Destrier between 20 and 300 livres parisis (parisian pounds), compared to 5 to 12 livres for a normal courser. Destrier The destrier is the best-known war horse of the medieval era. It carried knights in battles, tournaments, and jousts. It was described by contemporary sources as the "Great Horse", due to its significance. While highly prized by knights and men-at-arms, the destrier was not very common. Most knights and mounted men-at-arms rode other war horses, such as coursers and rounceys. These three types of horse were often referred to generically as chargers. The word is first attested in Middle English around
Young Knight in a Landscape overpainted. The realism and detail of Carpaccio does in fact show Northern influence. The painting shows a young knight, surrounded by a rather crowded series of symbols. The heron caught in the sky by a hawk might hint at this knight's death in battle, also alluded to by his posture, which recalls that of a funerary statue; an alternative theory is that this is a memorial portrait of a person already dead. The other knight with a lance might then be the same person during his life. In the left lower corner is a white ermine and a scroll stating