Horses

Horses in the Decameron are not individualized animal characters, but they occupy consequential places in the human world of commerce, travel, theft, and service. They can be goods sought in a market, possessions stripped from a traveler, or the means by which a dispossessed nobleman remains useful; across these appearances, a horse’s practical and economic value helps make changes in its owner’s fortunes visible.

Trade and Exposure

Andreuccio di Pietro arrives in Naples intending to buy horses, carrying five hundred gold florins. At the market he likes several animals and bargains over them, but reaches no agreement. As he repeatedly displays his purse to show that he is ready to purchase, he draws the attention of Fiordaliso, who sees an opportunity to take the money. The horses are thus the reason for Andreuccio’s presence at the market, while his conspicuous handling of the purchase money turns an ordinary commercial errand into the opening of a deception.

Theft and Recovery

For Rinaldo d'Asti, the horse is part of the property that makes his sudden vulnerability concrete. At a river crossing beyond Castel Guglielmo, three robbers attack him and take his money, clothes, and horse, leaving him on foot and in his shirt. His servant, who does nothing to help, turns his own horse and rides away. Rinaldo must then make his way toward town in the cold and snow without his mount, only to find the gates shut when he arrives.

The reversal comes after Rinaldo has found shelter elsewhere. By morning the robbers have been apprehended for another offense and, on confessing, have their victim’s horse, clothes, and money restored to him. He loses only a pair of garters. The horse’s return helps complete the restoration of the goods taken in the roadside attack: Rinaldo can mount and go home safe, while the servant’s earlier flight contrasts with the recovery made possible by the robbers’ capture.

Labor and Disguise

Horses also define the work available to Gautier of Antwerp during his exile. When the children welcome him and resist leaving him, he is offered a place in Jamy Lamiens’s service. Gautier says that he would gladly stay but knows no work other than tending horses, a task to which he has been accustomed throughout his life. A horse is assigned to him; after caring for it, he makes sport for the children.

Later, when war resumes between the King of France and the Germans, Gautier accompanies the English army in the guise of a horseboy. Unrecognized, he serves for a time and contributes through both counsel and action. Horse work therefore provides a practical means for the exiled count to enter another household’s service, and the related horseboy disguise carries him into a military setting without restoring his public identity.

Narrative Significance

These episodes place horses within distinct material circumstances rather than assigning them independent motives. In Naples, the prospect of buying them brings Andreuccio into a marketplace where his money is exposed; on the road near Castel Guglielmo, a stolen horse intensifies Rinaldo’s peril and its recovery helps close the episode; in Gautier’s exile, tending a horse is both an occupation he can claim and a role through which he enters the army. The animals’ recurring presence connects everyday economic value with mobility and social position, while the stories’ reversals turn on what people can buy, lose, recover, or do in their service.