`The reason is, the brave beast is no flatterer': Horsemanship as Physical Evidence of Noble Character under the Stuart Kings of England, 1603-1685

Abstract

This dissertation encourages scholars to think critically about why relationships between horses and men held elite Englishmen's focused attention for generations. It asks how and why the English nobility derived social and political meaning from horses. It concludes that horsemanship, or the physical relationship between a horse and his human, held meaning because horsemen believed the quality of that relationship provided physical evidence of a man's moral character. Seventeenth-century authors explicitly described their horses' immunity to the flattery and dissimulation that so often characterised inter-human relationships at court. They recognised that individual horses reacted consciously to the ways they were handled and ridden, equine bodies responded physiologically to the quality of care they received, and horse herds, or populations, responded to the selection decisions made by breeders. As a result, English horsemen interpreted these equine responses as physical evidence of human character traits like patience, perseverance, or an inclination to violence. Men observed each other's horsemanship because they trusted their horses to provide reliable information about their riders' most guarded thoughts and inclinations, offering insight the observer could use in other courtly contexts. While the specifics of their expectations and interpretations changed over time, Englishmen consistently valued horses as autonomous contributors to elite culture under the Stuart kings of England.