Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-12-29
#iseellaneolls 8sading.
CAPTIVITY OF THE LION.
II Dates Back From Very Ancient
Times.

II Dates Back From Very Ancient
Times.
Few people, perhaps, realize how
immensely old Is the custom Of keep
ing lions in captivity. We first read
Of them in history as being kept by
Assyrian kings for purposes Of sport,
as when, more than 5000 years ago,
Tiglath Pileser boasts Of having slain
"in the fullness Of his manly might"
920 Of these animals; or when, few
centuries later, Assurbanipal, his sue
cessor on the Assyrian throne ef-
Terminate Sardanapalus Of the Greek
legend-makes similar vaunt. Assyri-
ologists tell us that, though some OF
those victims may have been slain In
open field or organized battle, yet 9TH
ers were brought onto the royal hunt
ing fields in cages-captive beasts
whose teeth had been carefully drawn
out or filed down, so as to render them
incapable Of hurting the royal sports
man-and then let loose, poor, tooth
less, or almost toothless, wretches, to
fall beneath the kingly spear. Oriental
sculptures still show us graphic repre-
sentations of the unhappy beasts be-
ing reluctantly driven out from their
barred cages to satisfy the Eastern
monarch's thirst for blood. At Rome
and Constantinople lions were kept for
a very different purpose-a purpose
sure, sooner or later to result in their
being kept as objects Of curiosity. In
the Middle Ages the keeping Of cap
tive lions received a decided impulse
from the crusading movement. Every
crusader passing through Constantine
pie on his way to the Holy Land must
have heard of the Emperor Alexius's
lions: and q contemporary chronicler,
who has unrivaled opportunities OF
getting information, mentions that In
11O1 the Lombard or Aquitanian pill
grims enraged the emperor by slay-
ing three of his pet lions. and sending
his small drove Of leopards scurrying
off over the walls Of the imperial city.
The most pathetic story in all crusad-
ing literature tells how an Aquitanian
noble during the First Crusade rescued
q lion that was in peril OF his life,
and how the lion, in gratitude, follow
ed him about wherever he went, re-
fusing to quit his side until the mo-
ment came for the pilgrim to embark
upon his ship for home. Stealing
away from his brute companion, Gof-
fer de las Tors-for 80 was the lions
master named-managed to get on
board without his companion; but as
the ship was sailing off the lion caught
sight Of his friend, and, plunging into
the water, swan straight out to sea
till he was drowned. From crusading
days 1t would seem that almost every
great monarch had his own lion, or II
not a lion other strange beast. Tame
lions were used as royal gifts when
popes or monarchs wished to show an
especial honor to each other. Baldwin
l., king Of Jerusalem, sent Alexius two
tame lions from the Holy Land-per-
haps to take the place Of those whom
the Lombard Crusaders Of 1101 had
slain. Boniface VIII, when he wish
ed to conciliate the Florentines In a
very special manner, sent them a fine
young lion"-which turned out to be so
timid a beast that it could not hold
it's own against common donkey,
which attacked the king Of beasts in
the courtyard and kicked him to death
with his heels. An English writer,
living in the early part Of the thir-
teenth century. relates that the king
Of France in his time-presumably
Philip Augustus-had tame lions
among his collection Of wild beasts
near or in the wood Of Vincennes; and
the account rolls of the French sover-
eigns a few years later (1239 A. D. and
1904 A. d. show US that Louis TX. and
Philip the Fair had a regular officer
Leonerius-to look after the royal
lions with an allowance Of four solidi
day for his charges food and a some
what uncertain pension for himself.
So far as England is concerned, 1t Is
extremely probable that Henry I. kept
lions in his menagerie at woodstock;
and It is certain that less than 200
years later the fashion Of keeping these
pets had become so widely diffused
among royal personages that the Eng
lish close rolls show US that Edward
H., when prince Of Wales, actually
carted a pet lion about with him from
place to place in his Scotch campaign
of 1923; and the entries Of payment
to Adam Of Dichfeld, keeper Of the
Princes lion," form no small item In
the royal expenses. The royal lions
were generally confined In the Tower
of London, and their charges, together
with those Of their keeper, Peter OF
Montpelier were paid by the sherifs
of London-out of the money they
owed to the king for the fern" Of the
city, whenever this source Of supply
had not been drained dry by other
calls. In these days the lions food
seemed to have cost cd day, while
the keeper got only lid for his trou-
BILE. Doubtless, however, the latter
made a profit out Of the meat. AS the
years went on the number Of lions IN
the tower seems to have increased un-
til the year 1437, when a rare contem-
rorary chronicle has the following sig
niflcant query: I'm this year dyde
(died) allie the lions that weren In the
Tower of London-the whiche was
nought (not) seen in no mannys
(man's) TYNE before out Of rynde."