Page:Horse shoes and horse shoeing.djvu/193

 of the horse, the office of maréchal, or farrier, also assumed a higher rank; but of this notice will be taken hereafter.

In the tenth and eleventh centuries, the horse-shoe formed a part of every horse's armour, and, in fact, constituted his state of belligerency. This is manifest in a curious passage occurring in the oath administered to the nobles of Franche Comté by Archbishop Burhard, in the trêve or Paix de Dieu (A.D. 1027), where it is said: 'I shall neither assail the clerk nor the unarmed monk, nor those who accompany them without arms; I will not seize upon any ox, cow, goat, ass, nor their burdens; I will also respect birds, cocks and hens, that is, if I do not require them, when I will buy them for two deniers; neither will I carry away the "unshod mare" (jument non ferrée), nor the untrained colt.'

Megnin thinks the designation 'auferrand,' sometimes given to war-horses, probably arose from this state of the hoofs. It may be remarked, however, that so far as I have been able to trace it, this name has been always applied to grey, or, as we term them, ' iron-coloured horses.' The ferrant, auferrant, and blancferrant, were only different shades of this hue; which was probably due to the early admixture of African and Barbary blood with the indigenous or Gothic race of horses—a breed soon renowned throughout Navarre to the Garonne; and in consequence of the preponderance of greys in it, it received the above names.

The 'ferrant' at a later date is as frequently met with in history as the 'auferrant;' and in one instance we have