Fiers destriers : images du cheval de guerre au Moyen Âge

Abstract

Trusty steeds, images of warhorses in the Middle ages. The destrier was the knight’s war and tournament horse. Yet we would know almost nothing about this horse in the Middle Ages without the numerous representations that make this type of animal an omnipresent figure in medieval art from the eleventh to the sixteenth century. These images show us a horse of which the speed and the strength were necessary for the practice of a very knightly kind of combat: the charge with the couched lance. Then the destrier must do his rider proud. Through the representations of this luxurious horse, often wearing costly trappings, medieval imagery highlights the nobility and the wealth of its rider.

Keywords

• horse
• war
• chivalry
• tournament
• Middle Ages
• illuminations