaign with just six horses was very expensive. The knight rarely rode his warhorse to a battle. He rode his palfrey, while one or more squires led the warhorse(s) to the battle site, saddled and armored the warhorses, then cared for the other horses and equipment once the knight was engaged. If the knight used stallions as his warhorses, the animal’s natural aggression and power usually required two grooms to transport, handle, and maintain them safely. The cost of using horses, then, was increased by the manpower requirement to care, groom, and maintain them in the field.
Campaign and Maintenance Costs for Samurai Warriors
The mounted warriors before samurai “were born, not made.” Because horses were expensive and training was required to be a mounted warrior only those that were already skilled and wealthy enough to own a horse were part of the early cavalry. When horses were given as a payment of taxes they were given to the families most able to take care of the horses properly, meaning the wealthy.[4] Because of the expense, some samurai did not own horses.
While in the field, horses were taken care of by grooms who often supplied medical intervention when necessary. Their responsibilities included arranging fodder, supplying and fitting straw sandals to the horses when needed, and the overall well-being of the horse. In some cases this involved bleeding the horse with the use of a lancet.[5] Horses were sometimes used as pack animals, but they were not to carry more than three or four days’ worth of food in order to prevent exhaustion. The horses’ food was to be stored safely to prevent thefts. When food was scarce, horses were given dead leaves and refined pine bark.[6] When not in the field horses spent most of their time in stables. Some horses were even kept from lying down or more violent activities by using a hemp rope tied to a beam in the stable.[7]
While in the field, horses were taken care of by grooms who often supplied medical intervention when necessary. Their responsibilities included arranging fodder, supplying and fitting straw sandals to the horses when needed, and the overall well-being of the horse. In some cases this involved bleeding the horse with the use of a lancet.[5] Horses were sometimes used as pack animals, but they were not to carry more than three or four days’ worth of food in order to prevent exhaustion. The horses’ food was to be stored safely to prevent thefts. When food was scarce, horses were given dead leaves and refined pine bark.[6] When not in the field horses spent most of their time in stables. Some horses were even kept from lying down or more violent activities by using a hemp rope tied to a beam in the stable.[7]
Horse stables
Stabling and breeding horses required a great deal of money. Davis states that £268 was spent in 1334 on upkeep for the royal breeding stables. For the purposes of illustration, Julia Barker, author of “Agincourt” compares the value of English currency of 1415 (the English pound - £), and converts the costs to 2005 dollars. The pound was worth approximately $690.00 in 2005 dollars, so the amount of money involved in breeding was considerable. In this instance, it would amount to $184,920.00 spent just on stable upkeep, if we used 1415/2005 monetary equivalents. While lesser stables stored horse equipment on heelposts and in chests located behind the horses, royal horse stables, such as Clerendon Stables in England, stored expensive horse equipment in rooms separate from the stables. Some stables located the equipment in the horse-keepers chambers, while other stables stored the tack securely in a separate room close to the grooms’ living area. It wasn’t until after the medieval period that close-presses were used for saddles and harnesses.[8]
Horse stables were not used exclusively to keep all of the owner’s horses- some horses were kept at different stables depending on special requirements. During winter months, for instance, partly due to the amount of food consumed (an estimated two tons per horse, per year) horses were stabled in different parts of the country where forage was readily available. An owner’s horse concentration could also fluctuate according to battle needs. For example, endless skirmishes along the Scottish border required many horses to be stabled in northern Castles.[10]
Horse stables were not used exclusively to keep all of the owner’s horses- some horses were kept at different stables depending on special requirements. During winter months, for instance, partly due to the amount of food consumed (an estimated two tons per horse, per year) horses were stabled in different parts of the country where forage was readily available. An owner’s horse concentration could also fluctuate according to battle needs. For example, endless skirmishes along the Scottish border required many horses to be stabled in northern Castles.[10]
Farriers and Medicine
The medieval period in Europe was a melting of old and new techniques. Prior to the 1250s, scientific horse medicine was mainly based on the Hippiatrica, a Byzantine work compiled during the reign of Constantine VII (944-959), from the 4th and 5th centuries CE treatises; the Mulomedicina of Vegetius, also of the 4th CE; and De Animalibus by Aristotle, in the late 3rd BC.[11][12] At the request of Emperor Fredrick II, Jordanus Ruffos (knight-farrier) wrote De Medicina Equorum (On the Medicine of Horses). It was written between Fredrick II’s death in 1250, and 1256 when Ruffos was blinded as a captured prisoner.[13] In his book, Ruffos details 65 ailments and remedies. Building off Ruffos’ work, Dominican friar Teodorico Borgognoni added his “insistence on cleaning wounds thoroughly” before the animal was sewn-up and his “recipes for putting patients to sleep” before operations.[14] While the scientific books were based on empirical data, tried and true treatments or tradition, the Christian Leech books offered a slightly different approach.
