The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1898-11-12
The History of Horseshoeing.
From the Pail Mall Gazette.

FROM the rail- Mail GdZeIte
The very recent strike of horseshoers in
London, which was happily of short dura-
tion may serve to call to memory some
facts and traditions that 90 to prove the
high antiquity of their craft, and its i'm
mense influence on the progress of civil
zation, as far as the services of the horse
have been concerned in advancing the in
terests of mankind Though the horsehoer
is very often, if not generally, designated
''farrier,' yet this term is misleading now
adays, if it ever was correct in indicating
his special function. The faber ferrarius,
from which the term ''farrier' is doubt
less derived, was worker in iron of any
kind or fashion, and though in the earliest
periods of his history he shod horses and
forged various weapons and other articles,
yet the designation of 'Esmith was usually
applied to him in this country, and when
he began to be called farrier his vocation
was more that of shoer of horses, and. later,
their physician and surgeon in addition.
The antiquity of the horsehoer is, states
Mr.. George Fleming, writing in the Live
Stock Journal, coeval with the origin Of
the art, which is lost in the midst of at least
1000 years. In Western Europe it was
probably known to the Celtic tribes at
very remote time, and it may be that the
Druid priests were the teachers of horse
shoeing in those days, as they were the
men who were best acquainted with the
primitive arts and sciences, knowled ge of
which they contrived to surround with
veil of mystery that clung to some of these
for centuries. The hOrseshOer was, in the
early centuries Of our era, evidently con-
sidered mysterious kind of workman, who
pursued his calling in weird-like manner
in place where no one was allowed to
enter until the steed was shOd
1t is certain that for hundreds of years
the shoer was an important parsonage, as
he held high social position and enjoyed
certain special privileges in this country
long before the Norman invasion. This
is shown the Welsh triad of laws, which
were revised by Howell the Good in A.
D. Gil, but which were doubtless in force
long before that date. In these laws and
regulations the court smith, while in the
palace, was allotted seat at the end of
the bench near the priest of the household,
and he was protected from the time he be-
gan work in the morning until he finished
at night He was to be presented with
clothes for what he did for the officers of
the palace; he was entitled to the first
liquor that came into the hall, and he was
to have food for himself and servant from
the palace, as we'll as the heads and feet
of all cattle slaughtered there, and other
privileges. In the Gwentian Code of
these laws it is stated that the smith was
to sit in chair near the Judge beside a
column, and this column was to be struck by
the silentiary on the side farthest from the
King when commanding silence. Among
the Anglo -Saxons the shoer was also held
in high esteem, and would appear to have
received certain possessions in land through
his craft. Such was the case with Camel
here. of Welbeck, Nottinghamshire, at the
Norman invasion, as he held certain lands
on condition that he shOd the King S
horses whenever the latter visited the
Manor of Mansfield. TO Simon st. Liz,
a Norman nobleman who accompanied him
in his invasion, William the Conqueror
gave the town of Northampton and the
whole hundred of Falkley, to provide
shoes for his horses; while another follow
er, Henry de Ferrers, or Farrarils, had
bestowed on him the honor of Tutbury, in
the county of Stafford, because he was en-
trusted with the shoeing of the King 5
horses, or perhaps the control of the shoers.
In 1885, during the reign of Henry III,
Walter lie Brun, or Bruin, shoer, or
Marechal, as he was then designated in
Anglo Norman, had piece of land grant
ed him in the Strand, parish of st. Glenn
ent's Danes, whereon to erect forge, on
condition that he should render at the Ex-
chequer, annually, for the same quit rent
of six horseshoes with sixty-two nails be-
longing thereto-a payment, strange to
say, which is still continued every year at
the swearing-in of the Sheriff of London
and Middlesex to the representative of the
Sovereign, though the said piece of ground
has long been city property. At this
time too, the price of horseshoes and
nails, as well as shoeing, was regulated by
laws, and these are still in evidence.