Archaeologists have created a new model to help identify archaeological bear baiting assemblages in England and beyond, illuminating a practice that was still shockingly common just three centuries ago.
The study, by researchers at the Universities of York and Nottingham, has brought together zooarchaeological, stable isotope and archival evidence from nine archaeological sites in Bankside, London, to define features specific to bear baiting.
Animal baiting—a blood-sport which involved the pitting of vicious dogs against other animals such as bulls and bears for public entertainment—was an incredibly popular and culturally important form of entertainment in Shakespearian times. In London, baiting took place from 1540 to 1682 in formalized arenas on Bankside in Southwark, which was a key early modern entertainment hub.
The research, published in the journal Antiquity, forms part of the ‘Box Office Bears: Animal Baiting in Early Modern England’ project that explores the widespread, surprising, and sometimes alarming recreational interactions between humans and animals in early modern England.
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Learning More about the Bankside Bears
Dr. Lizzie Wright, from the University of York's Department Archaeology, said, "We examined what species were present on Bankside and used this evidence to learn about the lives and deaths of the animals.
"They demonstrated that both dogs and bears lived on Bankside and were eating the remains of old horses, as well as each other. The dogs were particularly large—some 60–80cm (23.62-31.49 in) high at the shoulder—like a large modern German Shepherd or Great Dane.
"This size of dog was uncommon across England at the time, suggesting these big dogs known as 'mastiffs' were particularly used for baiting."
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A painting from about 1650 by Abraham Hondius of a bear-baiting spectacle with dogs, including at least one apparent Mastiff. (Public Domain)
Expensive Animals Not Lightly Sacrificed
Results also revealed there was no evidence for bears below the age of four years, which leads to the intriguing question of why not? Given they were likely to have been captured as cubs, they perhaps were used for dancing or on stage prior to being baited (they certainly weren’t being kept as beloved pets).
A bear was a very expensive animal—roughly eight times the cost of a horse—so their owners would not have wanted them to die from injuries too soon, as their replacements would have to be imported from overseas.
The same may also be true of the dogs, as although some were found with bone fractures, their injuries had healed, indicating they survived for at least six or more weeks after being wounded.
Examples of trauma on dog remains from Bankside include: (a) a rib with a healed fracture (NGW00, context 63), (b) a fibula with a healed fracture (NGW00, context 63), (c) a cranium with a healed puncture wound above the left orbit (EMH12, context 403), and (d) a cranium with an injury above the right orbit (EMH12, context 605). Top: a & b: by Elizabeth Wright; (c & d) © Museum of London/John Chase; inset to (d) by Kevin Rielly. (Wright E, Davies C, Lamb A, et al./Antiquity)
First Hamlet, Then Bear Baiting
Hannah O'Regan, Professor of Archaeology and Palaeoecology at the University of Nottingham, said, "It's a hugely unpleasant topic, but understanding baiting is critical to understanding performance in Shakespeare's England.
"The people who went to watch King Lear and Hamlet, would also have popped into the arenas to see a baiting. They saw no difference between the practices, and indeed baiting terminology, and even the bears themselves are threaded throughout early modern plays."
The two most-well known Tudor monarchs, Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, were both fans of bear baiting. The former had a private bear pit constructed at his palace in Whitehall, while the latter regularly attended bear baiting events on her tours
Exposing the Barbarity of Our Ancestors
Depressingly, England was not the only place where watching animals suffering and being tortured was considered great sport during this time period (and beyond in some cases).
“In Sweden, bear baiting with dogs, and fights between bears and other animals, were popular from at least the 1500s onwards,” the study authors wrote in their Antiquity article. “In Germany, the Fechthaus at Nuremberg was built in 1628 as a broad entertainment venue, which included fencing, theatrical productions and bear baiting and baiting also occurred in Berlin. In Austria, a circular amphitheater was built in Vienna in 1755, where bulls, bears and other animals were baited and forced to fight. In Italy, carnival in Venice included bull baiting … a contemporaneous engraving in shows, among other blood sports, both bear and bull baiting surrounded by crowds in a piazza.”
The 1550s Agas Map of Bankside depicts two animal baiting arenas, ponds, and kennels with dogs (reproduced with permission from Jenstad Reference Jenstad 2020). (Wright E, Davies C, Lamb A, et al./Antiquity)
It should be remembered that it was several European nations, including England, that instituted the transatlantic slave trade in the 16th century and maintained it into the early 19th century, proving that cruelty and human depravity of all types was disturbingly common in the early modern world.
It remains tragically common in the modern world, of course (animal fighting and slavery still exist despite being illegal). But it is clear that humanity’s relationship with animals and feelings toward them have evolved significantly in a relatively short period of time, to the point where most people are now sickened and appalled by what was considered grand entertainment by our ancestors not all that long ago.
Animal baiting was finally banned in England in 1835, 11 years after the founding of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), the world’s oldest animal welfare organization.
Although Bankside is unique in the wealth of documentary archives associated with it, baiting occurred in many locations, meaning the techniques pioneered in this new study should be useful elsewhere. This new model for data analysis enables researchers to either identify or exclude bear baiting when examining zooarchaeological assemblages, even where accompanying documentation is lacking, and can easily be expanded to other countries where baiting took place.
Top image: Archaeologists developed a model to identify bear baiting assemblages in England and beyond, including this one with the skull of a dog who had been in fights.
Source: Wright E, Davies C, Lamb A, et al./Antiquity
This is an edited and expanded version of an article published by the University of York, entitled ‘Study Sheds New Light on Bear Baiting in Early Modern England.’
