Bear-leader

Last updated
A caricature of a bear-leader Dr James Hay as Bear Leader, 1704-1729.png
A caricature of a bear-leader

A bear-leader was historically a man who led bears about the country.[ clarification needed ] In the Middle Ages and the Tudor period, these animals were chiefly used in the blood sport of bear-baiting and were led from village to village. Performing bears were also common; their keepers were generally Frenchmen or Italians. [1]

Later, the phrase bear-leader came colloquially to mean a tutor or guardian, who escorted any young man of rank or wealth on his travels. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roundhead</span> Parliament supporter in the English Civil War

Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as the Cavaliers or Royalists, who claimed rule by absolute monarchy and the principle of the divine right of kings. The goal of the Roundheads was to give to Parliament the supreme control over executive administration of the country/kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provinces of France</span> Subdivisions of the Kingdom of France

The Kingdom of France was organised into provinces until the National Constituent Assembly adopted a more uniform division into departments (départements) and districts in late 1789. The provinces continued to exist administratively until 21 September 1791.

In Roman mythology, Laverna was a goddess of thieves, cheats and the underworld. She was propitiated by libations poured with the left hand. The poet Horace and the playwright Plautus call her a goddess of thieves. In Rome, her sanctuary was near the Porta Lavernalis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilary of Poitiers</span> Bishop of Poitiers

Hilary of Poitiers was Bishop of Poitiers and a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" and the "Athanasius of the West". His name comes from the Latin word for happy or cheerful. In addition to his important work as bishop, Hilary was married and the father of Abra of Poitiers, a nun and saint who became known for her charity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaius Julius Civilis</span> Leader of the Batavian rebellion against the Romans in 69 AD

Gaius Julius Civilis was the leader of the Batavian rebellion against the Romans in 69 AD. His nomen shows that he was made a Roman citizen by either Augustus or Caligula.

Chrysanthius of Sardis was a Greek philosopher of the 4th century AD who studied at the school of Iamblichus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duchy of Anhalt</span> German duchy (1806–1918)

The Duchy of Anhalt was a historical German duchy. The duchy was located between the Harz Mountains in the west and the river Elbe and beyond to the Fläming Heath in the east. The territory was once ruled by the House of Ascania, and is now part of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">François Séverin Marceau</span> French general (1769–1796)

François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars.

Crates of Mallus was a Greek grammarian and Stoic philosopher, leader of the literary school and head of the library of Pergamum. He was described as the Crates from Mallus to distinguish him from other philosophers by the same name. His chief work was a critical and exegetical commentary on Homer. He is also famous for constructing the earliest known globe of the Earth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland</span> 14th-century English noble

Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, 4th Baron Percy, titular King of Mann, KG, Lord Marshal was the son of Henry de Percy, 3rd Baron Percy, and a descendant of Henry III of England. His mother was Mary of Lancaster, daughter of Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster, son of Edmund, Earl of Leicester and Lancaster, who was the son of Henry III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Broglie</span>

The House of Broglie is a French noble family, originally Piedmontese, who migrated to France in the year 1643.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ephraim Chambers</span> English writer and encyclopaedist

Ephraim Chambers was an English writer and encyclopaedist, who is primarily known for producing the Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Chambers' Cyclopædia is known as the original source material for the French Encyclopédie that started off as a translation of Cyclopædia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. F. Oberlin</span> Alsatian pastor and a philanthropist

J. F. Oberlin was an Alsatian pastor and a philanthropist. He has been known as John Frederic(k) Oberlin in English, Jean-Frédéric Oberlin in French, and Johann Friedrich Oberlin in German.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agathodaemon</span> Spirit (daemon) of the vineyards and grainfields in ancient Greek religion

Agathos Daimon originally was a lesser deity (daemon) of classical ancient Greek religion and Graeco-Egyptian religion. In his original Greek form, he served as a household god, to whom, along with Zeus Soter, libations were made after a meal. In later (post-)Ptolemaic antiquity he took on two partially distinct roles; one as the Agathos Daimon a prominent serpentine civic god, who served as the special protector of Alexandria. The other as a genus of serpentine household gods, the Agathoi Daimones, individual protectors of the homes in which they were worshipped.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Abernethy (minister)</span>

John Abernethy was an Irish Presbyterian minister and church leader, the grandfather of the surgeon John Abernethy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltasar Gracián</span> Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer and philosopher

Baltasar Gracián y Morales, S.J., better known as Baltasar Gracián, was a Spanish Jesuit and Baroque prose writer and philosopher. He was born in Belmonte, near Calatayud (Aragón). His writings were lauded by Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.

Cicerone is an old term for a guide who conducts visitors and sightseers to museums, galleries, etc., and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest. The word is presumably taken from Marcus Tullius Cicero, as a type of learning and eloquence. The Oxford English Dictionary finds recorded examples of the use earlier in English than Italian, the earliest quotation being from Joseph Addison's Dialogue on Medals. It appears that the word was first applied to learned antiquarians who showed and explained to foreigners the antiquities and curiosities of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Academic skepticism</span> Skeptical period of ancient Academy

Academic skepticism refers to the skeptical period of the Academy dating from around 266 BCE, when Arcesilaus became scholarch, until around 90 BCE, when Antiochus of Ascalon rejected skepticism, although individual philosophers, such as Favorinus and his teacher Plutarch, continued to defend skepticism after this date. Unlike the existing school of skepticism, the Pyrrhonists, they maintained that knowledge of things is impossible. Ideas or notions are never true; nevertheless, there are degrees of plausibility, and hence degrees of belief, which allow one to act. The school was characterized by its attacks on the Stoics, particularly their dogma that convincing impressions led to true knowledge. The most important Academics were Arcesilaus, Carneades, and Philo of Larissa. The most extensive ancient source of information about Academic skepticism is Academica, written by the Academic skeptic philosopher Cicero.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, a bear-leader was a colloquialism for a man who escorted young men of rank or wealth on their travels, such as young gentlemen on the Grand Tour. The role of bear-leader blended elements of tutor, guardian, chaperon and companion. A late example in literature can be seen in the ambitious Oxford tutor hired to keep an increasingly alcoholic young man out of harm's way – and out of the way – in Brideshead Revisited.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capture of Carthage (439)</span> Vandal capture of a Roman North African city

Carthage was captured by the Vandals from the Western Roman Empire on 19 October 439. Under their leader Genseric, the Vandals crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into Africa and captured Hippo Regius in August 431, which they made the capital of their kingdom. Despite an uneasy peace with the Romans, Genseric made a surprise attack against Carthage in October 439. After capturing Carthage, the Vandals put the city to the sack and made it the new capital of their kingdom.

References

  1. Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bear-Leader". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 582.
  2. Chisholm 1911.