The Arabian Horse
In History
(Old) Cartouche. A daughter of Place’s White Turk also produced Wyndham.” Place was also credited with the removal of an important mare, the so-called Coffin Mare. The Coffin Mare was thus named because she was kept concealed in a cellar in Fenchurch Street, Whitechapel, at the time of the Restoration. Pick’s Turf Register, Volume 1, page 223, gives the pedigree of Mab as: “got by Hobgoblin; her dam, Little Bowes, by Lord Chedworth’s Mixbury; granddam by Mr. Hutton’s Grey Barb, brought over by Mr. Marshall, great granddam by the Byerly Turk, out of a full sister to the Coffin Mare. The Coffin Mare was out of a daughter of Mr. Place’s White Turk.” The General Stud Book, Vol. I, page 90, gives the pedigree of Mixbury as: “got by Regulus - Brother to Mixbury Hutton’s Barb, brought over by Mr. Marshall - Byerly Turk - Selaby Turk - Mr. Place’s Mare, which he had out of Oliver Cromwell’s Stud.” An “Introduction to a General Stud-Book,” page 194, gives the pedigree of Lord Chedworth’s Snap as: “got by Old Snap, his … great great grand dam by the Byerly Turk, out of a full sister to the Coffin Mare, whose dam was the Place Mare. Mr. Place of Dimsdale [sic], Stud Master to Oliver Cromwell, stole this Mare out of Cromwell’s Stud, and kept her concealed in a cellar, till the search for her was over.” “D’Arcy’s White Turk’ is later found in the D’Arcy stables at Sedbury, near Richmond,” notes Wilkinson in his book, “but such animals were rare, and it would be unusual that two would exist within ten miles of each other. Place may have passed the horse on to James D’Arcy, who succeeded him as royal stud master or, as Dr. Mackay-Smith has suggested, D’Arcy’s White Turk and D’Arcy’s Yellow Turk were the offspring of Place’s White Turk. Historians agree that these horses, when crossed with the mares located at D’Arcy’s Sedbury Stud, produced much of the foundation stock of the English Thoroughbred.” Breed histories of the English Thoroughbred often focus on the Byerly Turk, Darley Arabian, and the Godolphin Arabian, brought to England in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and crossed on English and imported mares. While it is true that all modern Thoroughbreds descend in tail-male line to one of these three foundation stallions, more than 200 other Arabian, Barb and Turk mares and stallions also were imported into England, and are so noted in the GSB. History has managed to overlook many of these early individuals, but several had an even more profound influence on the breed than any one of the three foundation sires. Some, Thomas
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like the White Turk (a.k.a. “Cromwell’s white stallion”) had male lines that survived five and six generations and produced many important runners, dams and sires. Oliver Cromwell’s colorful career as a horse importer and breeder was eclipsed (no pun intended) by his deeds as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, but his is a remarkable story from any perspective. He was born on April 25, 1599, in Huntingdon, near Cambridge. His father, Robert, was the younger son of a knight, which in those days meant that he had very little property. Cromwell grew up in genteel poverty—not quite a member of the nobility; yet, not quite a commoner. Despite his impoverished circumstances, he had many opportunities to interact with powerful figures at court. His maternal grandfather, Sir James Bourchier, lived in state outside Huntingdon, where he frequently entertained royalty and court officials. The Bourchiers were an ancient family of anti-royalist leanings, whose family seat was Beningbrough Hall, with its 1,000-acre park in Galtres Forest, near York. Through Bourchier, Cromwell also met influential London merchants and leading Puritan figures. In 1630, Cromwell suffered what we would call a nervous breakdown. At the same time, he underwent a powerful religious conversion to Puritanism. Afterwards, he said he felt as if he had been waiting for God to give him a mission. That mission began to come into focus when, in 1637, he inherited a modest income and property. By 1640, he was a vocal Member of Parliament. An outspoken critic of royal policies and the Anglican Church, Cromwell advocated that Parliament, and not the king, have the power to name army generals. When the Civil War broke out in 1642, Parliament relied on soldiers recruited by large landowners who supported their cause. In February, 1645, Parliament formed a new force of professional soldiers and amalgamated the armies of several noblemen. This army of 22,000 men became known as the New Model Army. Its commander-in-chief was General Thomas Fairfax. For the first time it was possible for working-class men to become army officers, and Oliver Cromwell was put in charge of its cavalry. Whenever possible, he recruited men who, like him, held strong Puritan views. Thus, Cromwell’s New Model Army went into battle singing psalms, convinced that God was on their side. Although Cromwell had no military training, his experience as a landowner gave him a good knowledge of horses. Even as a minor cavalryman in the New Model Army, he became convinced that if he could produce a well-disciplined army, he Fairfax
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could defeat Prince Rupert and his Cavaliers. He also speculated that pikemen, armed with pikes 16-feet long, who stood their ground during a cavalry attack, could do a tremendous amount of damage. On October 11, 1643, Fairfax, Cromwell and their army met the Cavaliers at the town of Winceby. Although only a small cavalry engagement, the Battle of Winceby helped to secure Lincolnshire for the Parliament. Oliver Cromwell and Thomas Fairfax showed their mettle in this significant battle. Cromwell rose rapidly through the ranks, continuing to lead his cavalry in some of the most vital battles of the Civil War. While Winceby was admittedly a small skirmish in the English Civil War, its ramifications were great. The early gloom in which 1643 had begun was replaced with new hope for the cause of Parliament against the King. In another, larger skirmish, the July 1644 Battle of Marston Moor, Cromwell’s new cavalry took part in their first major battle inYorkshire.The king’s soldiers were heavily defeated. Cromwell’s soldiers became known as the “Ironsides” for the way they cut through the Cavaliers on the battlefield. Following Marston Moor, Cromwell wrote a letter of condolence to his brother-in-law, ColonelValentineWalton:
“Truly England and the Church of God hath had a great favor from the Lord, in this great victory given unto us, such as the like never was since this war began. “It had all the evidences of an absolute victory obtained by the Lord’s blessing upon the Godly Party principally. We never charged but we routed the enemy. The Left Wing, which I commanded, being our own horse, saving a few Scots in our rear, beat all the Prince’s horse. God made them as stubble to our swords. We charged their regiments of foot with our horse, and routed all we charged. The particulars I cannot relate now; but I believe, of twenty thousand the Prince hath not four thousand left. Give glory, all the glory, to God. Sir, God hath taken away your eldest son by a cannon-shot. It brake his leg. We were necessitated to have it cut off, whereof he died.” For the next few years, the savagery of conflict continued as the New Model Army, with Cromwell’s cavalry, sought out and killed Royalist troops. Later, names like Slash Hollow and Slash Lane would be given to places where Royalists met their end by sword. Regarded by many as an extreme radical, Cromwell
Charles I. Cromwell supervised this dethroned monarch’s beheading in 1649. Battle of Naseby, June 14, 1645. Civil War’s turning point, where Cromwell and Fairfax’s troops chased the king’s men for 12 miles, killing many, and ending hopes of Royalist victory.
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