For John A- military equipment insurance

John- a while ago you asked something along the lines of "who'd be dumb
enough to insure military equipment?"

Years ago when I was a student, I went to a lecture by Terry Jones, the
Python, on Chaucer's "Knight's tale", in which he mentioned the situation in
medieval Italy, specifically Milan, which I think hired a lot of broken lances
as well as condotta companies. The terms of hire included an undertaking to
refund the value of any horse killed in battle. Naturally, the heroic warrior
would turn up for hire on a fine and costly steed, but in battle would ride
some old nag, making sure it got killed. He'd get his compensation then set
off to do it all again somewhere else (cities eventually branded the insured
horse to stop the fraud).

So, it doesn't work but at least it's been tried!

> --- Robin Paul <Robin.Paul@tesco.net> wrote:

> in battle. Naturally,

I heard a simillar story from the Napoleonic War. An English staff officer was
captured and returned riding the ugliest, most broken down nag the French
could have provided him. His fellow officers ribbed him about the quality of
the horse, to which he responded that he'd make it worth X number of pounds (I
forget the number). So he rides it straight at the French camp, it gets shot
out from under him, and he charges HM government X amount for loss of his
personal mount in battle.