Dear all,

the title of my article is slightly misleading. ‘Burg’ refers to a place in Bruges, not directly to a castle (although a fortification was later built there). The ‘bear that lived there’ refers to a popular story about the animal that was the original occupier of the place  and which was killed by the Count of Flanders.

In fact, we found a skull and two femur fragments with cut marks amongst the consumption refuse of this 9th - 10th centrury site. There are no indications that bears were kept in captivity; the species was still present in the forests of Flanders.

all the best,

Anton

Anton Ervynck

onderzoeker natuurwetenschappen

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Afdeling Onderzoek en Bescherming

Onroerend Erfgoed

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1210 Brussel

Belgium

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Van: Analysis of animal remains from archaeological sites [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Namens Rengert Elburg
Verzonden: maandag 23 februari 2015 11:43
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Onderwerp: [ZOOARCH] Captive medieval bears

Dear all,

I am looking for finds of medieval captive bears, preferably from the 13th century (yes I know, it is a bit specific). As far as I’m aware, this seems to be a very rare category of find. So far I’ve only found one article:

H. Berke, Pathologische Veränderungen an einem Bärenschädel aus der mittelalterlichen Grabung Albansviertel in Köln (B.R. Deutschland). Acta Biologica Benrodis 4, 1992, 81–86 (Pathological changes.on a skull of brown bear from the medieval excavation Albansviertel in Cologne (F. R. Germany)).

A second promising title would be A. Ervynck, „De beer die woonde op de burg...“: mens en dier in een vroegmiddeleeuwse versterking. In: H. De Witte (ed.) De Brugse Burg. Van grafelijke versterking tot moderne stadskern. Archeo-Brugge 2 (Brugge 1991) 170–180 (The bear that lived in the castle…), which I try to get via our library.

Does anybody know other titles? I would be also very interested in literature on medieval bear-pits and/or dancing bears. Any help would be much appreciated.

Rengert Elburg