PIG

16th January 2024

Photo Credit: jon666 (Getty Images), CANVA: Tamworth Pigs

Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends,

Bruised underneath the yoke of tyranny,

Thus far into the bowels of the land

Have we marched on without impediment,

And here receive we from out father Stanley

Lines of fair comfort and encouragement.

The wretched, bloody and usurping boar,

That spoiled your summer fields and fruitful vines,

Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough

In your embowelled bosoms - this foul swine

Is now even in the centre of this isle,

Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn.

From Tamworth thither is but one day’s march.

In God’s name, cheerly on, courageous friends,

To reap the harvest of perpetual peace

By this one blood trial of sharp war.

RICHMOND: Richard III, Act 5, Scene 3

PIG (Domesticated Pig: Sus domesticus)

In the passage above Richard III is compared with a boar, ravaging the countryside and destroying the peace and prosperity of the inhabitants. Shakespeare uses boar imagery throughout the play as a link to the emblem of King Richard III, the white boar. Domesticated pigs appear in Shakespeare’s works as ‘pigs’, ‘sows’, ‘boars’, ‘hogs’ and ‘swine’. They are included as food and also a metaphors for rough behaviour. Wild boars will be discussed in another post.

Pigs are found as domesticated animals all of the world and continue to be an important food source. They have a rich and varied cultural heritage in different countries and cultures, and although they are often associated with negative qualities, their cultural story is much more diverse and complex than this.

Pigs were an important part of Shakespeare’s world but as alluded to in the quote above, pig keeping could come into conflict with other forms of agriculture. Pigs root up the ground to look for food which can disturb areas set aside for crops or other livestock. Pigs thrive on acorns, beech nuts and other forest fruit and keeping Pigs in woodland has long been part of husbandry systems. Pigs were also fed household scraps and waste which both solved a waste problem and provided an important meat source for many individuals and communities.

Pigs were domesticated thousands of years ago in different areas of the world including the first civilisations of Western Asia and the Mediterranean and China. In the UK there are currently 11 native breeds of Pig, all of which are threatened with extinction and on the Rare Breeds Survival Trusts watchlist. The Tamworth Pig is considered to be Britain’s oldest pure breed. It is a hardy Pig which can survive in cold conditions and is associated with the Midlands, the area of Shakespeare’s birth.

More Information

British Pig Association: Visit Site

Folger Shakespeare Library: Search Shakespeare’s Works

Rare Breeds Survival Trust: Pig Watchlist, Tamworth Pig

Richard III Society: Visit Site

Julian Wiseman, University of Nottingham: The British Pig: a millennium of service to our society.