The Death of the Bear

In europe, from time immemorial, bear was regarded as the king of the beasts. The bear became a totemic animal combat with which burnished reputations. Charlemagne organized massive bear hunts when he wasn't hunting saxons. But at this point, bears weren't regarded as wholly bad. Their old reputation stayed largely intact. And we follow a lengthy, winding path in which the bear was gradually degraded in favour of the lion and ultimately became an object of scorn and fun.