Bear-leader

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] 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 from various Balkan countries and Turkey carried out this activity.