Folia archeologica 52.

Vörös István: Ló az Árpád-kori Magyarországon

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Л) AZ ÁRPÁD-KORI MAGYARORSZÁGON 213 About 2/3 of the horses were between 130.0 and 140.0 cm, and already 1/3 of them were between 140.0-147.0 cm. Large medium riding horses, like the Csengele horse, have been known so far only from the settlements Pápa, Kardoskút and Szabolcs-Kisfalud, the tall riding-horses from the settlements Óbuda, Doboz and Tiszalök from the Árpád-Dynasty period. Eating the meat of common horses was universally accepted. It was strictly forbidden, however, to consume meat from pagan sacrifices including horses. One of the earliest source about prohibiting the consumption of horse meat is known from the letter of Pope Gregorius III written to Bishop St. (II) Bonifacius (675-754) around 732, starting 'Magna nos liabuit...' in which he prohibited the consumption of both 'wild horse(meat)' and 'domesticted (horse)', being a pagan custom: 'Inter ea agrestem caballum aliquantes adiunxisti comedere, plerosque et dom.esticum' (MGH.l. BONIFATIUS-BRIEF 28., 50.).'You mentioned that some eat wild horse and most eat domestic horse [...]. You are not to allow that in the followings, as much as you can with the help of Christ and due penitence because it is an unclean and damned custom'. What can be the reason of the horse-phobia of Gregorius III. Syrian by origin. (731-741)? In the same letter, Gregorius III wrote: 'do not worship idols árul beimre from animal sacrifices'

. Whom would be the animals sacrificed to? This can be answered by the following letter quotation: 'whoever (received Christianity from) a presbiter presenting sacrifice to Jupiter and feeding on the sacrified meat, we order to be christened again' (MGH 1. BONIEATII S-BRIEI 28., 51.). Whom would be the horse sacrificed to? In this case, to Jupiter, or Donar, still respected in this period (HDA. Bd. 1

. 1477.). How can we interpret the adjective 'wild' for the horse, as no wild horses (equus ferus) were known to exist in Europe any more? The letters refer to horses 'caballi/equi silvatici, feralis equi, equulorum agrestium

', living in the stud but not trained yet, inferring also their possible place of keeping. In Hungary, the pagan rebels ofVata in 1046 disclaimed Christian faith and started to adore pagan idols. That is, they sacrificed horses to the old pagan gods and ate from the meat of the sacrificed horses. The author of the chronicle did not mention the sacrificial role of the horse. Still, the different sources wanted to indicate in some form that this was no regular meal involving horse-meat. In the legend of St. Gellert, it is mentioned as (15.) 'equinas carne' (SRH.II. 501.), in the Illustrated Chronicle, (82.) 'eqttina(s) palpas' (SRI I.I. 338.) was written. In the Dubnic Chronicle from the 15th century, the reason of the prohibition was named, i.e. eating 'crudas carnes', raw horse meat (SRH.I. 338.). Eating horse meat, in general, was usual practice in Hungary at royal seats, ecclesial and land-stewards' centres as well as mansions and villages of the Alföld (Great Hungarian Plains) (

VÖRÖS 2000a 97, 6/1- Iable VI.). The sex composition of the Árpád-Dynasty period horse stock, compiled on (he basis of known specimens (Table 7.) is 80 % mare (female) - 20% stallion (male) on the basis of data from 1590 individuals. The ample progeny of the stock was ensured by large herds of mares. In the horse breeding of known sex composition there were 30-50-73 and 130 mares. In the cases when male horses are mentioned, for one stallion there were 25/26, or 36 mares, respectively. It seems that in 13

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h century Hungary private persons or institutions did not possess large horse breedings over thousand individuals. The largest charter mentioned in the charters comprised 300 horses (1231.), other studs with 120 (1237.) or 135 (1220.) individuals could pass for a large one. Most of the horse stock in the country was in the property of serves and freemen providing economic and/or military service with horse. It is a general opinion on the Árpád-Dynasty period horse husbandry that it could be similar to the 'horse reared in the open-air' stock-raising of the 18-