Caballos, hacaneas y jaeces: la distinción de una montura de prestigio en los Hechos del condestable don Miguel Lucas y otras fuentes de la Castilla Medieval

Abstract

The horse is a statutory element, a powerful social marker, a tool of prestige, a trend that was reinforced from the 14th century onwards. We propose to study the staging of luxurious horses in situations of pomp, particularly in late medieval Castilian noble festivities. Focusing on the chronicle, Los Hechos of the Constable Miguel Lucas, we will see the importance of the horse in the culture of the nobility through the practice of equestrian gifts, the ostentatious consumption to which all the equipment and adornment of the horse gives rise, the effort to compose a harmonious picture between the rider and his mount. Finally, we will see how this staging of equestrian nobility gives a particular importance to the ambler horses and the ambling step.