Tiles That Tell on Mischievous Cats

This summer I visited Copenhagen and its many historical landmarks and palaces. As Copenhagen’s medieval part of town was ravaged by large fires in the eighteenth century, I did not expect to come across many medieval treasures. Most of all, I did not expect to find anything on medieval cats.

Yet, there it was. While visiting the ruins under Christiansborg Palace, my eye fell on a tile of medieval origin. The description next to it read: “One of the tiles shows footprints of a cat who has walked on it, while the tile was still soft”. I could barely hide my enthusiasm! Hidden in a corner was a tile which confirmed a cat’s presence in medieval Denmark. As in other places in Europe, the cat came to Denmark later than the dog. It was only in the Middle Ages that the cat became more common due to its skill as mouser.

© Photo by Johanna Feenstra

The Cat in the Medieval Bestiary

Aberdeen University Library, MS 24  f. 23v (England, c 1200)

In medieval bestiaries, cats were usually depicted chasing rodents. In fact, the bestiary entry on the cat always precedes mus, the mouse, and is often associated and followed by another mouse catcher, called mustela, the weasel. Emphasis is placed on the cat’s predatory skills and sharp eyesight.[1] The entry on the cat in the Aberdeen Bestiary is a perfect example of this:

De musione \ Musio appellatus \ quod muribus infestus \ sit. Hunc vulgus catum \ a captura vocant. Alii \ dicunt quod captat, id est videt. \ Nam tanto acute cernit, \ ut fulgore luminis noc \ tis tenebras superet. Unde \ a Greco venit catus, id est ingeniosus.

Of the cat. The cat is called musio, mouse-catcher, because it is the enemy of mice. It is commonly called catus, cat, from captura, the act of catching. Others say it gets the name from capto, because it catches mice with its sharp eyes. For it has such piercing sight that it overcomes the dark of night with the gleam of light from its eyes. As a result, the Greek word catus means sharp, or cunning. (fol. 23v)

Purrpetrators: The Medieval Version

Many will be familiar with the Paws, Pee, and Pests: Cats among Medieval Manuscripts blog by dr Thijs Porck. A picture tweeted by prof dr Erik Kwakkel, and taken up by Porck, shows how cats in the fifteenth century already had a knack for putting their paws in places they shouldn’t.

Inky paw marks on 1445 ‘Lettere e commissioni di Levante’. Photograph: Emir Filipović. Dubrovnik State Archives.

The cat may have stood in an ink container before pouncing on the book. It is the medieval equivalent of a cat walking across your keyboard while you are working on something important. I speak from personal experience:

Puss in Books: Cats in Medieval Manuscripts II

In the Middle Ages, several musical instruments were used by minstrels, waits, troubadours, or anyone who fancied playing a tune. Medieval musical instruments could be organized in three categories: string, wind, and percussion. The term bas referred to soft instruments such as the rebec, lute, and other bowed or plucked string instruments. The term haut referred to louder instruments. For example, the tabor, sackbut, and pipe.

Music was a wonderful piece of entertainment in the Middle Ages. It is therefore not surprising that we find animals playing music in the marginalia of manuscripts as well. A lot of animals seem to have had some kind of musical talent, but today we will focus on the tunes of the cat.

Book of Hours, France, c. 1480-1500. Morgan Library.