Montaigne on War Horses and the Values of Freemasonry
When Michel de Montaigne writes about horses in wartime, it might seem like nothing more than a military-historical curiosity. But place his words alongside the values of Freemasonry, and surprising parallels emerge. Two worlds separated by centuries — the sixteenth-century essay and the brotherhood of builders — turn out to ask strikingly similar questions about loyalty, character, and the courage it takes to truly serve. This article brings both perspectives together and explores what they share. Montaigne’s World: The Horse as a Mirror of the Rider In the forty-eighth essay of the first book of his celebrated Essays, Michel de Montaigne turns his attention to the war horse. He describes how princes and generals throughout history regarded their horses not merely as instruments of war, but as extensions of their own character. A horse that holds steady in the chaos of battle reveals something about the rider who trained it. Montaigne draws on classical sources to illustrate his point: he references Julius Caesar, who rode a horse that would tolerate no other rider, and Alexander the Great, whose legendary stallion Bucephalus became synonymous with royal courage. What truly fascinates Montaigne, however, is not the military achievement itself, but the relationship […]