LET SLIP THE DOGS OF WAR

ost-conquest Valencia offers historians a particularly rich documentary record. From these records, it is clear that war dogs were a common component of the garrisons of Valencia’s castles in the late thirteenth century. Usually two, but sometimes as many as six, were often stipulated in charters, alongside provision for their maintenance and a handler. What the records do not tell, however, is what exactly was expected of the dogs, nor whether this was an innovative practice or one that had been long established. Nor do they reveal what kind of dogs were being employed, where they were sourced, or whether they received any specific training for the