The morning was devoted entirely to the discovery of a French equerry of the Renaissance, Louis de Chardon, Sieur de Lugny, author in 1597 of a manuscript treatise on horsemanship and hippiatrics “unearthed” by Frédéric Magnin, researcher at the CNRS, who recently published a critical edition of this rare text Une école d'équitation à la fin de la Renaissance (An equestrian school by the end of the Renaissance). The unpublished treatise of Sieur de Lugny (1597), A.H.C.E., 2019. Giovanni Battista Tomassini and Patrice Franchet d'Espèrey spoke alongside him as part of this presentation.

The story of a “discovery”, who Sieur de Lugny was, the thousand and one functions of a squire at the time, a new insight into the origins of the equestrian academies of the 16th century. These are just some of the topics that will be covered.

In the afternoon, Pascal Buléon, Director of the MRSH and project leader, presented the team, the architecture and the progress of work on the World Horse Library.

This was followed by a tour of the Château de Caen, led by Jean-Marie Lesvesque, curator of the Château, and Christophe Maneuvrier, historian and deputy director of the MRSH. Among other treasures, archaeological excavations carried out in 2005 in this medieval building, founded around 1060 by Duke William of Normandy, uncovered an ornamental frieze on the wall of a former ceremonial stable, with drawings of horse bits and a monogram. The design of these bits is very similar to those in the manuscript by Jehan de Feschal (late 15th, early 16th century), which contains 160 coloured drawings of different bit models with captions. Not so odd when you consider that Jean de Feschal was Captain of Caen Castle between 1504 and 1516.

 See or review the presentations:

- on the MRSH website - La Forge numérique

- on the higher education and research video library Canal U

- The channel of the French Equestrian Federation