Wild Horses and Their Relatives in the Middle Ages (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781666968699)

Wild Horses in the Middle Ages offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary exploration of the presence, perception, and treatment of wild and feral horses across medieval Europe and adjacent regions. Drawing on archaeological evidence, genetic studies, medieval legal codes, hippiatric treatises, chronicles, and visual culture, the book interrogates the ambiguous status of wild horses in the historical record and challenges modern assumptions about equine domestication.

Anastasija Ropa traces the biological and legal distinctions between wild and domestic horses, and examines how medieval authors and artists depicted equine life. From breeding advice in hippiatric treatises to frescoes showing horse hunts, these sources reveal how horses were embedded in medieval economies, landscapes, and imaginations-not only as laborers and companions but also as symbols of status, wilderness, and power.

Author: Anastasija Ropa
ISBN-10: 1666968692
ISBN-13: 9781666968699
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Language: English
Published: 08/20/2026
Pages: 184
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 0.91lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.44d