Event Title
Faithful and Loving: Stable Boys and Their Horses in Renaissance Italy
Session
Session 2: Human-Horse Interactions
Location
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
Start Date
29-9-2023 9:00 AM
End Date
29-9-2023 10:30 AM
Description
One of the closest encounters of horse and man must surely be the relationships between the grooms and stable boys and the horses in their care. In Renaissance Italy, as in other parts of Europe, these men were responsible for not only keeping their master’s horses safe and healthy but producing them as animals to be admired – often washed and groomed to excess and decorated with elaborate caparisons with ribbons in their manes and tails. But who were these young men and boys and what exactly were their responsibilities and expected daily routines? Was there hope of advancement for them in the stable hierarchy? A lot can be learnt from Italian court orders and stable masters’ records, many of which define the detailed living arrangements for the grooms, often expected to sleep near their horses at night. Such evidence shows that, in many cases, the horses were better treated than their grooms.
The paper throws light on this close equid-human relationship using information from Italian court ordinances, such as those for Federico da Montefeltro in Urbino, together with advice given in equine texts by riding masters, noblemen and others attached to a court: men such as Leon Battista Alberti, Tommaso Garzoni, the riding master Claudio Corte and the Neapolitan nobleman Pasqual Caracciolo.
Recommended Citation
Duncan, Sarah, "Faithful and Loving: Stable Boys and Their Horses in Renaissance Italy" (2023). Equine History Collective Conference. 2.
https://docs.rwu.edu/equinehistory-conference/2023/friday/2
Faithful and Loving: Stable Boys and Their Horses in Renaissance Italy
Mary Tefft White Cultural Center, University Library
One of the closest encounters of horse and man must surely be the relationships between the grooms and stable boys and the horses in their care. In Renaissance Italy, as in other parts of Europe, these men were responsible for not only keeping their master’s horses safe and healthy but producing them as animals to be admired – often washed and groomed to excess and decorated with elaborate caparisons with ribbons in their manes and tails. But who were these young men and boys and what exactly were their responsibilities and expected daily routines? Was there hope of advancement for them in the stable hierarchy? A lot can be learnt from Italian court orders and stable masters’ records, many of which define the detailed living arrangements for the grooms, often expected to sleep near their horses at night. Such evidence shows that, in many cases, the horses were better treated than their grooms.
The paper throws light on this close equid-human relationship using information from Italian court ordinances, such as those for Federico da Montefeltro in Urbino, together with advice given in equine texts by riding masters, noblemen and others attached to a court: men such as Leon Battista Alberti, Tommaso Garzoni, the riding master Claudio Corte and the Neapolitan nobleman Pasqual Caracciolo.
