title: A Knight and His Horse
author: Ewart Oakeshott
description: Oakeshott's multivolume study of medieval knights continues with this 1962 volume. The gallant knight clad in armor upon his charging steed is an image we all know from literature and film, but Oakeshott eschews the romance of jousts in favor of the facts behind them, their rules, and the equipment used. This update adds a 13-page glossary. Both adults and children will find this of interest.<br />Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: > _C H A P T E R  T W O_  
  >  High Crest  
  >  
  >  The sky had not yet lost its violet hue when Sturm reached the farrier's
  > shop. Tirien, the farrier, had his establishment in a vallenwood tree. The
  > winding ramp to Tirien's shop was doubly wide and strongly braced for
  > horses.  
  >    Tirien, ruddy-faced from leaning over forge fires, and with heavily
  > muscled arms and shoulders from wielding his farrier's hammer, was already
  > up and about when the knight arrived.  
  >    "Sturm!" he boomed. "Come in, lad. I'm just straightening some nails."
  > Tirien's helper, a boy named Mercot, plucked a red-hot spike from the
  > furnace with a pair of tongs. He set the bent nail in the groove atop
  > Tirien's anvil, and the brawny farrier smote it twice. Mercot flicked the
  > straight nail into a bucket of water. A serpent's hiss and a wisp of steam
  > arose.  
  >    "I need my horse, Tirien," said Sturm.  
  >    "Right. Mercot, fetch Master Brightblade's animal."  
  >    The boy's eyes widened. Rings 