“The horse in the Portuguese Middle Agges”

The study of the horse in the Middle Ages is a subject that has received little interest in Portuguese historiography. However, and given the growing relevance of environmental and animal history, we believe that understanding the importance of equidae in the political, social, economic, symbolic and daily life is essential for a deeper understanding of Portuguese medieval society between the 10th and 13th centuries.

In this sense, we seek to address, in a period spanning the 10th-13th centuries, the terminology used in the Portuguese medieval period to identify and characterise the different types of equidae, their monetary value, the symbolism of these animals and the ways in which their image were deployed by the Portuguese monarchs. Furthermore, we seek to understand which groups were involved in horse breeding in Portugal in the Middle Ages, and how breeding improved these animals from the 10th century onwards.

Biographical note:
Afonso Soares de Sousa graduated in History, with a minor in Archaeology, from the Faculty of Arts, the University of Coimbra, and is currently completing his Master’s Degree in History at the same institution, with a dissertation project entitled “Monteiros e Montarias na Idade Média“. He recently published the article “O Cavalo na Idade Média” in the journal Medievalista and is currently a scholarship holder with the project FALCO – Hypothesising Human-Animal Relations in Medieval Portugal and is also a member of NEMUS – the Network for the Environment in Medieval Usages and Societies.

The session takes place via Zoom on 24 November, at 4pm.