Who loves dogs? Raise your hand. Much like us, historical figures also enjoyed
owning pets, especially dogs. Some of the pampered pooches on this list lived in the lap of luxury!
Firstly, and the only non-royal on this list, is Mary Anning,
a pioneering palaeontologist and fossil collector. (I am writing a whole
separate post about this remarkable woman.) It must have been very lonely work
looking for fossils day in day out, Mary’s dog Tray probably made it a lot more
bearable for her. Tray was a black and white mixed breed, who had been trained to sit
and wait by the finds that were too big for Mary to carry or excavate. Mary would then look for help or go and collect bigger carrying vessels. He was like her fossil marker so that she would not lose her latest discovery. Very sadly one day in 1833,
Mary was almost hit by a rockfall, thankfully she got out of the way, but her
poor beloved dog was not so lucky. She later wrote to a friend telling them
that the death of Tray ‘quite upset me.’
Travelling over to France now, Louis XIV was a huge dog
lover. He was known to hand feed his dogs and carried little treats for them in
his pockets. These biscuits were made daily by his pastry cooks, lucky dogs! He
had a special chamber built called Cabinet des Cheins, near his own chamber and
the dogs lived in luxury. Their little beds were made of veneered walnut and
lined with velvet. He even cancelled a council meeting one day in February
1685, because he wanted to enjoy the good weather with his dogs.
Staying in France, Marie Antoinette was also a dog lover. One of her dogs' Mops, was her beloved childhood canine friend. During her journey to France, she had to symbolically shed her Austrian life, which also meant parting with Mops. This must have been heart-breaking for the young girl, who had already had to leave behind her family and home. Thankfully, the two were later reunited at Versailles. This sad scene is portrayed in the film ‘Marie Antoinette.’
I had to share this luxurious dog kennel made in 1775-80.
This was made for one of Marie Antoinette’s dogs. It is constructed from gilded beech
and pine and covered in velvet. Inside it is lined with silk.
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Anne Boleyn very famously had a dog called Purkoy, which came from the French word ‘Pourquoi’ meaning ‘Why?’ Perhaps given to the little dog because it had a quizzical look?! Purkoy was originally gifted to Sir Francis Bryan from Lady Lisle. However, when seeing the dog, Anne Boleyn fell in love with him, and Bryan gave him to her. Purkoy later tragically died after falling. Anne’s love for the dog must have been great, because no one dared tell her of his passing. The King was the one who told her when he thought it was the right time.
Figurine of Anne Boleyn by Royal Doulton.
I am afraid this blog post doesn’t end on a happy note! When
Mary Stuart had been executed, her Skye Terrier was discovered hiding in the
folds of her petticoat. In John Guy’s book 'Mary Queen of Scots' he
writes “…When detected, it ran about wailing miserably and lay down in the
widening pool of blood between her severed head and shoulders. Since it could
not be coaxed away, it was forcibly removed and washed, whereupon it refused to
eat. One of Mary’s servants claimed it soon died, but this is not corroborated.”
The royal dog owners especially must have greatly valued
their faithful canine companions. Subjects, friends and even family members could not
always be trusted at court, and their dogs would offer unconditional love and true
friendship no matter what. I would love to do another post in the future about historical figures and their pets, I've read about some rather interesting ones that I would love to share!
There are certainly loads of portraits which include dogs - tiny expensive ones in ladies' laps, gentlemen with gun dogs and family pets. They often symbolised loyalty.
ReplyDeleteI love old portraits with dogs. Some of them are very cute! That might be a fun future post to do. Thank you for visiting my blog!
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