Cats in the cloistersĬats are found in abundance as a status symbol in medieval religious spaces. Eulogies such as this suggest a strong emotional attachment to pet cats, and show how cats not only cheered up their masters but provided welcome distractions from the hard mental craft of reading and writing.
In one poem, a cat is described as a scholar’s light and dearest companion. In 1406, bright green cloth was bought to make a special cover for her cat.Ĭats were also common companions for scholars, and eulogies about cats were not uncommon in the 16th century.
In 1387, she commissioned a collar embroidered with pearls and fastened by a gold buckle for her pet squirrel. In fact, the 14th-century queen of France, Isabeau of Bavaria, spent excessive amounts of money on accessories for her pets. It was not unusual for high-status men and women in the middle ages to have their portrait completed in the company of a pet, most commonly cats and dogs, to signify their elevated status.īacchiacca (circa 1525), by the Italian painter Antonio d'Ubertino Verdi. Keeping an animal that was lavished with attention, affection and high-quality food in return for no functional purpose – other than companionship – signified high status. Pets became part of the personal identity of the nobility. Pet monkeys, for example, were considered exotic and a sign that the owner was wealthy, because they had been imported from distant lands. In the middle ages, men and women were often identified by the animals they kept. But despite their association with the supernatural, medieval manuscripts showcase surprisingly playful images of our furry friends.įrom these (often very funny) portrayals, we can learn a lot about medieval attitudes towards cats – not least that they were a central fixture of daily medieval life.
Their presumed links with paganism and witchcraft meant they were often treated with suspicion. Cats had a bad reputation in the middle ages.
0 kommentar(er)
