Researchers shed light on bear baiting in early modern England

Archaeologists from the University of Nottingham, working with experts from the University of Southampton, have analysed and identified evidence of the cruel practice of bear baiting in Renaissance England.

A new study, published in the journal Antiquity , brought together zooarchaeological, stable isotope, and archival material from nine archaeological sites in the Southwark area of London to define features specific to bear baiting.

Animal baiting – a horrific blood sport which involved pitting of dogs against other animals such as bulls and bears for public entertainment – was incredibly popular and culturally important in Shakespearian times. In London, baiting took place from c.1540 to 1682 in formalised arenas at Bankside – a key early modern entertainment hub. The practice was finally banned in England in 1835.

Working together to gather evidence, the research team was able to examine which species were present on Bankside and use this evidence to learn about the lives and deaths of the animals.

They showed that both dogs and bears lived in the Bankside area and were eating the remains of old horses, as well as each other. The dogs were particularly large – some 60-80cm high at the shoulder (large modern German Shepherd – Great Dane). This size of dog was uncommon across England at the time, suggesting these big dogs, known as ‘mastiffs’, were particularly used for blood sport.

Results also revealed there was no evidence for bears below the age of four years, suggesting they may have been captured as cubs and used for dancing, or on stage, prior to being baited. A bear was a very expensive item – roughly eight times the cost of a horse – so their owners would not have wanted them to die. Replacements would have needed 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.

The animal remains examined for the study were made available by the Museum of London and project partners MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology), and the research forms part of Box Office Bears: Animal Baiting in Early Modern England , a UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded project.

Dr Callan Davies from the University of Southampton’s English department, who led the archival research, comments: “This article allowed us to put fascinating archival details – from early writing on dog breeds to lists of celebrity bear names – into conversation with the physical presence of these extraordinary animals. It’s exciting to consider the potential for this kind of interdisciplinary research around the history of entertainment.”

Hannah O’Regan, Professor of Archaeology and Palaeoecology, at the University of Nottingham, who led the research team, said: “We’re really excited to be sharing our findings on the Box Office Bears project. We’ve brought together a truly interdisciplinary team from theatre studies, to ancient DNA, to examine a practice that has largely been ignored.

“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.”

Zooarchaeological study for the project was led by Dr Lizzie Wright of the University of York – formerly of the University of Nottingham – with colleagues from Nottingham, the British Geological Survey, Pre-Construct Archaeology, and the universities of Southampton, Roehampton, Oxford, York and Cardiff.

Dr Wright, said: “It was an amazing opportunity to be able to study these really unique remains from early modern baiting sites and the results have been really fascinating. We now know much more about the practice of baiting and the animals that were involved.”

Although Bankside is unique in the wealth of documentary archives associated with it, baiting is known to have occurred widely 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 be expanded to other countries where baiting took place.