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The Bear Garden was never a garden, but rather a polygonal bearbaiting arena whose exact locations across time are not known (Mackinder and Blatherwick 18). Labelled on the Agas map as The Bearebayting
, the Bear Garden would have been one of several permanent structures—wooden arenas, dog kennels, bear pens—dedicated to the popular spectacle of bearbaiting in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
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On the Agas map, the Bear Garden is a circular arena with an open roof and a clear label—The Bearebayting
—located in the Liberty of the Clink, Southwark. The Bear Garden was never a garden, but rather a polygonal bearbaiting arena whose exact locations across time are not known (Mackinder and Blatherwick 18). To complicate matters of historical accuracy, by bear garden
was the generic name given to a set of permanent structures—wooden arenas, dog kennels, bear pens—dedicated to bearbaiting, and rebuilt on various occasions during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Mackinder and Blatherwick 19). Prior to the mid-sixteenth century, animal baiting occurred in an open field, so it was significant that the Elizabethans established permanent buildings for the practice, which typically occurred two days a week (including Sundays).
Locating the first permanent structure is difficult. a capital curtilage called le Beara yarde with le Berehouse and a garden
(Roberts and Godfrey). Mackinder and Blatherwick believe that there was a second bear garden operated by
Immediately west of the Bear Garden on the Agas map is a second, similar edifice labeled TheBolle baiting
. Some historians doubt that a separate, freestanding arena devoted to bullbaiting existed beyond the early sixteenth century, despite the evidence of the Agas Map. As W.W. Braines observes, there is no record of a place on the Bankside reserved specially for the baiting of bulls, but there is plenty of evidence that bulls (and other animals) were baited at the bear-rings
(Braines 48). Giles E. Dawson makes a similar argument based on an eyewitness account by a Venetian, earliest documentary evidence
for animal baiting is a bullring on an unpublished manuscript map of Southwark dated The Globe
, a smaller arena near the Thames, is really the Bear Garden, while Hollar’s Beere bayting h
(which has a tiring house) is the real Globe.
Bear Garden shared its Bankside home with both theatres and brothels. Martha Carlin characterizes Southwark as a haven of criminals and forbidden practices within sight of the royal court and law courts at Westminster
(Carlin xix). Early references to Bear Garden—including
Now to returne to the Weſt banke, there be two Beare gardens, the olde and the new places, wherein be kept Beares, Buls and other beaſtes to be bayted. As also Maſtiues in ſeuerall kenels, nouriſhed to baite them. These Beares and other Beaſts are there bayted in plottes of ground, ſcaffolded about for the Beholders to stand ſafe(Stow sig. 2D4r). He then shifts to a brief legal history of the
Bordello or ſtewesand their privileges, which date to the reign of
As to the Brothel-Houſes formerly in Southwark, we find a Statute as old as the(Bagford sig. K2r). An ordinance datedReign of for their TolerationEdw. III. ’tis probable that they were firſt eſtabliſhed by the Romans, (for the Bull and Bear Garden in that Place is but of late Settlement,) who had alſo a Play-Houſe on that ſide, and had their Abode very much in Southwark, which was then a Place of Fortification
make pastimewith the king’s bears at the stews (Roberts and Godfrey).
Bearbaiting is more clearly documented in the seventeenth century. In Mastership of the Game of Bears, Bulls and Mastiff Dogs
(Greg 101). The document gives bayete or cause to be bayted
the crown’s bears (Greg 101).
During the Commonwealth period, bearbaiting continued despite Puritan opposition. Briefly closed in accuses the Parliament of even stooping to lure young men to the Bear Garden under the guise of showing a new kind of bear-baiting, and then impressing them into the Army
(Hotson 278). The Bear Garden continued to operate until
Bears were trained by their bearwards, almost like Roman gladiators, to defend themselves in carefully timed and choreographed matches against English mastiffs, a particular breed of dog known for its courage (Ravelhofer 288). When the bears were old and blinded by wounds from dogs, they were simply staked to the ground and whipped until blood poured down their backs (Ravelhofer 288). As Ravelhofer argues, when bears were not beaten, but rather trained to dance or
- Ned of Canterbury.
- George of Cambridge.
- Don Iohn.
- Ben Hunt.
- Nan Stiles.
- Beeſe of Ipſwich.
- Robin Hood.
- Blind Robin.
- Iudith of Cambridge.
- Beſſe Hill.
- Kate of Kent.
- Roſe of Bedlam.
- Nan Talbot.
- Mall Cut-Purſe.
- Nell of Holland.
- Mad Beſſe [(one of] two white Beares.[)]
- Will Tookey [(one of] two white Beares.[)]
- Beſſe Runner.
- Tom Dogged.
the anonymous dogs
, while the bears—especially George Stone, Harry Hunks, and Sackerson—attained celebrity status, such specificity suggests a broad cultural acceptance and awareness of the bears’ significance (de Somogyi 102). For example, Sackerſon looſe, twenty times, and haue taken him by the Chaine
in
the spectator’s interest was in the dogs, their willingness, pursuit, attack, and tenacity:
it was the dogs which won the prizes which were offered and it was the dog’s owners, primarily, who made the wagers(Brownstein 243-244). Regardless which creature was the object of immediate attention at the baiting event, the specific naming and cultural celebrity status of the bears is sufficient to suggest public awareness of them as individual combatants.
Studies of bearbaiting by literary critics and cultural historians often consider the mindset whereby early modern Londoners could consider bearbaiting as a form of entertainment. Such questioning might appear significant for those Shakespeareans who recognize that bearbaiting arenas and playhouses practically overlapped in popular appeal, while, in the case of the Hope Theatre, the two activities actually did overlap. Ravelhofer proposes that, on at least two occasions, the bears were perhaps called upon to perform in plays: (1) typological kinship of the buildings
, it seems reasonable to suggest that there are crucial parallels between these worlds, one of which (bearbaiting) has ceased to exist (Höfele 6). We tend to identify the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage as a site of philosophical inquiry, artistic creation, and humanist thought, while we criminalize dogfighting, cockfighting, and animal baiting. How could the same crowd attend both events without experiencing cognitive dissonance?
For Jacqueline Vanhoutte, the Bear Garden appealed to early modern spectators since, when a strong, powerful beast was tied to the stake and rendered weak, if not impotent, this enforced bondage mirrored the affairs of men who likewise suffer impotency when confronted with the vagaries of life. Vanhoutte illustrates this by focusing on They haue tied me to a ſtake, I cannot flye, [b]ut Beare-like I muſt fight the courſe. What’s he [t]hat was not borne of Woman? Such a one [a]m I to feare, or none
(
I am tyed to’th’Stake, / And I must ſtand the Courſe(
Cultural critics also note that bearbaiting, while obviously relying on blood sport, spectacle, and violence, was nevertheless often advertised as festive and comical. In addition, as Stephen Dickey notes when considering the undeniable violence of bearbaiting
, records exist of animals refusing to fight or of stalemate baiting endings, which appear to confirm how inconclusive
such violence might appear in a typical bearbaiting match
(Dickey 260). Ravelhofer likewise acknowledges that baiting was a showpiece of controlled violence under the auspices of a master-producer
where opponents could be separated before serious harm ensued
(Ravelhofer 288). Whatever our modern predisposition and opposition to blood sport activities, it is important to recognize the sites of baitings, such as those held at Bear Garden, as culturally significant in an early modern historical context and no more or less likely to be condemned than their near neighbors, London’s playhouses.
MoEML recommends that teachers and students look at the