As a result of a collaboration between the Institute for Medieval Studies and the Centre for the History of Society and Culture—represented by Afonso Sousa and João Nisa, respectively—three sessions will take place on the topic of warhorses. These sessions will include nine speakers from Portugal and abroad, among them IEM researchers Paulo M. Dias and Afonso Sousa.
Paulo M. Dias‘s paper is based on a subchapter from his doctoral thesis, specifically dedicated to the breeding, circulation, and use of warhorses in military contexts in Portugal and North Africa throughout the 15th century and the first decades of the following century. The presentation will particularly highlight the fact that, despite being essential to the practice of warfare at the time, there was strong resistance in Portugal to owning horses, as their upkeep was, in fact, extremely costly.
As for Afonso Sousa’s presentation — co-authored with João Nisa — it offers a fresh perspective on equine morphology in Portugal, drawing on written sources. Research on the height and weight of horses in Portugal, particularly in the late Middle Ages, has received little historiographical attention. This presentation thus seeks to lay the groundwork for future studies on the physical traits of horses in the past.
Hélio Pires will also participate in the IMC in Leeds, but in a session dedicated to Nordic hagiography. His paper stems from his research on the Heimskringla, a 13th-century collection of sagas about Norwegian kings, which recounts how Óláfr Haraldsson, King of Norway from c. 1015, sailed along the Iberian coast to the Strait of Gibraltar. However, the narrative bears hagiographic traits and signs of later interpolation, casting doubt on the veracity still attributed to it today. The presentation will focus on the sources and events that may have shaped this episode.
