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Wild Horses and Their Relatives in the Middle Ages

Wild Horses and Their Relatives in the Middle Ages cover

Wild Horses and Their Relatives in the Middle Ages

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Pre-order. Available Aug 20 2026
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Description

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.

Table of Contents

Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
List of Images
Introduction: Defining the Wild Animal
Chapter 1: Wild Horses in Medieval Literature
Chapter 2: Wild Horses and Asses in Encyclopaedias
Chapter 3: Wild, Feral and Free-Living Horses in the Everyday Life of Medieval Society
Chapter 4: “Unwilding” or Taming Wild Horses for Human Use
Bibliography

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published Aug 20 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Pages 184
ISBN 9781666968699
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Dimensions 229 x 152 mm
Series Byzantium: A European Empire and Its Legacy
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Anastasija Ropa

Anastasija Ropa, PhD, is a scholar of history, lit…

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