0:06 be not fooled this is a Ferocious Beast
0:10 deadly assertive lover of socks and most
0:14 importantly adorable Robin weeman or the
0:16 we is an example of a Perry Predator
0:19 living in the 21st century but what were
0:21 cats like further back through the
0:24 annals of time well the Egyptians
0:26 treated them with reverence and
0:28 adoration having first domesticated them
0:31 4,000 years ago go since then these
0:33 small carnivorous mammals have played a
0:36 major part in religion folklore art and
0:38 Community Health across the world
0:40 however in the 13th century Western
0:42 Europe cats became associated with the
0:44 supernatural when Pope Gregory the9th
0:47 called them an instrument of Satan let's
0:48 travel back in time now to the Middle
0:50 Ages and discover why cats were linked
0:52 to Witchcraft why they were placed in
0:55 barrels and just why anyone would want
0:57 to kiss a cat's butt welcome to Medieval Madness
1:14 the love cats when we think about cats
1:16 we probably imagine a companion curled
1:18 up on the sofa their soft fur perfect
1:20 for cuddles a Charming mix of
1:23 indifference and mischievousness years
1:24 ago they were kept for a much more
1:26 practical purpose when the reason for
1:29 the domestication of cats was a simple
1:31 one they were were useful to humans
1:33 because they controlled Vermin in the
1:35 Middle Ages cats were a defense against
1:37 rodents not just by stopping the eating
1:39 and contamination of food stuffs
1:41 especially grain but unknown to the
1:43 medievals who had no idea about such
1:45 things they also protected against the
1:52 carry a
1:55 catastrophe in the summer of 1233 Pope
1:57 Gregory the9th wrote his first paple
2:00 bull known as the Vox in Rama or voice
2:02 in Rama after the city of Rama in
2:04 ancient Israel the letter was sent to
2:06 many influential men across Europe
2:07 including the Holy Roman Emperor
2:10 Frederick II King Henry iith of Germany
2:13 Archbishop sigfried theii of mains and
2:15 his clergymen Bishop Conrad II of hild
2:17 and the Catholic priest Conrad Von
2:19 marberg in the hope that those men would
2:21 help the pope root out these satanic
2:23 Cults that were rumored to be prevalent
2:25 in steing and Germany it was also the
2:27 first time that the papacy linked cats
2:29 to Witchcraft the letter targeted
2:31 Heretics who supposedly had formed devil
2:34 worshipping cult the decree described
2:36 the rituals in detail Gregory wrote
2:39 quote among the diverse types of heresy
2:41 that have corrupted Germany with
2:43 Grievous sins one is far more detestable
2:46 and much more common than the rest these
2:47 Horrors should not only be brought
2:49 before us but heard by us since the
2:51 heresy is already breaking out with
2:53 intensity among some renowned members of
2:56 the church now this pestilence arises
2:58 from the following Beginnings at first a
3:00 certain initiate enters the school of
3:03 hell and is received a kind of frog
3:05 appears which some are accustomed to
3:08 call a toad some kiss it on its rear end
3:10 and others give the damnable kiss on the
3:12 mouth receiving the tongue and saliva of
3:15 the beast in their mouth along with the
3:17 Frog sometimes a number of other animals
3:20 are present then a thin palid man comes
3:22 forward to see the initiate who kisses
3:25 him at this time a black cat the size of
3:28 a small dog with an upright tail
3:30 descends backwards down a statue you the
3:32 initiate first kisses the cat's rear
3:34 then the master of the sect and then the
3:36 other individuals in order who are
3:38 worthy of the honor and perfect then
3:40 each member takes his place and after
3:43 singing some songs they face the cat in
3:46 turn the master says save us to the cats
3:48 then those present respond three times
3:51 and say we know the master and four
3:55 times they say and we ought to obey you
3:57 when this is done they extinguish the
3:59 castle and proceed to perform the most
4:03 sworded axe after this he says quote a
4:05 man proceeds from an obscure corner of
4:08 the meeting they say the upper part of
4:10 his body shines with raay for he is
4:13 Lucifer and the lower part is hairy like
4:16 a cat although Pope Gregory was calling
4:18 for a Crackdown on the devil worshipping
4:20 sex thought to be flourishing in Stan he
4:22 wasn't calling for all Christians to
