Nesta, Gerald and Taran as rendered for me by artist Matthew Ryan.
A fictional strand in THE KING’S JEWEL, but very much grounded in fact, is the part played by the warhorses belonging to both the Normans and the Welsh. In the story I have given Nesta’s family a stud of fabulous horses that have a -golden tawny base coat covered in darker dappled rings. I describe the colouring as being akin to ‘sunlit-shingle’. These horses are much coveted throughout Wales and the novel opens with the birth of a foal that is going to share credits with his sire as an important part of the narrative. Indeed, although the title of the novel is THE KING’S JEWEL, one of the suggested titles at the planning stage was THE STORM HORSES OF CAREW.
Wales doesn’t immediately strike one as a place famed for horse breeding in the Middle Ages. Everyone talks about the war horses of the Normans, and indeed we know that they were breeding fine animals with good access to the fire of the Iberian stock and the power of the prized destriers of Lombardy. Robert de Belleme, one of the Montgomery family, who feature in THE KING’S JEWEL, was known to have a stud of fine grey horses running on his lands in Monmouthshire, although, with his time as earl being only a short window before his banishment, it is likely he began with a foundation herd of Welsh horses and perhaps added improvements to the blood stock.
When I went digging, I soon discovered that the Welsh were quietly breeding horses for their own warriors and nobility to ride. 12th century Welsh poetry is full of descriptions of horses that are ‘proud, spirited, playful and lively’. Colour and conformation were important. They should be ‘breisgir’ – tall and strong and perhaps have a coat that was ‘gleisiaid’ i.e. the colour of a young salmon for example or ‘dwn’ – dun, or ‘melyn’ – bay.’ Welsh horses had more value than Irish horses during this period – Welsh horses were in demand in Ireland and exported there as well as seized in raids and sold.
The various Welsh princes kept studs of horses. Cadwgan ap Bleddyn had one that was raided by enemies in 1109. Horses were seen as valuable booty in war, and historian Walter Map remarks on a raid carried out by one lord to steal a valuable mare from another. In 1171 Welsh prince Rhys ap Gruffydd, the nephew of Nesta ferch Rhys in our story, promised King Henry II 300 horses as part of a peace deal. And in 1211, King John required a tribute of 40 horses from Llewelyn ap Iorwerth.
The Welsh horses of the Middle Ages did have influxes of other blood – such as the earlier mentioned de Belleme greys and there are references to Welsh princes owning ‘Gascon’ horses.
My own special horses in THE KING’S JEWEL are named Taran, meaning Thunder, and his son Tymestl, meaning a tempest or a storm, and even though they are horses rendered in fiction, I came to love them dearly, and felt that they somehow just might have been.
You can read an extract here: https://elizabethchadwick.com/novel-extracts/the-kings-jewel-extract/
