Sorry King Arthur: Study calls into question medieval warhorse size

Dr. Katherine Kanne from the University of Exeter measuring horse bones found in Goltho, Lincolnshire using calipers and an osteometric board. The bones are a metacarpal, the end of the humerus and a tooth row from a mandible. (University of Exeter/Professor Oliver Creighton/Handout)

The image of the large, majestic medieval warhorse has prevailed throughout history and legend, like King Arthur and his knights of the round table. But a new study is drizzling on the image of the dashing destrier many imagine when picturing a knight in shining armour on the battlefield – instead suggesting the horses were often pony-sized by modern standards.

The study, published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology by a team of researchers from the University of Exeter in the U.K., found that horses during the medieval period were not always bred for size but for various functions like tournaments and long-distance raiding campaigns.

Principle investigator for the study Oliver Creighton stated in a release that “the warhorse is central to our understanding medieval English society and culture as both a symbol of status closely associated with the development of aristocratic identity and as a weapon of war famed for its mobility and shock value, changing the face of battle.”

By analyzing the largest dataset of English horse bones dated between 300 AD to 1650, found at 171 separate archeological sites, the study determined that contrary to the popular image of warhorses being 17 to 18 hands high, horses in that time period of even 15 to 16 hands would have been rare.

“Hands” are the standard of how horses are measured from the tallest point of their shoulders, called the withers, where the neck meets the back down to the ground, with one hand equalling approximately 10.16 centimetres or four inches.

The researchers found that horses during that period were often below 14.2 hands high, and at the height of the royal stud network in the 13th and 14th centuries, anything at the 15 to 16 hands high mark would have been seen as very large by medieval people, according to the release.

“Neither size, nor limb bone robusticity alone, are enough to confidently identify warhorses in the archaeological record. Historic records don’t give the specific criteria which defined a warhorse,” said researcher Helene Benkert in the release. ”It is much more likely that throughout the medieval period, at different times, different conformations of horses were desirable in response to changing battlefield tactics and cultural preferences.”

The tallest horse recorded during the Norman period was found at Trowbridge Castle in the U.K., estimated to be about 15 hands high, similar to the size of small modern light riding horses the study states.

The high medieval period, marked at 1200 to 1350 AD, sees the first emergence of horses of around 16 hands high, although it is not until the post-medieval period, marked at 1500 to 1650 AD, that the average height of horses becomes significantly larger, finally approaching the sizes of modern horses.

“High medieval destriers may have been relatively large for the time period, but were clearly still much smaller than we might expect for equivalent functions today,” said researcher Alan Outram in the release. “Selection and breeding practices in the Royal studs may have focused as much on temperament and the correct physical characteristics for warfare as they did on raw size.”