4:24 start killing cats however his
4:26 description of depraved rituals
4:28 involving cats had a long-term effect on
4:31 European society's view of the mgy now
4:32 it wasn't so much the friendly rodent
4:35 catcher as an agent of the devil and in
4:37 the ultra Catholic Middle Ages nothing
4:44 worse scaredy cat this demonstration of
4:47 cats continued for centuries and Pope
4:48 Gregory wasn't the last Pope to defame
4:52 the innocent muggy in 1486 Heinrich
4:54 Kramer who the historian malcol Gaskill
4:56 described as a superstitious psychopath
4:59 published the deeply misogynistic malus
5:02 malifa or Hammer of witches a treaty
5:04 alleging to be about witchcraft although
5:06 the book was condemned by top
5:08 theologians Kramer a climan himself was
5:10 able to pass his views off as those of
5:13 the Catholic Church according to Kramer
5:15 the devil gave demon helpers to witches
5:17 these familiars could take on the form
5:19 of an animal who always works with the
5:21 witch in everything during questioning
5:23 Kus said many witches referred to their
5:25 familiars in terms of friendship Pope
5:27 Innocent thei must have believed him as
5:29 krmo was given the role of an Inquisitor
5:32 to root heresy and in 1484 the pope
5:34 published a papal bull acknowledging the
5:36 existence of witches and authorizing the
5:38 Inquisition to indict witches and
5:40 Sorcerers at the height of the
5:42 Witchcraft Panic anyone just caught
5:44 stroking a cat would be accused of
5:52 witch look what the Cat Dragged
5:55 In the church's view of women as either
5:58 pure and virginal or evil temptress
5:59 didn't help many medieval females when
6:02 it came to accusations of Witchcraft it
6:04 didn't help cats either as they are
6:05 often seen as having feminine traits
6:07 just by their physical appearance and
6:10 behavior cats are also independent
6:11 creatures and leave the shelter of the
6:13 home at night to sneak off and get into
6:16 Mischief this independent nature was
6:18 seen as unnatural just as women who
6:20 lived alone were not to be trusted and
6:22 regarded as deviant and targeted as
6:25 witches one of the stories that emerged
6:27 in Western Europe during the witch hunts
6:28 and helped to stoke the defamation of
6:31 the black C was the legend of a father
6:33 and son traveling in England it's one of
6:35 the reasons why a black cat crossing
6:37 your path is seen by some as bringing
6:40 bad luck one night a black cat walked in
6:42 front of the men and for reasons known
6:44 only to them they pelted the poor animal
6:46 with rocks until it ran to the home of a
6:47 woman who had previously been accused of
6:50 Witchcraft the next day the father and
6:52 his son saw the woman in question she
6:54 was limping and covered in bruises so
6:56 the men assumed that she could turn
6:58 herself into a black cat at night they
7:00 assumed therefore that they had been
7:01 throwing rocks at the woman when she had
7:04 taken the form of The Cat in the Belgian
7:06 city of epra the cat and sto a festival
7:09 of the cats is held every year it
7:10 commemorates a tradition from the Middle
7:12 Ages in which cats were thrown from the
7:14 belfrey Tower of the cloth hole to the
7:17 Town Square below but fear not today
7:19 someone dressed as a Jester throws off
7:21 stuffed toy cats for the children to
7:23 catch below and there is a mock witch
7:25 burning however the medievals weren't as
7:28 pet friendly as we are today and they
7:30 slung real cats from the Bell Tower
7:31 whether this was because they were
7:33 killing the moggies believing them to be
7:35 evil spirits connected to Witchcraft or
7:36 because they were curing the Felon
7:39 population is anybody's guess in the
7:41 northern European traditions of f laven
7:43 a carnival celebrated 7 weeks before
7:45 Easter Sunday cats also performed an
7:48 important role where playing hit the cat
7:49 out of the barrel is a similar game to a
7:52 pinata today the barrel just has a
7:53 picture of a cat painted on the side and
7:56 is filled with Sweet Treats but in the
7:58 Denmark of the Middle Ages a real black
8:00 cat was placed inside the bar barel
8:02 which was hit with sticks until it broke
8:04 and the poor traumatized animal could
8:06 run off the custom was meant to
8:08 symbolize evil being chased [Music]
8:10 [Music]
8:12 away cool for
8:14 cats in contrast to the maltreatment
