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Dear Peter Are we sure it's performing? The Icelandic story of Authun and the bear, of course, has a polar bear being taken to Iceland, Sweden and Denmark but it didn't need to do anything; just be white. Oh, those were the days. John ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Greenfield" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Saturday, February 12, 2005 12:05 AM 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 >