Bear-leader

For other uses, see Bear-leader (guide) and Leading the bear.

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]

A caricature of a bear-leader

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]

Until well into the 1990s, Roma, like the Ursari in Romania, Mečkara in Bulgaria and Serbia, and Ajdžide in Turkey carried out this activity.^[3]

The occupation was gradually banned by animal rights activists.