The Leechbook of Bald is the earliest surviving Saxon medical manuscript. Drawing on Latin works, it contains charms, incantations and herbal remedies for horse ailments.[15] While still using traditional herbs and salves to treat animals, the book treatments also required crosses, holy water and prayer.[16] A perfect example of religious animal healing is known as the Il Miracolo di St. Alò (the miracle of Saint Alò).According to the legend, Alò, then bishop of Noyon, cut off a horse’s injured foot and reattached it, completely healed.[17] Some practitioners, however, relied completely on incantations, charms and amulets.[18]
Treatment theologies aside, most actual treatment of horses in the medieval period was performed by farriers. Originally, farriers just shod horses, but eventually the occupation evolved into the profession of veterinary arts.[19]
The Leechbook of Bald is the earliest surviving Saxon medical manuscript. Drawing on Latin works, it contains charms, incantations and herbal remedies for horse ailments.[15] While still using traditional herbs and salves to treat animals, the book treatments also required crosses, holy water and prayer.[16] A perfect example of religious animal healing is known as the Il Miracolo di St. Alò (the miracle of Saint Alò).According to the legend, Alò, then bishop of Noyon, cut off a horse’s injured foot and reattached it, completely healed.[17] Some practitioners, however, relied completely on incantations, charms and amulets.[18]
Treatment theologies aside, most actual treatment of horses in the medieval period was performed by farriers. Originally, farriers just shod horses, but eventually the occupation evolved into the profession of veterinary arts.[19]
[1] Miles in Armis Strenuus: The Knight at War.Michael Prestwich. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, Sixth Series, Vol. 5, (1995), 204. Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Royal Historical Society Article DOI: 10.2307/3679334. Article Stable URL: http://www.ulib.niu.edu:2207/stable/3679334
[2] Barker, Juliet. Agincourt: Henry V and the Battle that Made England. (New York, NY: Little, Brown, and Company, 2005), pp 102-107.
[3] Barker, Juliet. Agincourt, pp 114-118.
[4] Turnbull, Samurai Warfare, 13.
[5] Bottomley, “Horse Accoutrements,” 86.
[6] Turnbull, Samurai Sourcebook, 158.
[7] Bottomley, “Horse Accoutrements,” 87.
[8] Giles Worsley. William Curtis Rolf. The British Stable. (New Haven, Conn.: Published For The Paul Mellon Centre For Studies In British Art By Yale University Press, 2004), 45.
[9] Agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry: http://www.bosbouwbeleggingen.nl/bosbouwbeleggingen.nl/LandbouwTuinbouwVeeteelt.php
[10] Giles Worsley. William Curtis Rolf. The British Stable, 8.
[11] Anne McCabe. Byzantine Encyclopaedia of Horse Medicine: The Sources, Compilation, and Transmission of the Hippiatrica. (Oxford, GBR: Oxford University Press, UK, 2007). ProQuest ebrary. Web.
[12] R. H. C. Davis. The Medieval Warhorse, 100.
[13] R. H. C. Davis. The Medieval Warhorse, 101-102.
[14] R. H. C. Davis. The Medieval Warhorse 103-104.
[15] Robert H. Dunlop, David J Williams. Veterinary Medicine: An Illustrated History. (St. Louis: Mosby, 1996), 213.
[16] Robert H. Dunlop, David J Williams. Veterinary Medicine, 213-215.
[17] Robert H. Dunlop, David J Williams. Veterinary Medicine, 211.
[18] Robert H. Dunlop, David J Williams. Veterinary Medicine, 235.
[19] Robert H. Dunlop, David J Williams. Veterinary Medicine, 225, 235.