Trivent Lectures brings together public lectures, talks, and scholarly presentations by Trivent authors, editors, and invited researchers. Recorded as part of our book launches, academic conferences, and other events, these lectures offer an opportunity to explore the research behind our publications and to hear scholars discuss their work in greater depth.

The series reflects the wide range of subjects represented across Trivent Publishing, from medieval and early modern studies to philosophy, history, and other areas of the humanities and social sciences. All lectures are freely available to watch.

Medieval Horse Types: Evidence from 13th- and 14th-Century Military and Household Documents

Dr. Emma Herbert Davies | University of Leeds

2 October 2026

In this lecture, Dr. Emma Herbert Davies (University of Leeds) explores what medieval people meant when they described a horse as a destrier, rouncey, palfrey, or hackney. Drawing on military and household records from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, she examines how medieval horses were identified and classified in a world in which distinctions of type, function, and origin mattered far more than the modern concept of breed. The lecture was held on 2 October 2026 on the occasion of the launch of Backing the Right Horse: Types of Equids in Medieval and Later Europe, edited by John Clark, Anastasija Ropa, Andrew Ó Donnghaile, and Gail Brownrigg.