defunct kings both their horses, satellites, and precious objects.[1] Tacitus distinctly records the observance of the same usage in the funeral rites of the ancient Germans,—"Sua cuique arma, quorundam igni et equus adjicitur." In the remarkable interment of the Carlovingian age, discovered at Tournai in 1653, and attributed to Childeric, who died A.D. 481, the bones of his horse, the remains of one of the iron horse-shoes, and the ornaments of the trappings, were discovered.[2] Mr. Kemble, in his Appendix to "Beowulf," gives a curious note on the obsequies of the Teutonic hero, the throwing upon the pile, or into the mound, jewels, arms, and armour; the sacrifice of hawks, hounds, horses, and even human beings. The arms and chariots were supposed to be for use in a future world; and Mr. Kemble cites from an ancient chronicle, published by the society of antiquaries of Copenhagen, a curious passage descriptive of the death and funeral of Harald (to which allusion has above been made), the slaughter of the horse, and the placing of both chariot and saddle in the mound, "so that the hero may take his choice between riding or driving to Valhalla."[3]
A few instances of the discovery of remains of the horse in British tumuli might be cited, and some antiquaries have supposed them to be merely vestiges of the funeral feast, the horse having been indubitably used for food in ancient times. Even in the Confessionale of Egbert, Archbishop of York (A.D. 735—766), its use is not forbidden. "Caro equina non est prohibita, etsi multi gentes earn comedere nolunt."[4] The most interesting record of facts connected with this subject has been given by the Rev. Edward Stillingfleet, and is published in the transactions of the Institute at the York Meeting. In tumuli on the Yorkshire Wolds, at Arras, about three miles from Market Weighton, the remains of two warriors were found, with the iron tires and other portions of their chariot wheels, each of which had rested on a horse, also bronze and iron bridle-bits, bronze rings and buckles. The remains of a wooden shield appeared, which had been of unusually large dimensions; it had an iron rim, and numerous bronze bosses, one of them measuring 412 inches diameter. The chariot wheels were small, measuring 2 feet 8 inches diameter.
- ↑ Herod, b. iv. 71. Baehr (in loco) states the discovery of horses' bones in tumuli in southern Russia. See Mr. Demidoff's remarkable account of barrows in Tartary, Archaeologia, vol. ii., p. 224.
- ↑ Chifflet, Anastasis Childerici, p. 224.
- ↑ Fornald, Sögur. i. 387, note in Beowulf, vol. ii., v. 6359.
- ↑ Ancient Laws and Institutes, vol. ii. p. 163.
