Cats were beloved by Egyptians. People like to dump on the Middle Ages for being Europes cultural and technological nadir, especially compared to the surrounding Classical and Renaissance periods. We know they had terrier like dogs in Medieval Europe and that they were used as ratters. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Museum Hack leads small group, VIP museum tours that are fun, fast-paced and surprisingly cool. cats were only interested in our rat infested granaries. For example, ever heard of Oxford University? The Vox in Rama encouraged Conrad of Marburg to overreach himself and that same year he accused Henry II, Count of Sayn of taking part in satanic orgies. If anything, the cathunt is Konrads interpretation of the papal bull. There is little real evidence for this. One such individual was a German priest and nobleman, Conrad of Marburg. Now this seems like a story of immense fiction but as it happened so recently in this modern time we have documented proof this is true so why is it so hard to believe the Pope and cat story? Some historians have forgiven the rats. If the Black Death was airborne, then rats had nothing to do with it, exonerating Gregory. Cats Blamed for Spreading the Plague During the Middle Ages, it wasn't uncommon for cats to be killed, given their association with evil, Compora says. Dogs are sweet but they dont really have that self respect that cats do. People banged drums and kept the sparrow in the air not permitting them to land until they died of exhaustion! So a thing about the inquisition was that they would torture people to get confessions and such because that's a good way to make people say what you want to hear. You can say that Im addicted to it. *Coupons: Check out our coupons for stores like Checks Unlimited and CheapOair! The most likely targets were often older cat-owning peasant women (The Crazy Cat Ladies of their time) who were labeled witches and often burned alive at the stake. On June 13, 1233, the Pope issued the Vox in Rama to King Henry of Germany. And thats because its body is invested with the spirit of the Morning Star himself. He therefore gave his official blessing to the widespread persecution of cats across Europe. For he had inherited the problem of heresies which were blossoming across thirteenth century Christian Europe and challenging the 'universal' church. Henry was acquitted when he appealed to the bishop of Mainz and later that year Marburg himself was mysteriously murdered- probably at Henrys behest. Indeed the belief that the torture or killing of cats could break spells continued across northern Europe. Some believed that the disappearance of those cats helped rats spread the bubonic plague aka the Black Death that killed millions of people in the 1300s. Further, the plague wasnt a one-off event in Europe. Its disgusting the way people treat and exploit these great animals. Pope Innocent VIII came to power in the late 1400s, during the throes of witch crusades in Western Europe. By Gregorys decree, there was a target on the head of every black cat. I SAY GOOD FOR ALL THOSE SENSELESS HUMANOIDS. Once the lights came back on, from a dark corner, the figure of a man emerges. This man was Lucifer, who the whole company firmly believed to have been wronged by God. Wierd Tales, Vol 36. Hera are six really weird pets that you could actually own. There are two things we need to shed light on; whether Gregory IX endorse the newly-coined cathunt and whether the cathunt directly correlates with the black plague that happens 100 years after. According to Pope Gregory IX, cats were the embodiment of the devil himself. No one can say for sure how many cats were killed because of the association made between them and witchcraft by the Vox in Rama. Interesting article. However, historian Donald Engel believes that the Vox acted as a death warrant for the cat. Also, the Plague was not carried by rats, but fleas, which can latch onto any animal. Over many centuries, Egyptians found that a cat was the one creature that could make the world safe, according to Purina. This cruel practice continued until 1817 although the Kattenstoet continues to this day- involving stuffed cats instead. My guess is this had something to do with ancient cat worship in places like Egypt, which made its clams by farming the fertile land around the Nile.1. Also, in 1182, to aid the churchs vendetta against the Cathars, the French theologian Alain de Lille falsely claimed that the sect took its name from the cat instead of the real source, the Greek katharoi or pious ones. Gregory was a reluctant pontiff- and not just because of his age. (Accessed May 31, 2018). (Accessed June 1, 2018). They fly in the face of the Christian idea of God putting the natural world and its creatures here for humanitys benefit. It was one of the most deadly pandemics in history. Tomb of Ancient Viking High King Discovered, The Most Bizarre Relics From The Ancient Funeral Rite. (Ive decided not the repost the link here). The Nazcacat geoglyphwas only discovered last October. Im coming out pretty strong against this cat-plague connection, but the truth is I cant say for sure. He also became the first Pope to appoint inquisitors to actively root out such heretics. On January 23, 1229, he sent messages to Riga, Lubeck, Sweden, to Gotland with an appeal to begin . In the years ahead, feline-kind all across Europe saw their status slammed from a sacred and protected animal to a false idol. Eventually, the ItalianRenaissance would put this so far in the rearview, all we could think about wasfrilly collars. It was Gregorys past as an astute lawyer that connected him to his acts of justice within the church. Pope Benedict died Dec. 31, 2022, at the age of 95 in his residence at the . The plague spread so easily that everyone back in the medieval age believes that the plague transfer via smell and air. Good luck keeping cat population low for 500 years. Often fueled by a fear, individuals are often capable of doing illogical or terrible things as groups when given permission by authority figures. 