Bayard

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This article is about the magical horse from Medieval and Renaissance poetry. For other uses, see Bayard (disambiguation).

For more information on the racehorse, see Bayardo (horse)

Bayard is a magic bay horse in the legends derived from the chansons de geste, renowned for his spirit, and possessed the supernatural ability to adjust his size to his riders. "Bayard" is the French form; in Italian he is known as Baiardo.

Bayard first appears as the property of Renaud de Montauban, also known as Rinaldo, in the twelfth century Chanson de Renaud de Montauban. The horse was capable of carrying Rinaldo and his three brothers, les quatre fils Aymon ("the four sons of Aymon") all at the same time. Initially, the horse belonged to Amadis of Gaul. In the poem, Charlemagne is angered at Renaud, and orders him to be banished, and the horse to be slain by being cast into a river with a millstone around its neck. Bayard survives the ordeal, and after other adventures is reunited with Renaud. Bayard also appears in the epic poems on chivalrous subjects by Matteo Maria Boiardo and Ludovico Ariosto.

Outside the city of Dinant in Belgium stands the "Bayard rock", a large cleft rock formation that was said to have been split by Bayard's mighty hooves. In the next Belgian town of Namur stands a locally famous statue of the Horse Bayard and the Four Aymon Brothers along the River Meuse.