About the same time of the Hungarian invasions, the Normans began to disturb the southwestern part of Europe with their Viking expeditions.  Their sea kings seem to have been equestrians at very early times, and to have had their horses shod, although perhaps only in winter; at least the excavation of the Viking ship in 1881 disclosed the remains of a horse which was shod.  The shoeing consisted only of a toe protection—­“Brodder” (Bruder, Brother)—­provided with a small sharp calk, and fastened by two nails.

When later, in the year 1130, the Norwegian king Sigard Yorsalafar, during his journey to Jerusalem, entered Constantinople, his horse is said to have carried only the small toe-protecting shoes.

The art of horseshoeing, immediately after the migration of the nations, came near our improvement of the same to-day; especially near the reputed discoveries met with, which consist simply of iron protection for the margin of the hoof, fastened by nails.  The heads were sunk into the shoe so as to increase its firmness.  Special consideration was given to local and climatic conditions through the introduction of toes and heels.

The mechanism of the hoof also found remarkable consideration, inasmuch as they apparently avoided driving nails too close to the heel end of the shoe.  Notwithstanding this early improvement in the art of horseshoeing, the Huns (as stated before) took a prominent part.  It appears to have taken a long time after the migration of the nations for shoeing to become general, as is shown by various descriptions of tournaments, pictures of horses, etc.

[Illustration:  FIG. 18.]

We will mention in the first place the “Percival des Wolfram von Eschenbach,” as well as “Christ von Troies,” where there is a great deal said about horses, horse grooms, and tournaments, but nowhere in those works is any mention made of horseshoeing.  Likewise is found the horse on the coat of arms of Wolfram von Eschenbach, in the Manessi collection in Paris, which was begun in Switzerland in the fourteenth century; but, although we find this horse most beautifully finished, it was not shod.

[Illustration:  FIG. 19.]

During the time of the crusades, 1096-1291, however, there appeared suddenly in Germany a plate-like horseshoe of southern character (Figs. 18 and 19), which was occasionally bent upward at the heel end, and was very heavy.  The toe was very broad sometimes, and was also bent upward.  In this form we have seen the shoes of the Balkan and Pyrean peninsula.  The shoe was remarkably narrow at the heel, and was supplied with calks, which accounts for the highness of the back part of the shoe.  Frequently we find one calk set diagonally, but the other drawn out wedge shaped, and sharp; so that there existed a great similarity between this iron shank and that used by Count Einsiedel for winter shoeing.  Sometimes both shanks were sharpened in this way, or were provided with blade-shaped calks well set forward.  The form of nail holes used was very characteristic of that of the Huns, but they were decidedly smaller and square, as were seen in the African shoe of the twelfth century.  The nail heads were slightly sunk, which was according to southern customs.