in the reign of Henry VIII 'herds' of the animal were kept for the purpose. This is an error. Erasmus wrote of dancing bears; but I am afraid it must be assumed that the chief function of the bearward attached to the Tudor Royal Household was to provide exhibitions of the more brutal, noisy, and occasionally dangerous sport.[1] A regular office is traceable back to 1484, when Richard III in the first year of his reign appointed his bearward John Browne to be 'Maister, Guyder and Ruler of all our Beres and Apes'.[2] It was still a part of the establishment of the Royal Household under Elizabeth. A patent of 2 June 1573 to Ralph Bowes describes it as 'the room or office of Cheif Master Overseer and Ruler of all and singular our game pastymes and sportes, that is to saie of all and everie our beares bulles and mastyve dogges', and names as Bowes's predecessors Cuthbert Vaughan and Sir Richard Long.[3] The grant was of the nature of a commission, authorizing the holder, personally or by deputy, to 'take up' or press animals for the royal service, and giving him the sole right of baiting the Queen's bears, to the exclusion of any other officer or under officer appertaining to the bears, not specially licensed or appointed by him. The Master was presumably expected to make his profit out of the privileges granted, for the patent did not assign him any fee, such as the under officers, known as the Keepers of Bears and Mastiffs, enjoyed at the hands of the Treasurer of the Chamber.[4] But he received a reward, similar to those given to players, of £5 through the Treasurer on the Council's warrant, when the baiting was shown before the Queen. These rewards are generally expressed as 'for the Game of Paris Garden' or 'to the Master of her Majesty's Game at Paris Garden'; and Bowes must have joined sons or other
- ↑ Erasmus, Adagia, 3354, 'Sed intolerabilius est quod apud Britannos complures alunt greges ursorum ad saltationem, animal vorax et maleficum'. I owe the correct reference to Mr. P. S. Allen. Presumably 'greges' is no more than 'numbers'.
- ↑ Collier, i. 42, from Harl. MS. 433.
- ↑ Egerton MS. 2623, f. 11. Collier, who owned this document, or some other modern, has substituted the name of John Dorrington. A copy, exemplified for Morgan Pope on 18 Nov. 1585, is at Dulwich; cf. Henslowe Papers, 1. Long became steward of Paris Garden in 1536 (Kingsford, 159).
- ↑ Collier, i. 194, from list of fees payable by the Treasurer of the Chamber in 1571 (Cotton MS. Vesp. C. xiv), 'keapers of Beares and Mastives, iij. Item to Mathew Becke, Sergeaunte of the beares, for his wages per ann. 12^l 10^s 7-1/2^d. Item to Symon Powlter, yoman, per ann. 14^l 6^s 3^d. Item to Richard Darryngton M^r and kepar of the bandogges and mastives, per ann. 21^l 5^s 10^d'. Similarly, the Treasurer's Declared Account for 1594-5 (Pipe Roll, 542) shows a total payment to keepers of Bears and Mastiffs of £48 12s. 8-1/2d. There is an error in one or other entry of 10s.
