been in use for very many centuries, and was derived, no doubt, from the 'faber ferrarius,' who not only worked generally in iron, but also shod the horses. In old French records it is not uncommon to find ferrier and maréschal employed to designate the shoer.
In the list of the slain at the battle of Bannockburn, fought between the English and Scottish armies on 25th June, 1318, in which the first was defeated and the national independence of Scotland established, we find on the English side, among the knights and knight bannerets, the name of William Le Mareschal, and among the prisoners in the hands of the Scots, the knight Anselm de Mareschal and Thomas de Ferrers.[1] These individuals, however, may not have been in any way connected, but by name, with the shoers of horses.
It is curious, notwithstanding, to find the two designations combined so late as the 16th century, and applied to the healer of equine maladies. For instance, in an account of Queen Elizabeth's expenses from 1559 to 1569, there is an entry for 'Curinge and Dressinge of the Queen's Horses;' and among other sums disbursed by 'John Tamworthe, Esquire, one of Her Majesties grooms,' and which were to be refunded to him, it is written: 'Also he is allowed for money paide to Martin Hollyman, Marshall Ferrer, and others, for curinge and dressinge of the Queen's Majesties coursers, horses, and geldings, at divers tymes, within the tyme of this accompt, as in the said book doth appere, £65 10s. 4d.'[2]
