The Rohirrim, why horses?

[Erchamion]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

(and welcome to the Downs!).

Thanks!

Yes, he knew, but he still paid hommage to the tradition that links the Horse with Alfred's victory - probably agreeing with the point shadowfax made above, that symbols belong to those who care for them, whatever their origin.

Very much so.

(It's interesting how Chesterton manages to 'have it both ways'. Certainly it gets used as a symbol of Alfred's victory - "the White Horse stamps in the White Horse Vale" and all that - but the poem also makes a point of it being pre-Christian; Alfred uses that as part of his condemnation of the Danes:

"The White Horse of the White Horse Vale,
That you have left to darken and fail,
Was cut out of the grass.

Therefore your end is on you,
Is on you and your kings,
Not for a fire in Ely fen,
Not that your gods are nine or ten,
But because it is only Christian men
Guard even heathen things." )