A knight's horse was his most valuable possession and his most exposed — and this one is armoured too. Mail barding for warhorses appears in western Europe in the twelfth century, reserved for the elite heavy cavalry who could afford it: a coat of mail draped over the animal, usually with padding beneath, guarding neck, chest and flanks. The reason was blunt. An armoured knight was hard to kill, so his enemies killed the horse instead — Muslim archers in particular shot the mounts to bring the rider down. Wrap the horse in iron, and the whole weapon, man and mount together, stayed in the fight far longer.

The White Swabian Knight shows it plainly: his grey warhorse wears a mail trapper under a white caparison marked with the blue-and-red devices of Swabia, a red cross on its chamfron, while the knight sits in mail and a red-and-white coif with an axe raised to strike. He is the companion piece to the Red Swabian Knight — a matched pair of Swabian riders — and completes the range's line of bright cavalry with the Flemish Green Knight. Set him against the attacking Saracen, the very threat all that horse-armour was meant to answer. In a diorama the barded steed is the eye-catcher — a rare fully armoured mount amid the surcoats and shields.

Model: MK211 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set