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Peter, the earliest I have of bears/bearwards in the REED West Riding & Derbyshire records is first quarter 16th century, but by way of tracking down an errant camel, I found a much earlier polar bear (well, it was white and furry) in the king's menagerie, who regularly swam in the Thames for relief from the London swelter. I wouldn't reject your date out of hand: "exotic" animals were indeed brought over early on. Some of them even married quite well. Barbara Palmer University of Mary Washington ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Greenfield" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 7:05 PM Subject: 13th century performing bears? > Dear REED-Lers: > I've just come across a reference to an entry in the Winchester > Pipe Rolls > from 1265-6 that mentions 12d spent "pro urso passand' ad comitissam." > The > historian who mentions this suspects that scribal error is involved, but > perhaps some countess the bishop of Winchester knew actually did want a > bear? I haven't found any reference to bears or bearwards earlier than > the > 15th century in a quick trawl through the REED volumes I have on my > shelf. Does anyone else know of such an early bear record? What do you > think of this? > Peter Greenfield > University of Puget Sound