Speaking of Shakespeare...

I've always been curious about whether Shakespeare was sending a secret message, as it were, or just ignorant of battle tactics. He has Richard doing the "My kingdom for a horse" business, but he also has him calling for White Surrey. Leaders rode a white horse into battle right up to the time of the American Civil War and probably beyond. It was done so he would stand out and be visible to his men. When the leader fell or left the field, the battle would more or less be over. (Being mounted on a white horse also made the leader a target for the other side, but c'est la guerre. Sometimes doubles, dressed like the leader, also on white horses, were put onto the field of battle.)

Having Richard call for White Surrey means he wanted his war horse, which to me indicates he was going to fight, not flee. (If he was going to run away. wouldn't he have called "Bring me that nondescript brown horse?") I don't know what the choice of horse meant to Shakespeare, but I've always wondered.

Kay

Richard mentions White Surrey before the battle. When he speaks the lines in question, he's calling for *any* horse, but the implication is he just wants one to better carry on fighting: "Slave, I have set my life upon a cast / And I will stand the hazard of the die."

As for white horses in general, I'm really not sure of the extent to which they were used to easily identify a leader. Napoleon, for instance, had a white horse, but I think Wellington's horse, Copenhagen, was chestnut...

Jonathan