In the Middle Ages, the bear was considered the king of animals

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In the Middle Ages, the bear was considered the king of animals, but after the XII century the situation changed - it was replaced by the lion, which began to dominate in heraldry.

The king of beasts of the Middle Ages: cult and meaning

Since the Paleolithic era, the cult of the bear was very widespread in the northern latitudes. Legends and traditions told us about him up to the 20th century: the bear remained the main character of mythical stories. The animal was the main thing in the kingdom of animals in the representation of the Celts and Germans.

The bear has often been endowed with anthropomorphic qualities and characteristics. It was believed that he had a special relationship with women: the bear always entered into close and not always peaceful contact. Sometimes these contacts were of a sexual nature, and this is confirmed by a number of pictorial and literary sources. He was presented as not just a furry beast, but in a sense as a wild man.

One way or another, but its main dignity is the title of the king of the forest and all the living creatures that live there. In the Middle Ages, its important role is still preserved in the Scandinavian, Celtic and Slavic traditions. Individual rulers or leaders were allegedly born from the relationship of a bear with a woman - this legendary origin was often used by the nobility in their family stories and chronicles. The story with the name of King Arthur is not accidental here, because the legendary monarch bears a name derived from the word "bear".

The image of a bear in the Middle Ages

The Christian Church saw nothing good in this creation. Cruelty and lust are the traits that characterize the bear. Even in Antiquity, his image aroused suspicion and all kinds of speculation. Pliny, inaccurately understanding the works of Aristotle, and after him, all the compilers of bestiaries believed that the bear copulates in the same way as a man.

"They copulate at the beginning of winter, not in the way that tetrapods usually do, but hugging each other, face to face."

Accordingly, dealing with this beast, a relative of people, is not worth it at all. But in all corners of Western Europe he could be found: he constantly encountered a person. In the northern regions, the bear was revered and associated with calendar holidays and even whole cults.

Finally, the church launched a campaign against this king of the forest. The Church Fathers and specifically St. Augustine believed that "the bear is the devil." He frightens and torments sinners in the form of Satan. At the same time, he remains spiteful, lustful, unclean, lazy, angry and also a glutton. This is confirmed by the later bestiaries of the 13th century, in which the bear is depicted in plots related to the seven deadly sins.

But the ancient legend, known from Pliny, shows us the bear from a slightly different angle: the bear, licking her stillborn cubs, resurrects them.

“Their flesh is white and shapeless, they are a little larger than a mouse, no eyes, no hair, only their claws are extended. Licking the cubs [their mother] gradually transforms them."

Hagiographic literature depicts a bear as a tamed animal. In medieval lives, you can find plots where the main character defeated the beast, taming him with his virtues and strength. Saints Corbinian, Rustic, Vedast, Amand, Columban tame a bear and convince him to pull a plow or a cart, and Saint Gall, together with the beast, built a skete in the Alps.

The bear cedes the title of king of beasts to the lion

After the 11th century, this beast is actively shown at entertainment events. Fairs, circus performances that go from castle to castle - everywhere there is a bear on a leash and in a muzzle.

The formidable and terrible beast now becomes a circus actor who dances to music, participates in performing tricks and amuses the audience. The royal gift, known since the Carolingian era, in the XIII century already disappears even from the princely menageries. Only polar bears in the northern countries were still a curiosity - they were often presented to the kings of Denmark and Norway. You rarely see a bear in medieval coats of arms: it is rather a speaking figure that can beat the name of the owner of the coat of arms in consonance.

The church and the Latin tradition, in which the lion was the main beast, began to gain the upper hand over the figure of the bear in the 12th-13th centuries. This is fully evidenced by the work "Novel about the Fox": the lion Noble has no equal, he is the only and powerful monarch in his kingdom. While Brune the bear is a clumsy and inhibited baron, constantly mocked by the fox.

Alexey Medved