Christina Bezerra
998866099
Prof. Matthew Sergi
April 1, 2014
998866099
Prof. Matthew Sergi
April 1, 2014
The Return of Bear-Baiting
in Lancashire and Cheshire
Keywords:
Bear-baiting/bare bayting, bearward, Whytstones/Whitestones, Shermadyne,
Sabbath Daye, Sabbatarianism
The Records of Early English Drama (REED) not only contain the records of early drama but also the various forms of entertainment taking place before 1642. Within the various forms of entertainment is the practice of Bear-Baiting (beare-bayting). Bear-baiting was a blood sport, similar to bull-baiting (bull fighting) that involved the worrying and tormenting of bears through “setting dogs to attack a bear chained to a stake.”[1] The elements that worked together to create this sport, is the reason why bear-baiting is an attractive subject for me. Bear-baiting took place in towns within Great Britain and was later banned by the Ecclesiastical Commission, who forbids bear –baiting on the Sabbath Days.[2] The Records cover a large amount of area within Great Britain and therefore contain many recordings of bear-bating; this report will focus mainly on the examination of bear-baiting within Lancashire and Cheshire, also the involvement of various bearwards. The exclusion of the other records is mostly due to the importance of bans and law breaking that took place in Lancashire and Cheshire in regards to bear-baiting. For purposes of this paper, I will be focusing on the time period after 1579 the ban in Lancashire and 1603 the ban in Cheshire. This will allow me to present the idea that bear-baiting still took place on Sabbath Days and the repercussions that followed this practice.
Bear-baiting is
seen as a large part of the entertainment choices in Lancashire and was
accepted in church groups before 1579, until a reformation took place. Bear-baiting
was popular and is mainly found in Litherland, Manchester, Myerscough,
Orinskirk, Standish, and Wigan.[3] Bear-baiting
was seen as a sport and took place in conjunction with alehouses and bullrings.
My research of the banning of bear-baiting on the Sabbath Day became more than
the simple banning of a sport but rather part of a religious division taking
place in Lancashire, beginning in 1559 (twenty years before the ban). This
division is what drew the line between Catholics and Protestants within
Lancashire. [4]The Privy
Council of the Sabbatarian Campaign in 1579 believed that “Sunday ‘side shows’
were especially organized ‘by such as are evil affected in religion’ and draw
people from ‘the service of god.’” [5] This
feeling of sabotage within religious sectors is what leads me to believe as the
reason for the banning of the sport of bear-baiting.
In 1579 within
the County of Lancashire, high commissioners of Queen Elizabeth 1, “being
assembled in Manchester gave fourth good orders and injunctions against pipers
and Minstrel’s playing, making and frequenting ales bearebayting or
bull-bayting on the Sabbath dayes or upon and other dayes in time of divine
service or sermons also against superfluous and superstitious ringing, wakes
and commin feats continuins in Alehouesess drunkenness…” [6] The
below evidence will show that this call to order by the high commissioners were
not necessarily followed by the bear-baiting enthusiasts within the county. On
Sunday, March 17, 1587/8 a group on men used the Manchester bullring for a
bear-bait, possibly to test the new Sabbath regulations that were being
enforced in Lancashire.[7] On
a Sunday in 1590 Christopher Poulton held a bear-bait next to his alehouse at
Myerscough, probably as a magnet for increasing custom. Poulton also maintained
and kept supporters in his house.[8] Another
account of challenging the high commissioners ruling took place in 1617 in
Litherland, Lancashire by John Johnson who permitted bear baiting to take place
at his house on the Sabbath, within this account the presentment and
involvement of Thomas Whytestonnes and Hugh Whitestones were also involved in
providing the entertainment. [9] This
shows the involvement of bearwards within the challenging of the bear-baiting
ban.