8:16 that some cats were facing in the West
8:18 in the east in China cats were generally
8:21 held in high regard first introduced as
8:23 Vermin catches by the time of the Song
8:25 Dynasty in the 10th Century they had
8:27 become increasingly popular and were
8:30 kept as pets by the late Middle Ages
8:32 Ming Dynasty there were paintings of
8:34 cats as treasured animals some with gold
8:36 colors and poems were written about them
8:38 in Japan they were viewed as good luck
8:40 symbols and popular with silk makers who
8:42 used cats to kill the mice that feasted
8:44 on the silk worms as in the Far East in
8:46 the Islamic world cats were highly
8:49 regarded Abu hura whose name translates
8:51 as father of the kitten was a companion
8:53 of the Prophet Muhammad who had a deep
8:56 love and appreciation for cats himself
8:58 there are many stories about both men
9:00 treating cats with kindness and this led
9:02 to cats being accepted into Islamic
9:04 households and even mosques in Europe
9:06 before all of the trouble around cats
9:08 bottoms began they were accepted into
9:10 medieval households and religious spaces
9:12 alike and well looked after they are
9:14 featured in lots of manuscripts as
9:16 illuminations and doodles in the margins
9:19 of books of ours one manuscript mentions
9:21 a cat by the name of Might that lived in
9:23 bolo Abbey England during the 13th
9:25 century and in the accounts for cooks
9:26 and Manor in Oxfordshire cheese was
9:29 bought specifically for a cat suggesting
9:31 that it was pretty well cared for at the
9:33 beginning of the next Century isabo of
9:35 Bavaria queen of France bought some
9:37 bright green fabric so that a special
9:39 cover could be made for her cat a guide
9:41 for anchoresses who shut themselves away
9:43 from society to live a life of solitary
9:45 communion with God tells us that they
9:47 were only allowed to have one animal
9:50 companion the cat Al Helm abber of
9:52 malmsbury wrote a riddle about a cat in
9:54 7th Century England that extols the
9:56 great qualities of his muggy who is
9:59 described as a quote faithful Watchman
10:01 who silently lays snares as fatal
10:03 obstacles for unseen thieves who ravage
10:06 the heaped up grain one of the most
10:08 famous eulogies to a cat was the 9th
10:10 century poem panga ban written by an
10:13 Irish monk in Exile in Germany white
10:15 panga was the cat's name and the unnamed
10:17 monk who was obviously very fond of his
10:20 pet referred to panga as a Hero perfect
10:23 in his trade of mouse catching both
10:25 literary tribute suggest the monks had a
10:26 strong emotional attachment to their
10:28 cats who not only performed a much
10:30 needed service but also cheered their
10:38 company black cat during the Middle Ages
10:41 cats were appreciated not just as
10:43 skilled verman catchers but also as
10:45 companions whether in a domestic setting
10:47 or the clost it has been claimed that
10:49 the Vox in Rama led to the mass killing
10:51 of cats which in turn increased the
10:53 rodent population and helped spread the
10:55 Black Death across Europe in the mid
10:57 14th century yes the bacteria infected
11:00 fleas that caused the pandemic on rats
11:02 and rats carried the plague but cats who
11:04 would act as pest controllers were
11:05 themselves highly susceptible to the
11:07 disease and this could explain a
11:09 decrease in the cat population during
11:11 that time so maybe people started
11:13 killing cats because they too were
11:15 thought to be spreading the plague sadly
11:17 though the real Legacy of the Vox in
11:19 Rama is that although many ideas from
11:21 the Middle Ages are now regarded as
11:23 ignorant or superstitious nonsense the
11:25 black cat is still regarded with some
11:27 suspicion in many parts of the world
11:29 sadly there are theories that the reason
11:31 black cats aren't as popular today is
11:33 also due to them not showing up as well
11:35 in photographs so it's said that animal
11:37 shelters often struggle to get rid of
11:39 black cats so if you're thinking of
11:41 adopting a cat do your bit and get a
11:43 black one thank you so much for watching
11:45 this episode of Medieval Madness please
11:47 do subscribe if you're enjoying these
11:48 videos and I'll see you next week for
11:50 another one until then I hope you all
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