The good graces that cat found themselves was covered last time.
This article will give a little background to the how and why cats were treated so inhumanly during the Middle Ages.
The cat’s aloof attitude and independent spirit was problematic for the people of the Middle Ages because they believed that animals were created by God to serve man.
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The most citied reason for the cat’s mistreatment was its association with witches. In 1484 Pope Innocent VII excommunicated cats and declared that cats found living with witches were to be burned alongside their owners.
The cat’s association with evil made it the perfect amulet to chase away evil spirits. To get rid of evil spirits at the start of Lent in medieval Denmark a black cat would be placed in a barrel and suspended from a tree. The barrel would be beaten with sticks until it was broken and the cat fell out. If the cat didn’t run away fast enough, it risked getting beaten.
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In France, cats were hung over wood pyres, strung from maypoles or placed in wicker cages and set afire. In some places cats were drenched in a flammable liquid, set on fire and chased through town. Charred pieces of the cat were collected because they were considered good luck. In 1471 Louis XI started the midsummer tradition of lighting a bonfire that had a bagful of cats in its center.
To celebrate her coronation in 1563 Elizabeth I of England had cats stuffed into an effigy of the pope before burning it.
The ungrateful town of Ypres, Belgium threw cats from a belfry and then set them on fire in the
Festival of Cats (Kattenstoet). The poor cats had spent the winter in the town’s Cloth Hall hunting mice.
Some believe that the reason why cats were treated so poorly was because there were too many of them. Others theorize it was because the Muslims treated cats well. Cats were allowed in mosques and there were rules that forbid the torture and killing of cats.
With the cat’s association with the spiritual enemy (the devil) and the earthly enemy (Muslims) it’s no wonder that such practices of putting live cats under the last floor board of a newly built house for good luck was acceptable.
