Hang tight while we fetch the video data and transcripts. This only takes a moment.
Connecting to YouTube player…
Fetching transcript data…
We’ll display the transcript, summary, and all view options as soon as everything loads.
Next steps
Loading transcript tools…
Cats In Medieval Paintings Looked Really Creepy | Art Deco | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Cats In Medieval Paintings Looked Really Creepy
Skip watching entire videos - get the full transcript, search for keywords, and copy with one click.
Share:
Video Transcript
this is a cat and this is a catastrophe
now I know cats could be very polarizing
animals some people think they're an
adorably hilarious loaf of love some
people think they're little monsters
that only have love for themselves
wherever you tend to fall on the cat
Spectrum I think we can all agree that this
this
is just not right this is a medieval cat
and I know what you're thinking probably
one of two things number one they must
have never seen a real cat before number
two is that my great aunt Susan and
although I can't guarantee that this
isn't your great aunt traveled back in
time and trapped in a feline flesh
prison I can say that cats existed in
medieval times and I'm almost certain
these artists had seen them before so
why would they make them look so bizarre
let's just go back some thousands of
years shall we house cats that we know
and love today aren't really all that
different from their wild cat ancestors
this is in stark contrast to dogs that
were bred to be much more dependent on
humans for sustenance shelter and
companionship where cats controlling us
all along to make sure we didn't change
them too much during the domestication process
process
or were they already perfect the way
they were either way their independent
flippant nature may have just set them
up to be the more controversial pet from
the start
the things that distinguish house cats
from their ancestors are mostly physical
they developed a wider array of hair
colors and patterns and became a bit
smaller behaviorally they were bred to
be slightly more tolerant of humans and
other animals as their Wildcat ancestors
were solitary animals and wouldn't have
cared much for either and naturally cats
pretty much decided to domesticate
themselves once we began farming and
storing our own crops thousands of years
ago rodents started showing up as well
and the cats came right along with them
and so began a beautiful symbiotic
relationship that would endure for
centuries thereafter cats loved the
abundance of rodents that congregated
around humans and we loved the free Pest
Control it was a win-win cats were
practically worshiped by ancient
Egyptians who saw them as symbols of
divinity protection and strength
along the way they also became
associated with fertility and femininity
many ancient Egyptian goddesses that
shared these same admired qualities were
given feline features such as the
goddess bestet a feline-headed woman who
was nurturing yet ferocious the penalty
for killing a cat even by accident was
very severe even death
fast forward the Roman Empire took over
and adopted these Egyptian feline
goddesses and even merged them with
their own the cat being its most
prominent symbol
in northern Europe they worshiped Freya
the fertility goddess who was also
associated with cats Christians were
persecuted in the Roman Empire until the
reign of Roman emperor Constantine he
became a Christian himself and made it
the official religion of the Empire it
was difficult to get those in Europe to
stop worshiping their traditional gods
and convert to Christianity even after
the fall of the Roman Empire the
Catholic Church did this with great
success throughout Europe by linking
traditional religions and their
goddesses to Witchcraft deceit Satan
sinful and sexual behavior the strong
Association that was made between demons
and these goddesses eventually meant
their cherished symbol the cat was
dragged right along with them for
example The Pest Control cats provided
to humans that was once so valued was
now compared to the devil catching Souls
William caxton wrote The Devil playeth
offed with the sonar like as the cat
doth with the mouse
I'm sorry that was terrible
indeed during Medieval Times cats were
associated with vanity Witchcraft and
the devil and so people thought that in
order to get rid of all of these things
they would just get rid of cats
in 1484 Pope Innocent VII stated quote
the cat was the devil's favorite animal
and Idol of all witches in France people
would gather together for entertainment
to hoist cats up in the air in Nets in
barrels and then lower them into a bonfire
bonfire
cats are also soaked in resin set on
fire and then chased through the streets
in the 17th century during Lent and ipra
Belgium cats were thrown from a high
tower to their death apra decided to
revive the event in the 1930s but this
time to make amends now the event
features giant cat floats and performers
and guests dress up as cats and in
medieval costumes they still throw the
cats from the tower but now they just
use stuffed animals this connection
between cats and Satan became even
stronger in 14th century Europe when the
Bubonic plague killed approximately 25
million people many blamed cats saying
somehow they were the cause of all of
their problems ironically the killing of
cats that took place during this time
likely led to an increase in the rodent
population which could have exacerbated
the problem so it seems like the
anthropomorphizing or humanization of
cats in ancient Egypt carried all the
way in into medieval times but instead
of the traits being favorable they were
demonic but why couldn't cats just be
cats cute fluffy not creepy yeah it's
because by and large people in medieval
times believed that animals were made by
God to serve and be ruled by humans
and anyone who has a cat knows that this
approach would not fly with them since
they serve absolutely no one animals
were also thought of in terms of moral
signals from God and representations of
biblical teachings there was even a sort
of medieval animal encyclopedia to put
each animal into its own role in
creation and spoke of the spiritual
lessons each animal could teach us this
was no joke animals were even taken to
court and put on trial for their
misdeeds where they were subject to
Capital Punishment and jail time the
most recurring culprit were pigs some of
the swine were brought to trial and
executed for serious offenses such as
murder others were punished for more
minor offenses like this one time in
1394 when a pig was hanged for quote
having sacrilegiously eaten a
consecrated wafer rats frequently
received strongly worded letters asking
them to leave a house where they were
unwanted but it wasn't just real animals
there were also imaginary animals that
had symbolic meaning like unicorns they
thought represented Christ but there
were some animals that didn't represent
Christian teachings and were just for
fun like the bonican that defended
Itself by spraying fiery poo at its
pursuers it was said that the Poo could
the Hunter's face is almost paralyzed
from the strong odor the cat that most
of us know and loved today only started
to claw back its reputation during the
Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci was a
lover of all things nature but he had a
particular fondness for horses and cats
during this time he made many sketches
of cats ones that actually looked like
real kitties he even made one of baby
Jesus holding a cat what it would take
another Century or so for mostly
everyone else to agreed cats weren't
just fluffy little devil shelters
so now Cass can finally enjoy the life
that they deserve after the roller
coaster we've put them through a warm
house a clean place to poo an endless
supply of food and water and Furniture
to scratch what more can a floofball ask
for people were so crazy back then right
it's not like cats can control our minds
or anything [Music]
[Music]
thank you so much for watching I'll see
you in the next one [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music] [Applause]
foreign [Applause]
[Applause] [Music]
Click on any text or timestamp to jump to that moment in the video
Share:
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
One-Click Copy125+ LanguagesSearch ContentJump to Timestamps
Paste YouTube URL
Enter any YouTube video link to get the full transcript
Transcript Extraction Form
Most transcripts ready in under 5 seconds
Get Our Chrome Extension
Get transcripts instantly without leaving YouTube. Install our Chrome extension for one-click access to any video's transcript directly on the watch page.
Chrome Extension