HERE COMES THE (PICTISH) CAVALRY

The Pictish stone in the churchyard at Aberlemno Parish Church (sometimes known as Aberlemno II). The battle scene depicted is generally accepted to be that of the Battle of Nechtansmere.


So, exactly what, if any, evidence do we have that the Picts used cavalry in warfare? Unlike the Scythian kurgans, the bulk of Pictish equestrian evidence has not been extracted from grave remains or goods. Irene Hughson’s splendid article, Pictish Horse Carvings, tells us that there is “not a great mass of either skeletal material or horse gear” in Pictish burial remains.

So, where do we go for Pictish cavalry evidence? A little of it comes from literature. The testimony of ancient poets like that of Aneirin, who wrote Y Gododdin, which describes “swift, long-maned stallions under the thigh of a fine lad”, tells us that his Brythonic and possibly also Pictish readers prized beautiful, fleet horses and used them as cavalry. But the snapshot provided by Y Gododdin is, at best, a “fleeting” glimpse.

            You want a brighter, clearer, more realistic picture – the Dark Age version of HD – of Pictish horses? Check out their standing stones.

In his book, The Pictish Warrior, Paul Wagner describes the Pictish horse gear – read: saddles, bridles, bits, stirrups – depicted on the standing stones. While some Pictish warriors rode bareback, most wore an “Irish pad” in lieu of a saddle. A clear exception: Wagner says that “the Kirriemuir horsemen appear to show a high saddle and stirrups”. In Guinevere, Norma Lorre Goodrich mentions a snaffle bit. But in some sculptures, no bit or stirrups can be seen.

In the above photo of the Aberlemno II Pictish standing stone, some warriors sit atop a saddle cloth, while others use something like a padded saddle or even ride bareback. Reins are visible, but it is hard to make out what type of bit has been inserted into the horses’ mouths. Stirrups are not visible. Maybe Pictish cavalrymen, like Indigenous American horsemen, operated by using leg pressure?

Whatever diversity there may have been amongst these Highland horsemen, there is one consistency: the development of equestrian gear indicates an advanced horse culture among the Picts. So do a breeding program, horse feed, and the presence of grooms. But first, we will explore the various horse breeds on the Pictish standing stones.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Goodrich, Norma Lorre. Guinevere, HarperPerennial, 1992. 

Hughson, Irene. “Pictish Horse Carvings.” Glasgow Archaeological Journal, vol. 17, no. 17, 1991, pp. 53–62., doi:10.3366/gas.1991.17.17.53.

Karunanithy, David. “War Dogs among the Early Irish.” History Ireland, 9 May 2013, www.historyireland.com/uncategorized/war-dogs-among-the-early-irish-2/.

Unknown, Wikipedia. “Hilton of Cadboll Stone.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Jan. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_of_Cadboll_Stone.

Wagner, Paul. “Pictish Heroic Society.” Pictish Warrior, AD 297-841, by Paul Wagner, Osprey Pub., 2002, pp. 14–21.

 

PHOTOS:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HiltonofCadboll01.JPG

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meigle_2.jpg

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pictish_Stone_at_Aberlemno_Church_Yard_-_Battle_Scene_Detail.jpg

Simon Burchell [<a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>], <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Meigle_2.jpg">via Wikimedia Commons</a>

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