List of Horse Accidents - Historical Figures

Historical Figures

According to this legend, romanticised by Alexander Pushkin in his celebrated ballad "The Song of the Wise Oleg," it was prophesied by the pagan priests that Oleg of Novgorod (? - 912) would take death from his stallion. Proud of his own foretelling abilities, he sent the horse away. Many years later he asked where his horse was, and was told it had died. He asked to see the remains and was taken to the place where the bones lay. When he touched the horse's skull with his boot a snake slithered from the skull and bit him. Oleg died, thus fulfilling the prophecy.
King Afonso I of Portugal (1109-1185), was severely injured in a fall from a horse in 1167 during a battle; he was captured and as ransom, Portugal had to surrender to Castile all conquests made in Galicia in the previous years; they were never again recovered.
Afonso, Prince of Portugal (b. 1475) died in 1491 during a ride near the Tagus river.
King Alexander III of Scotland, d. 1286, when he and his horse went off the road in the dark, and fell over a cliff; the long term outcome was increased English influence and the First Scottish War of Independence and the immediate result was a regency because heirs were underage or unborn.
Al-Aziz - sultan of Egypt, died 1198
Brian Faulkner, former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
Cambyses II, Persian king - died accidentally in 521 BC, according to Herodotus
Eadgils, semi-legendary king of Sweden, split his skull when his horse stumbled and fell.
Emily Davison, English suffragette, threw herself in front of the King's horse at the Derby in 1913 and was trampled to death.
Enguerrand III, Lord of Coucy (c. 1182 – 1242), fell from his horse onto his sword and died.
Francis II, Duke of Brittany ? d. 9 September 1488 from a horse riding accident.
Frederick Augustus II of Saxony died in 1854, while on a journey in Brennbüchel, Karrösten, Tyrol, when he fell in front of a horse that stepped on his head
Frederick I Barbarossa died in 1190 while crossing the Saleph River in Cilicia, south-eastern Anatolia. It is thought that he was thrown from his horse into the cold water and had a fatal heart attack as a result.
Fulk of Jerusalem - fell from horse while hunting in 1143. His wooden saddle fell after him, striking him on the head, causing fatal injuries.
Genghis Khan - d. 1227 from injuries resulting from a fall from a horse.
Geoffrey Plantagenet, Duke of Brittany and son of Henry II of England, d. 19 August 1186 trampled to death by his horse during a tournament; with his death, Plantagenet rule of Brittany was weakened (son Arthur and daughter Eleanor were underage and in future imprisoned by uncle John I of England) - finally decades later, the duchy is passed by Philip II of France to the House of Dreux, descendants of Geoffrey's widow's other marriage.
Isabella of Aragon, wife of king Philip III of France - d. 1271 at 24 from a fall
John I of Castile d. 9 October 1390, while riding in a fantasia with some of the light horsemen known as the farfanes
John of Ibelin, the Old Lord of Beirut - d. 1236 after his horse fell on him and crushed him
Leopold V of Austria, died 31 December 1194 after falling from his horse at a tournament in Graz.
Louis II of Hungary - died at the Battle of Mohács in 1526 after falling from his horse.
Louis IV of France (920-954), king of France, died after falling from his horse.
Maria Malibran, opera singer, died 1836 after falling from her horse during a hunt
Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce and half-sister of David II of Scotland d. 2 March 1316 after a fall from a horse caused premature labour; her baby survived to become King Robert II of Scotland
Mary of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy ? d. 1482 from a horse riding accident; after her death, the Burgundy estates (of which she herself had lost Picardy and duchy of Burgundy) formed a part of Habsburg domains
Minamoto no Yoritomo, (源頼朝, May 9, 1147—February 9, 1199)
Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Saladin, died on 9 August 1173 after falling from his horse
Nero Claudius Drusus (in 9 BC), brother of emperor Tiberius and general in Germania Inferior
Philip of Burgundy, count of Auvergne and heir of Duke Eudes IV of Burgundy - d.1346, from a kick of a farmer's horse; his widow married the king of France, and the succession went to his underage son Philip I of Burgundy.
Philip of France (1116–1131), heir of king Louis VI of France ? d. 1131, from a fall from a horse
Pope Urban VI - died 1389 from injuries sustained after falling from a mule.
Robert Peel - was thrown from his horse while riding up Constitution Hill in London on 29 June 1850. The horse stumbled on top of him and he died three days later on 2 July at the age of 62 due to a clavicular fracture rupturing his subclavian vessels.
Roderick, king of the Visigoths. Died in 712 when he drowned after falling from his horse while attempting to scape through a river, after defeat against the Moors that conquered then the rest of Hispania. Although his body was never found, his horse was recovered, and a boot trampled in the stirrup.
Saborios, Byzantine general and rebel - d. 678 when his horse bolted, slamming his head on a city gate and killing him.
Stefan Dragutin, Serbian king, in 1282 broke leg after falling from horse, became limp and so had to give throne to Stefan Milutin; this later provoked a war between Milutin and Dragutin's son Vladislav.
Theodoric Strabo, died in 381 after falling from his horse over a spears rack. His death allowed Theodoric to assume uncontested supreme command and unify the Ostrogoths into a force that conquered Italy after the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Theodosius II - Roman emperor, died 450
Theophylactus of Constantinople - Patriarch of Constantinople, died 956
Walter de Merton, Lord Chancellor of England - died 1277
William the Conqueror died aged 60 at the Convent of St. Gervais, near Rouen, France, on 9 September 1087 from abdominal injuries received from his saddle pommel when he fell off a horse at the Siege of Mantes.
William III of England died in 1702 from injuries received after his horse tripped on a molehill.