The First Appearance of Bulldogs in Early Literature
The first mention of the Bulldog in English literature occurs in 1500 and, over the centuries, many written works refer to the breed although, rather confusingly, not always by this name.
Several terms were used to describe the forerunner of the bulldog,
which had been kept for a variety of purposes, either as a guard, or as a butcher’s dog to help in the control of unruly oxen, or as a hunting dog for boar. But perhaps the most common use, and it was certainly the purpose for which the breed attained notoriety, was for the so-called ’sport’ of baiting.
One of the earliest terms, which is still occassionally seen in use today, is “bandogge”. This description is first used by Dr Caius, a physician to Elizabeth I, in 1576. The author William Harrison, in his description of England 1586, attributes this name to the fact that “manie of them are tied up in chaines and strong bonds in the daie time for doing hurt abroad, which is an huge dog, stubborn, ouglie, eager, burthenouse of bodie (and therefore of little swiftness), terrible and fearful to behold, and oftentimes more fierce and fell than anie Archadian or Corsican cur”.
Shakespeare mentions them in King Henry VI act 1: “The time when screech owls and Bandogges howl and spirits walk and ghosts break up their graves”. In the Merry Wives of Windsor, SHakespeare mentions a bear called “Sackerson” who had achieved notoriety, no doubt, for his victories in the baiting ring.
Shakespeare used the then familiar term “bandogge”, wherease his friend, the poet and playwright Ben Jonson, in his play The Silent Woman, first acted in 1609, mentions both Bulldogs and Beardogs. This is believed to be the earliest reference to the breed with the spelling as it is common today.