A
bearward is a keeper of the bears, which travel through counties. The
connection made between bearwards and bear-baiting is very important for the
argument of bear-baiting continuing after the reformation in 1579. The
Whytstones (variation of spelling) make many appearances in the records
regarding bearwards. The Whytstones owned a bearward company that traveled with
bears. Due to the nature of their jobs violence in bearwards are often recorded
as being fined for their misbehaving for example; in 1599 in Leyland, Lancashire
James Harrison (bear ward) was fined six shillings and eight pence for drawing
blood from Richard Whytstone, but the fines were dropped as it was seen as an
act of self-defense.[10] Bears
moving with their bearwards between Wigan and Manchester broke into a house
along the road upsetting a resident in the 1630s.[11] The violence being brought into the towns
during Sabbath could have been seen as another reason for bear-baiting to be
forbade in Lancashire.
Bear-baiting was also extremely popular in Cheshire; REED shows
many accounts that pertain to the sport of bear-baiting along with a separate
ban that took place within the county. Although this ban appeared a lot later
than the ban in Lancashire, it had similar reasoning. Bear-baiting frequented
the town on Congelton, which also became a hot spot for many bearwards,
including the Whitestones of Lancashire. The official order to ban bear-baiting
within the town of Cheshire came in 1603, by Sir Richard Lawkner. The statement
of the ban read as follows; “That noe wakes pypeinge, daunceinge, bearebeyteinge or such like bee vsed lo one the Sabath day, and yf anie offend therein Contrary to this order they to be punished by imprisonment.” [12] The ban
had more serious intentions than the Lancashire ban, though similar reasoning
as bear-baiting on Sabbath day drew a line between Protestants and Catholics,
any person who went against this order was found to be recusant. Congleton went to some lengths to protect bear-baiting,
as the accounts show in detail in 1613-1614 from June 24 to September 28, 12 pence
was given to William Stathorne for retrieving bear wards as well as payment 15
shillings to the bearwards themselves for participating in the beastly sport.[13] The
custom of bear-baiting continued well past the ban of 1603 and created hostile
relations with bearwards and the ecclesiastical commission as well as providing
danger to the towns these bears would pass through.
Similar to Lancashire, Cheshire had their own bearwards who
were constantly reoccurring in the REED accounts. The Shermadayne family
(various spellings) often occurs alongside bear-baiting instances and therefore
aided the breaking of the 1603 ban. To focus on a specific occurrence closer to
the ban, seen in the Borough Account five shillings were paid to the Shermadyne
bearward during a wake.[14] Bear-baits
were a very popular custom during wakes. Another instance featured in the City
Treasurers accounts, a member of the Shermadayne ward was paid ten shillings
for baiting bears at high cross on October11- 12.[15] Authorities
and the church frowned upon these bearwards. They often were associated with
riots and therefore caused violence in Cheshire. The accounts also mention the
plague as reasoning for authorities to ban bear-baiting, this thought is
interesting and reasonable considering the traveling wards that can carry the
plague from town to town, along with the large crowds that bear-baits usually
accompany which makes the spread of illness easier.
The
Records of Early English Drama have therefore proven that through accounts
within the County of Lancashire and the County of Cheshire, bear-baiting continued
to occur of Sabbath Days as a form of entertainment even after the high
commission banned them. With the above records, I can also conclude that the
involvement of bearwards, specifically the Whytstones’ and Shermadyne’s, played
a large role in the bear-baiting that took place throughout separate town in
Lancashire. Bear-baiting was seen as a hindrance to the prayers and sermons
that took place of the Sabbath and Holy Days. Most accounts, including that on
Bishop Bridgeman (Bishop of Chester 1619-1643) found bear-baiting to be
barbarous in beastly, although is was primarily seen as an entertaining custom.
[16]
The tormenting of bears that took place during Sabbath and Holy Days were seen
as disrupting holy service within Lancashire and Cheshire, and therefore
created a divide between Catholics and Protestants in the county. This divide
did not go unnoticed and continued to stay relevant as church authorities reprimanded
those going against the high commissioners, thus proving accounts for future
research to those interesting in bear-baiting during the reformation.
Works
Cited
"ˈbear-baiting, n." OED Online.
Oxford University Press, March 2014. Web. 31 March 2014.
Clopper, M, and David Mills, eds. Cheshire including Chester
Records of Early English Drama. Vol 2. Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 2007. Print.
George, David F. Lancashire – Records of Early English
Drama. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991. Print.
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