'Medicines for Horses' is a fifteenth-century Middle English treatise on the care of horses, and consists of recipes for the treatment of injuries and illnesses, a description of a 'good' horse, training advice, and techniques for altering a horse's appearance. It was popular and is known to survive in twelve manuscripts and two printings of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century by Wynkyn de Worde.
This is the first edition of the entire text. It provides insight into the development and understanding of veterinary science and equine lore in England in the fifteenth century and contributes to the growing study of representations of animals in medieval culture. Linguistically, 'Medicines for Horses' contains occurrences that antedate citations in the OED and a large number of words and meanings not recorded in either the MED or OED. The volume contains an introduction, and the edited text is followed by an apparatus of variant readings, a commentary, and glossary.
'Medicines for Horses' is a Middle English treatise on the properties, training, and diseases of horses. The text provides valuable insight into the treatment of horses in medieval and early modern England, but has received little attention from modern scholars. It is extant in twelve manuscripts, most of which were produced in the mid to late fifteenth century, and two printings by Wynkyn de Worde.
This edition is the first to take into account all known witnesses to the text. The Introduction includes an account of the treatise and its contents, and provides a detailed assessment of the relationships among the witnesses. The edited text is followed by the apparatus and a commentary that addresses textual elements and specialist terminology. The glossary contains previously unrecorded linguistic items and unusual terms.