Numerically the largest department of the medieval English household, the Marshalsea maintained the household horses, mules, oxen, wagons, stables and related equipment and personnel to provide transportation of goods and supplies and mounts in times of peace and war.  The Marshalsea came under the supervision of the Marshall (a gentleman or minor noble).  Day to day management of the stables was overseen by a Yeoman (of the Stables).  Numerous grooms took care of the animals and equipment while finances, feed (the avenary) and other supplies were accounted by a Clerk (of the Stable).

Above anything else, the household was still a mobile entity.  Although not as transient as early households, the 15th century household still moved from property to property depending on economic and administrative need.  Just about all goods, furniture, clothing, etc. were moved when the lord moved his household.  The roads were unpaved and frequently impassable.  There were few highways and few maps of any real consequence.  Directions had to be sought sometimes of locals.

With horses providing the transportation for all manners of people and goods, there were many different types: light riding horses (hackneys and palfreys), trotters (gaited), sumpters (pack), draft and war horses (destiers) among others.

It should be mentioned that current scholars have dismissed the notion of the war horses (destiers) being huge animals of the type we associate today with heavy drafts such as Clydesdales, Belgians and Shires.  Analyses of remains, graphic sources and equipment have reshaped the image of the warhorses as being only about 15 hands, or so.

 

Goods were transported on sumpters (pack horses), carts and wagons.  The two wheeled cart was common while four wheeled wagons was not.  Teams of horse usually operated in tandem. The lightness of the wagons and hitching arrangements of the horses had a great deal to do with the poor, narrow tracks the goods were hauled over. The four wheeled passenger coach was also found within the household and could be an expensive and heavy affair.

 

As any horse owner can tell you, the greatest expense in horse ownership is feeding it.  Household accounts illustrate this clearly with great monetary expenditures that were only alleviated when for a few months, the horses could be turned up to pasture or moved to another holdings.  Horses were frequently dispersed to other estates to lessen the burden on any one area for forage.  Horse diets consisted of pasture grasses and grains but also oats, barley and other standard staples often ground and combined to make various types of horse breads. 

Horses were typically shod with household accounts detailing routine replacement of front and rear shoes. Given the relative expense of iron, it is not surprising that shoes were reseated or recycled as practical. Veterinary care was practiced within the Marshalsea as well.  Most treatments were topically applied or added to the diet.  Accounts detail the expenditure of monies for sick and convalescent horses – further giving evidence to the fact that upkeep was the real expense in utilizing horses.



Grooms assigned to the Marshalsea were responsible for caring for the horses and often made up the single largest group of workers within the household.  There are accounts of some households were the grooms were allotted on a 1:1 basis to the horses.  By modern standards, this is extravagant. By medieval standards, it may reflect the cheapness of human labor versus the value of the animals.  It has been suggested that these numbers were really to shelter the real numbers of soldiers under the employ of the lord and avoid legal prohibitions against lords maintaining private armies. 

 

Often, the grooms were young men who could be trusted with extremely valuable mounts and driving carts to markets but could also be counted on to be unruly.  A number of households placed the Marshalsea members in the rear of the great hall during meals and meetings, or had them eat outside of the manor house entirely.  The grooms of the Marshalsea were the only household members who typically received a meal allowance for foodstuff purchased outside of the manor.