16. Bear-baiting was cruel, gruesome and massively popular with everyone from kings to peasants
Peasants were not allowed to hunt. In fact, being caught hunting could lead to a peasant being thrown in prison or, just as likely, publicly executed. So the poor had to satisfy their bloodlust some other way. Luckily for them, cruel blood sports were incredibly popular right across Europe throughout the Middle Ages. Bear-baiting in particular was a huge hit and enjoyed by every social class, from the King right down to the lowliest of peasants.
Bear-baiting events took place in most towns, and so peasants would often walk many miles to watch a ‘fight’. Here, the bear would be chained to a stake in the ground inside a specially-constructed pit. Then, fighting dogs would be introduced. The bear would fight the dogs, almost always to the death, much to the delight of the baying crowds. Sometimes, the bears – and their trainers – would become local celebrities. In fact, Shakespeare names one of the most famous fighting bears from the 1400s, a huge beast named Sackerson, in one of his plays.
Aside from bear-baiting, which was mainly popular in towns and cities, there were a number of other, similarly cruel and gruesome sports, which the peasantry loved. Cock-fighting was popular in most villages in the Middle Ages. Some peasants also enjoyed bull-baiting, though they were careful never to kill or harm the bulls, merely tease them.
By the end of the Middle Ages, the public appetite for blood sports remained as strong as ever. However, some sections of society had grown uneasy at the cruelty, plus some elites feared such pastimes would damage their nation’s reputations overseas. In England, in 1642 Parliament banned the traveling circuses that brought bear-baiting to rural villages. The activity was then made completely illegal in 1835, even if it carried on elsewhere in Europe.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Sex in the Middle Ages.” Ruth Mazo Karras, Serious Science, August 2016.
“Folk Football: Medieval Sport.” Encyclopedia Britannica.
“Religion through time in the UK.” BBC Bitesize History.
“Wandering Minstrels in the Middle Ages.” Spartacus Educational.
“Did People Ice Skate in the Middle Ages?” Medievalists.net.
“Peasants and their role in rural life.” The British Library.
“Shakespeare’s competition: the grisly world of bear-baiting.” The Conversation, April 2016.