Afonso Sousa, Medieval Equids Bios' and the application of the prosopographical method

Medieval Equids Bios’ and the application of the prosopographical method
By Afonso Sousa
Presented on September 13, 2024, at the Cheiron Conference Horses in Our Heritage: Past and Future

Proposal:
Aware of the increasing need to think of animals as historical agents, we propose a paper
concerning the study of horses in Portugal between the 15th-16th centuries that aims to
highlight the potential of combining historical records with biological knowledge of
animals. It will discuss how prosopography can be used to study the historical equid,
through the elaboration of animal biographies.
Our main source, a hitherto unpublished record – 26 account books concerning the royal
stables –, allows us to detail the names, geographical provenance, weights, coat colour,
diet, function(s) and itineraries of royal equids, including intercontinental migration.
Short Biography:
Afonso Soares de Sousa is a member of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the Faculty
of Social Sciences and Humanities of the New University of Lisbon (IEM NOVA/FCSH)
and is developing a PhD project on the history of hunting, financed by the Portuguese
Foundation for Science and Technology. Was a researcher of the project FALCO -
Hypothesising Human-Animal Relations in Medieval Portugal and belongs to the
networks NEMUS: Network for the Environment in Medieval Usages & Societies and
REPORT(H)A: Portuguese network of Environmental History.