In 1389 in Montpellier, "a good 450 miles from Paris," the King of France and his brother, the duke of Touraine, turned to talking about how good it would be to be in Paris with their wives and families. They worked themselves into a challenge as to who could reach Paris first, each one starting at the same time on the same morning accompanied by only one other person. A bet of five thousand francs was riding on the outcome. The following is an extract of the account of this episode by the chronicler Jean Froissart

Those four keen young men continued riding night and day or had themselves taken on in carriages to give themselves a rest, when they felt like it. Of course they made several changes of horses. . . .

Think of the discomforts those two rich lords endured through sheer...