23 April 2018, Vox in Rama, Pope Gregory IX, uoregon.edu, Conrad of Marburg, Kevin Knight, Catholic Encyclopaedia, 2017, Was there a great Cat Massacre in the Middle Ages? But it starts to fall apart once you roll it around in the ol brainpan. So as you say, cats couldnt have contained bubonic plague. And it gets repeated because it feels right to many people - it makes our ancestors look stupid and so make. For a lot of folks, everything you need to know about the Middle Ages you can find in Braveheart or Monty Pythonit was a simple, stupid period when superstition ruled the land, heads rolled daily, and people were covered in sh*t all the time. Queen Elizabeth I celebrated her coronation with the burning of a cat-stuffed effigy. Cats were seen as agents of the devil, throughout much of history, and slaughtered again centuries later in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Cats came to be seen as a symbol of witchcraft, and even as the embodiment of Satan himself. This bull, the story goes, declared cats as the instruments of Satan, and set Medieval Europe on a great cat purge, with special attention paid to black cats, who were particularly Luciferian. And neither of these areas were parts of the Holy Roman Empire and thus subject to anything Pope Gregory IX might have said (but didnt) about a no-cats policy. As a journalist, I spoke daily with public affairs officers who represented diverse government and corporate clients. Before the prospect of burning at the stake for having contact with the purring pets, Catholics around the the continent began slaughtering any feline that entered their property. Consider a quote from Rastafari leader Haile Selassie; Throughout history it has been the inaction of those who could have acted, the indifference of those who should have known better, the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most, that has made it possible for evil to triumph. Iz just as true during Dark Ages as iz now. Like, if I were to think of evil depictions on display in a museum, this would be one of them. Its true that paper cutouts of these furry creatures make nice imagery at Halloween parties. NASA is launching the DNA of some of the most prolific presidents in US history, The 1985 story of a bear that ate 77 pounds of Plabo Escobar's finest cocaine. He was born Ugolino di Conti but took the name Gregory when he becamethe pope. Once the initial hysteria died down, cats, like the would-be witches were left alone for a time, giving them time to repopulate- and remained prolific enough to continue to be culled. April 1st was originally celebrated as the New Year day, until in 1582 Pope . But in the final analysis cats just arent dogs. Locusts and every other kind because the sparrow not only ate grain but also insects the great 3 year famin followed and the official Chinese records showed 15 million people died of starvation but later studies done by experts from outside of China say the official numbers are fudged badly in an optimistic attempt to cover the true death toll of around 45 million plus some even say as high as 70 million!! In the 13th century, Pope Gregory IX, pope from 1227-1241, believed that cats actually carried the spirit of Satan himself within them. Actually, the murder of cats in Europe continued for hundreds of years, and another Plague swept through Europe again in the 17th Century. To learn more about me and my digital travels, visit myTwitterpage. Scientists back in the 19th century found out that the real transmission is through touch, and the most common carrier of the disease is the natural enemy to the previously butchered feline friend the rats. To think that all this fuss is over cats. Id already discounted that idea. What effects did it have? But, was it because of cats andrats? Indeed the belief that the torture or killing of cats could break spells continued across northern Europe. Denmarks Fastelavn held at the start of lent was based on the premise that for spring to begin, evil had to be banished. Lets see if the math adds up. I like cats, but I dont wear leopard skin or go around posting pictures of cats everywhere. Even in Egypt, where they still view cats as sacred animals, plague hits. When I was a kid, my mom thought that Id have my own talk show because I was always asking people lots of questions about themselves. As it went into the fourth and fifth years ! Based on these confessions, in 1233 Pope Gregory IX issued an official papal decree declaring that Satan was half-cat and sometimes took the form of cat. Both, however, rendered the Catholic Church redundant. Interestingly enough, the author of the article writes that one reason cats are evil is that they are the favored pets of witches. Actually, witches both modern ones and the one who were burned at the stake during Middle Ages owned cats because being close to nature is central to theirreligious beliefs. While there appears to be no evidence that Pope Gregory IX ever told people to kill cats, there have been smaller historical examples of Medieval folks killing cats for weird reasons. These new, heretical beliefs varied. On October 11, 1231, he appointed Conrad as the first grand inquisitor of Germany. Elsewhere in Europe, the legacy of cat killings passed into folk practices. What Im seeing here is a well-researched fact piece angering someone who kinda half-remembers something she thinks she read somewhere this one time. The flea that bit humans was specific to the black rat anyway. By removing many cats from the food chain, the population of rodents began to rise across Europe, as Asian and other foreign ships carrying rats brought them to European harbors. Thus, whether the population of cats went down or not, the plague would still exist. And anyone who tries to understand them as the devil incarnate or as a female marker hasnt spent enough time enjoying a cat walking all over them, kneading them or running from cucumbers. Fleas tend to prefer cat blood. What he did caused the persecution of domestic and stray cats for 500 years. 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