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Cats During The Medieval Times... | MedievalMadness | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Cats During The Medieval Times...
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be not fooled this is a Ferocious Beast
deadly assertive lover of socks and most
importantly adorable Robin weeman or the
we is an example of a Perry Predator
living in the 21st century but what were
cats like further back through the
annals of time well the Egyptians
treated them with reverence and
adoration having first domesticated them
4,000 years ago go since then these
small carnivorous mammals have played a
major part in religion folklore art and
Community Health across the world
however in the 13th century Western
Europe cats became associated with the
supernatural when Pope Gregory the9th
called them an instrument of Satan let's
travel back in time now to the Middle
Ages and discover why cats were linked
to Witchcraft why they were placed in
barrels and just why anyone would want
to kiss a cat's butt welcome to Medieval Madness
the love cats when we think about cats
we probably imagine a companion curled
up on the sofa their soft fur perfect
for cuddles a Charming mix of
indifference and mischievousness years
ago they were kept for a much more
practical purpose when the reason for
the domestication of cats was a simple
one they were were useful to humans
because they controlled Vermin in the
Middle Ages cats were a defense against
rodents not just by stopping the eating
and contamination of food stuffs
especially grain but unknown to the
medievals who had no idea about such
things they also protected against the
carry a
catastrophe in the summer of 1233 Pope
Gregory the9th wrote his first paple
bull known as the Vox in Rama or voice
in Rama after the city of Rama in
ancient Israel the letter was sent to
many influential men across Europe
including the Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II King Henry iith of Germany
Archbishop sigfried theii of mains and
his clergymen Bishop Conrad II of hild
and the Catholic priest Conrad Von
marberg in the hope that those men would
help the pope root out these satanic
Cults that were rumored to be prevalent
in steing and Germany it was also the
first time that the papacy linked cats
to Witchcraft the letter targeted
Heretics who supposedly had formed devil
worshipping cult the decree described
the rituals in detail Gregory wrote
quote among the diverse types of heresy
that have corrupted Germany with
Grievous sins one is far more detestable
and much more common than the rest these
Horrors should not only be brought
before us but heard by us since the
heresy is already breaking out with
intensity among some renowned members of
the church now this pestilence arises
from the following Beginnings at first a
certain initiate enters the school of
hell and is received a kind of frog
appears which some are accustomed to
call a toad some kiss it on its rear end
and others give the damnable kiss on the
mouth receiving the tongue and saliva of
the beast in their mouth along with the
Frog sometimes a number of other animals
are present then a thin palid man comes
forward to see the initiate who kisses
him at this time a black cat the size of
a small dog with an upright tail
descends backwards down a statue you the
initiate first kisses the cat's rear
then the master of the sect and then the
other individuals in order who are
worthy of the honor and perfect then
each member takes his place and after
singing some songs they face the cat in
turn the master says save us to the cats
then those present respond three times
and say we know the master and four
times they say and we ought to obey you
when this is done they extinguish the
castle and proceed to perform the most
sworded axe after this he says quote a
man proceeds from an obscure corner of
the meeting they say the upper part of
his body shines with raay for he is
Lucifer and the lower part is hairy like
a cat although Pope Gregory was calling
for a Crackdown on the devil worshipping
sex thought to be flourishing in Stan he
wasn't calling for all Christians to
start killing cats however his
description of depraved rituals
involving cats had a long-term effect on
European society's view of the mgy now
it wasn't so much the friendly rodent
catcher as an agent of the devil and in
the ultra Catholic Middle Ages nothing
worse scaredy cat this demonstration of
cats continued for centuries and Pope
Gregory wasn't the last Pope to defame
the innocent muggy in 1486 Heinrich
Kramer who the historian malcol Gaskill
described as a superstitious psychopath
published the deeply misogynistic malus
malifa or Hammer of witches a treaty
alleging to be about witchcraft although
the book was condemned by top
theologians Kramer a climan himself was
able to pass his views off as those of
the Catholic Church according to Kramer
the devil gave demon helpers to witches
these familiars could take on the form
of an animal who always works with the
witch in everything during questioning
Kus said many witches referred to their
familiars in terms of friendship Pope
Innocent thei must have believed him as
krmo was given the role of an Inquisitor
to root heresy and in 1484 the pope
published a papal bull acknowledging the
existence of witches and authorizing the
Inquisition to indict witches and
Sorcerers at the height of the
Witchcraft Panic anyone just caught
stroking a cat would be accused of
witch look what the Cat Dragged
In the church's view of women as either
pure and virginal or evil temptress
didn't help many medieval females when
it came to accusations of Witchcraft it
didn't help cats either as they are
often seen as having feminine traits
just by their physical appearance and
behavior cats are also independent
creatures and leave the shelter of the
home at night to sneak off and get into
Mischief this independent nature was
seen as unnatural just as women who
