Mounted on a destrier, Richard Marshal unseats an opponent during a skirmish. The destrier is the best-known war horse of the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

. It carried

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

s in battles,

tournaments A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, and jousts. It was described by contemporary sources as the ''Great Horse'', due to its significance. While highly prized by knights and

men-at-arms A man-at-arms was a soldier of the High Medieval to Renaissance periods who was typically well-versed in the use of arms and served as a fully-armoured heavy cavalryman. A man-at-arms could be a knight, or other nobleman, a member of a kni ...

, the destrier was not very common. Most knights and mounted men-at-arms rode other war horses, such as coursers and

rouncey During the Middle Ages the term "rouncey" (also spelt rouncy or rounsey) referred to an ordinary, all-purpose horse. Rounceys were used for riding, but could also be trained for war. It was not unknown for them to be used as pack horses. The h ...

s. The destrier is the ancestor of present breeds of baroque horses such as the Baroque pinto.

Etymology

The word is first attested in

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

around 1330, as ''destrer''. It was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-Norman ''destrer'', whose

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th [2-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ...

counterpart was ''destrier'' (from which the Modern English spelling derives). The word is also found in medieval Provençal language, Provençal (as ''destrier'') and Italian (as ''destriere'', ''destriero''). These forms themselves derived from the Vulgar Latin ''equus dextrarius'', meaning "right-sided horse" (from ''dextra'', "right hand", the same root as ''dextrous'' and ''dexterity''). This may refer to it being led by the squire at the knight's right side, as often before battle the destrier ran unburdened to keep it fresh for the fray; the knight rode another horse, mounting his destrier just before engaging the enemy. Alternatively, it could describe the horse's

gait Gait is the pattern of Motion (physics), movement of the limb (anatomy), limbs of animals, including Gait (human), humans, during Animal locomotion, locomotion over a solid substrate. Most animals use a variety of gaits, selecting gait based on s ...

(leading with the right).

Characteristics

The word ''destrier'' does not refer to a

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of horse, but to a type of horse; the finest and strongest warhorses. These horses were usually stallions, bred and raised from foalhood specifically for the needs of war. The destrier was specifically raised for use in

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

. For everyday riding, a knight would use a palfrey, and his baggage would be carried on a sumpter horse (or

packhorse A packhorse, pack horse, or sumpter refers to a horse, mule, donkey, or pony used to carry goods on its back, usually in sidebags or panniers. Typically packhorses are used to cross difficult terrain, where the absence of roads prevents the use of ...

), or possibly in wagons. They had powerful hindquarters, able to easily coil and spring to a stop, spin, turn or sprint forward quickly. They also had a short back and well-muscled loin, strong bone, and a well-arched neck. From medieval art, the head of the destrier appears to have had a straight or slightly

convex Convex or convexity may refer to: Science and technology * Convex lens, in optics Mathematics * Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points ** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points ** Convex polytop ...

profile, a strong, wide jaw, and good width between the eyes. The destrier was considered the most suited to the

joust Jousting is a medieval and renaissance martial game or hastilude between two combatants either on horse or on foot. The joust became an iconic characteristic of the knight in Romantic medievalism. The term is derived from Old French , ultim ...

: coursers seem to have been preferred for other forms of

warfare War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of State (polity), states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or betwe ...

Breeding and size

from the Codex Manesse Many well-known scholars have speculated about the nature of destriers and about the size they attained. They apparently were not enormous draft horse, draft types. Recent research undertaken at the

Museum of London London Museum (known from 1976 to 2024 as the Museum of London) is a museum in London, covering the history of the city from prehistoric to modern times, with a particular focus on social history. The Museum of London was formed in 1976 by ama ...

, using literary, pictorial and archeological sources, suggests war horses (including destriers) averaged from , and differed from a riding horse in their strength, musculature and training, rather than in their size.Clark, John (Ed). ''The Medieval Horse and its Equipment: c.1150-c.1450'', Rev. 2nd Ed, UK: The Boydell Press, 2004, p. 25 An analysis of medieval horse armour located in the Royal Armouries indicates the equipment was originally worn by horses of , about the size and build of a modern field hunter or ordinary riding horse.Gravett, Christopher. ''English Medieval Knight 1300-1400'', Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002, p 59 Equestrian sculptures in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

suggest a "Spanish" style of horse that today would be referred to as a Baroque horse, such as the

Andalusian horse The Andalusian, also known as the Pure Spanish Horse or PRE (Spanish language literally translates to "Spanish pure breed". This name is sometimes capitalized when used in English-language publications, but is all lower-case in Spanish, which ...

, Friesian horse, or even a heavy but agile

warmblood Warmbloods are a group of middle-weight horse types and breeds primarily originating in Europe and registered with organizations that are characterized by open studbook policy, studbook selection, and the aim of breeding for equestrian sp ...

breed such as the Irish Draught. Modern estimates put the height of a destrier at no more than , but with a strong and heavy physique. Though the term "Great Horse" was used to describe the destrier, leading some historians to speculate that such animals were the forerunners of modern

draught horse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plough, plowing. There are a nu ...

breeds, the historical record does not support the image of the destrier as a draft horse. Prestwich, Michael (1996) ''Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience.'' New Haven: Yale University Press, p. 30

Descendants and reproductions

The modern

Percheron The Percheron is a horse breed, breed of draft horse that originated in the Huisne river valley in western France, part of the former Perche province, from which the breed takes its name. Usually gray (horse), gray or black (horse), black in col ...

draft breed may in part descend from destriers, though it is probably taller and heavier than the average destrier. Other draft breeds such as the

Shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

claim destrier ancestry, though proof is less certain. Modern attempts to reproduce the destrier type usually involve crossing an athletic riding horse with a light draft type. Outcomes of such attempts include crossbreds such as the " Spanish-Norman", a cross between the

and the Andalusian; and the Warlander, a cross between the Andalusian and the Friesian horse.

Value

A good destrier was very costly: at the times of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

, a fine destrier was valued at seven or eight times the cost of an ordinary horse. In England, the specific sum of eighty pounds (in this context a pound was 240 silver pennies, which amounted to one pound of silver by weight) was noted at the end of the thirteenth century. During the important military campaigns of King Edward III in the middle of the fourteenth century, the increased demand for warhorses brought about considerable price inflation: in 1339 William de Bohun, 1st Earl of Northampton lost a destrier valued at one hundred pounds while on campaign in

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

. Army muster rolls included detailed inventories of the warriors' horses: less than 5% of the warhorses were classified as destriers, owned only by a small elite of the wealthiest knights. However, because of destriers' relative scarcity and consequent infrequent sale and purchase, reliable price information for the period has not often survived.Ayton (1994) p.41

References