Viewing Event Record: An Italian merchant sailor visits London, and describes a spectacle at the Bear Garden

Abstract

Alessandro Magno, an Italian merchant sailor, visits London in 1562, and describes his experience at the Bear Garden. The arena houses some two hundred dogs, maintained separately in small boxes made of boards; another pen houses bears and wild bulls. Performances take place in a circular space in the middle, surrounded by stands with awnings to protect against sun and rain. People gather there on Sundays to see the dogs being trained. Entrance fees are one penny to stand below, and two pennies to go into the stands, and the entertainments last from vespers until evening. In the course of the performance Magno attends, the dogs are used to bait -- in order -- a monkey on a horse, some bears, and a wild bull. Magno observes that this last form of baiting 'is finer to see than the others and is more dangerous for the dogs than the others, many of which are wounded and die, and it lasts until evening.'

Date Event Recorded

Date

From: August 1562 (Source of claim: original)

Date Event Happened

Date

From: after Sunday 1 March 1562 (Source of claim: transcription)

Venues

Name

Bear Garden

People