lived alone were not to be trusted and
regarded as deviant and targeted as
witches one of the stories that emerged
in Western Europe during the witch hunts
and helped to stoke the defamation of
the black C was the legend of a father
and son traveling in England it's one of
the reasons why a black cat crossing
your path is seen by some as bringing
bad luck one night a black cat walked in
front of the men and for reasons known
only to them they pelted the poor animal
with rocks until it ran to the home of a
woman who had previously been accused of
Witchcraft the next day the father and
his son saw the woman in question she
was limping and covered in bruises so
the men assumed that she could turn
herself into a black cat at night they
assumed therefore that they had been
throwing rocks at the woman when she had
taken the form of The Cat in the Belgian
city of epra the cat and sto a festival
of the cats is held every year it
commemorates a tradition from the Middle
Ages in which cats were thrown from the
belfrey Tower of the cloth hole to the
Town Square below but fear not today
someone dressed as a Jester throws off
stuffed toy cats for the children to
catch below and there is a mock witch
burning however the medievals weren't as
pet friendly as we are today and they
slung real cats from the Bell Tower
whether this was because they were
killing the moggies believing them to be
evil spirits connected to Witchcraft or
because they were curing the Felon
population is anybody's guess in the
northern European traditions of f laven
a carnival celebrated 7 weeks before
Easter Sunday cats also performed an
important role where playing hit the cat
out of the barrel is a similar game to a
pinata today the barrel just has a
picture of a cat painted on the side and
is filled with Sweet Treats but in the
Denmark of the Middle Ages a real black
cat was placed inside the bar barel
which was hit with sticks until it broke
and the poor traumatized animal could
run off the custom was meant to
symbolize evil being chased [Music]
[Music]
away cool for
cats in contrast to the maltreatment
that some cats were facing in the West
in the east in China cats were generally
held in high regard first introduced as
Vermin catches by the time of the Song
Dynasty in the 10th Century they had
become increasingly popular and were
kept as pets by the late Middle Ages
Ming Dynasty there were paintings of
cats as treasured animals some with gold
colors and poems were written about them
in Japan they were viewed as good luck
symbols and popular with silk makers who
used cats to kill the mice that feasted
on the silk worms as in the Far East in
the Islamic world cats were highly
regarded Abu hura whose name translates
as father of the kitten was a companion
of the Prophet Muhammad who had a deep
love and appreciation for cats himself
there are many stories about both men
treating cats with kindness and this led
to cats being accepted into Islamic
households and even mosques in Europe
before all of the trouble around cats
bottoms began they were accepted into
medieval households and religious spaces
alike and well looked after they are
featured in lots of manuscripts as
illuminations and doodles in the margins
of books of ours one manuscript mentions
a cat by the name of Might that lived in
bolo Abbey England during the 13th
century and in the accounts for cooks
and Manor in Oxfordshire cheese was
bought specifically for a cat suggesting
that it was pretty well cared for at the
beginning of the next Century isabo of
Bavaria queen of France bought some
bright green fabric so that a special
cover could be made for her cat a guide
for anchoresses who shut themselves away
from society to live a life of solitary
communion with God tells us that they
were only allowed to have one animal
companion the cat Al Helm abber of
malmsbury wrote a riddle about a cat in
7th Century England that extols the
great qualities of his muggy who is
described as a quote faithful Watchman
who silently lays snares as fatal
obstacles for unseen thieves who ravage
the heaped up grain one of the most
famous eulogies to a cat was the 9th
century poem panga ban written by an
Irish monk in Exile in Germany white
panga was the cat's name and the unnamed
monk who was obviously very fond of his
pet referred to panga as a Hero perfect
in his trade of mouse catching both
literary tribute suggest the monks had a
strong emotional attachment to their
cats who not only performed a much
needed service but also cheered their
company black cat during the Middle Ages
cats were appreciated not just as
skilled verman catchers but also as
companions whether in a domestic setting
or the clost it has been claimed that
the Vox in Rama led to the mass killing
of cats which in turn increased the
rodent population and helped spread the
Black Death across Europe in the mid
14th century yes the bacteria infected
fleas that caused the pandemic on rats
and rats carried the plague but cats who
would act as pest controllers were
themselves highly susceptible to the
disease and this could explain a
decrease in the cat population during
that time so maybe people started
killing cats because they too were
thought to be spreading the plague sadly
though the real Legacy of the Vox in
Rama is that although many ideas from
the Middle Ages are now regarded as
ignorant or superstitious nonsense the
black cat is still regarded with some
suspicion in many parts of the world
sadly there are theories that the reason
black cats aren't as popular today is
also due to them not showing up as well
in photographs so it's said that animal
shelters often struggle to get rid of
black cats so if you're thinking of
adopting a cat do your bit and get a
black one thank you so much for watching
this episode of Medieval Madness please
do subscribe if you're enjoying these
videos and I'll see you next week for
another one until then I hope you all
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