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Skolaidhe · 09-22-2010, 09:50 PM

First, it is important to note Tolkien himself was intimately involved with horses during World War I., where he trained with King Edwards Horse.

I have a personal theory about Shadowfax and the Mearas. One of the types of horses Tolkien would have come in contact with was the Percheron, a silver draft horse from northern France (this is NORMANDY we're talking about) that was imported in great numbers for British use -- not only because it is intelligent and responsive, but because it lacks the fetlocks of similarly sized horses. And this was one HEFTY horse. Like most 'draft' breeds, it shares ancestry with today's 'Baroque' horses (such as Lipizzaners and Lusitanos), in that both are presumably descended from the mediaeval Greathorse (a.k.a. Destrier).

So, thus the war horses of the Rohirrim, a combination of the Percheron on which the British relied and the Destrier which Tolkien -- a philologist -- would have known from mediaeval texts.

I also have heard the theory that Tolkien suggested that Anglo-Saxons might have won Hastings, with the use of horses. I do not know the veracity of that claim. But there is another reason, more credible, that Tolkien might have included the horsemen in his lore.

HENGEST and HORSA. The names mean (roughly) 'stud' and 'stallion'. They were brothers in Anglo-Saxon lore, the first conquerers of British land and founders of the Anglo-Saxon people. See Michael D. C. Drout's "J.R.R. Tolkien encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment" page 275, for his argument that "Marcho and Blanco" (the founders of the Shire) are derived from these figures.

It is worth noting that Hengest and Horsa probably did not exist, any more than did Beowa and Sceafa (other mythic predecessors of the Germanic peoples, their names deriving from harvest terms rather than horsemanship). And for those of you who enjoy cross-cultural lore, Hengest and Hersa show up everywhere from the Ashwin twins of India to Castor and Polydeuces from Greece.

This is my first post, so I hope I was more help than hubris?

Skolaidhe

09-22-2010, 09:50 PM	#27
Skolaidhe Newly Deceased Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 2	Mearas First, it is important to note Tolkien himself was intimately involved with horses during World War I., where he trained with King Edwards Horse. I have a personal theory about Shadowfax and the Mearas. One of the types of horses Tolkien would have come in contact with was the Percheron, a silver draft horse from northern France (this is NORMANDY we're talking about) that was imported in great numbers for British use -- not only because it is intelligent and responsive, but because it lacks the fetlocks of similarly sized horses. And this was one HEFTY horse. Like most 'draft' breeds, it shares ancestry with today's 'Baroque' horses (such as Lipizzaners and Lusitanos), in that both are presumably descended from the mediaeval Greathorse (a.k.a. Destrier). So, thus the war horses of the Rohirrim, a combination of the Percheron on which the British relied and the Destrier which Tolkien -- a philologist -- would have known from mediaeval texts. I also have heard the theory that Tolkien suggested that Anglo-Saxons might have won Hastings, with the use of horses. I do not know the veracity of that claim. But there is another reason, more credible, that Tolkien might have included the horsemen in his lore. HENGEST and HORSA. The names mean (roughly) 'stud' and 'stallion'. They were brothers in Anglo-Saxon lore, the first conquerers of British land and founders of the Anglo-Saxon people. See Michael D. C. Drout's "J.R.R. Tolkien encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment" page 275, for his argument that "Marcho and Blanco" (the founders of the Shire) are derived from these figures. It is worth noting that Hengest and Horsa probably did not exist, any more than did Beowa and Sceafa (other mythic predecessors of the Germanic peoples, their names deriving from harvest terms rather than horsemanship). And for those of you who enjoy cross-cultural lore, Hengest and Hersa show up everywhere from the Ashwin twins of India to Castor and Polydeuces from Greece. This is my first post, so I hope I was more help than hubris? Skolaidhe