The Arabian Horse
In History
he legend of Richard the Lionheart’s receiving, for his bravery, two Arabian stallions on the battlefield from his opponent Saladin may well be true. Whether he ever got the horses across the English Channel is another matter. Written evidence regarding precisely when the first Arabian horses arrived in England is speculative, but Roman soldiers in Yorkshire probably introduced the sport of racing around 200 A.D. Stories of early English monarchs and their fine, speedy horses abound, and in the 15th century the Stuart kings launched steeplechasing, which would become one of England’s signature sports. King James I bought Markham’s Grey, an Arabian stallion that cost him the princely sum of £500—more than £50,000 by today’s standards. Henry VIII was famous for rewarding Protestant partisans with fine young stock from wealthy Catholic monasteries he dissolved. One of those monasteries was Jervaulx Abbey, especially renowned for its horse breeding. Jervaulx was destroyed on the orders of the king, its leaders were executed in 1537, and Henry VIII busily parceled out its valuable, Oriental bloodstock to loyalists for nominal sums. Another Englishman noted for his devotion to fine Eastern horses was the famous (or infamous) Oliver Cromwell. Author Erika Schiele remarks o n C r o m w e l l ’s a r d e n t fascination in The Arab Horse in Europe. “Cromwell hunted, enjoyed racing, and permitted it when, in
his judgment, the political situation allowed such a relaxation. Coming from what was then an important horse-breeding country, he was a great admirer of Oriental blood. His agents combed the markets of Aleppo and Tripoli for fast horses to mount his messengers and staff officers. Rowland Place, his Master of the Horse, imported from Aleppo for Cromwell the celebrated White Turk, who through his daughters had a great influence on posterity.” In his “Early Horse Racing in Yorkshire and the Origins of the Thoroughbred,” published in 2003, David Wilkinson writes: “Oliver Cromwell was a keen horseman, and he imported expensive Oriental horses, including stock from Aleppo, and six coursers from Naples at a cost of 2,382 piastres. He was particularly interested in developing a light cavalryhorsetoreplacetheheavier,outmodedchargersmore suited to carrying soldiers in heavy armor.
“After Cromwell’s death in 1658, Rowland Place, his stud master, removed one of these stallions to his own estate at Lower Dinsdale, where it became ‘Place’s White Turk,’” Wilkinson continued. The General Stud Book, Vol. I (GSB) is loaded with references to the White Turk, his sons D’Arcy’s White Turk and D’Arcy’s Yellow Turk and their innumerable descendants. According to the GSB, Place’s White Turk was “the property of Mr. Place, stud master to Oliver Cromwell, when Protector. He is also the same horse known as the‘white stallion’belonging to Oliver Cromwell.” The White Turk was imported from Aleppo in November, 1657, for Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector. (See C. M. Prior’s “Early Records of the Thoroughbred Horse, Vol. II,” p.213, pub. 1924.) Rowland Place was the Master of the Horse to the Lord Protector of the
Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England from 1653-1658. Soldier,
Battle of Marston Moor, July 2, 1644.
statesman and passionate horseman, Cromwell imported and bred Arabian stallions and mares that became influential foundation sires and dams in England’s General Stud Book. 168
Commonwealth, and upon Cromwell’s death in 1658, Place took the horse home to his family seat, the estate at Dinsdale on the Yorkshire border, just 10 miles from the D’Arcy Stud at Sedbury. “Some speculate that Place’sWhiteTurk is one and the same as Darcy’s White Turk, considering the close proximity of the D’Arcy’s stud at Sedbury,”writes Ann Peters in“Thoroughbred Heritage: Historic Sires.” “It is possible that James D’Arcy (the elder, and possibly the younger, as well) patronized the stallion as well as his own White Turk, but the dates don’t make it feasible for these to be the same horse. The Darcy White Turk was covering mares c.1690, at which time, Place’s White Turk would have been well over 30 years old. “The White Turk’s leading offspring was the good runner Wormwood. Daughters of Place’s White Turk proved to carry the line on to more influential ends, as he appears as the sire of at least five mares in the GSB including several attheverybeginningofsome foundation families. Place’s White Turk sired a daughter of Tregonwell’s Natural Barb Mare, who produced a daughter of the Taffolet or Morocco Barb, dam of a Byerly Turk mare, the first mare from this family with an entry in the GSB. “Perhapshismostnoteworthy product,” Peters continues, “was the Sedbury Royal Mare, who appears five times in the pedigree of Eclipse. The Sedbury Royal Mare is speculated to being the same Place’s White Turk mare known as “Trumpet’s Dam,”Trumpet’s dam being the granddam of Brown Farewell (granddam of Matchem) ancestress of
This surprise attack and Parliamentary victory was Royalist commander Prince Rupert’s first confrontation with East Anglian landowner and devout Puritan Oliver Cromwell and his psalmsinging horsemen. Arabian Horse Times • April 2007
Arabian Horse Times • May 2007
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