Medieval Cats

Images of cats appear extensively in medieval manuscripts. They are depicted as pets, as mousers, in bestiaries, in marginalia and in other surprising images – for example, depictions of cats in religious iconography. This charming gift book presents a wealth of cat imagery from a wide variety of medieval sources and will have a wide appeal for cat lovers everywhere. The text is peppered with fascinating facts about the medieval view of cats and amusing anecdotes about people and their pets in the Middle Ages.

Here is an extract from the book: 'Cats often had full rein of the dining hall, a situation which books of courtesy despaired of, asking that owners refrain from petting cats sitting on tables. They also invaded bedrooms, for which the Boke of Nurture asked with little success that the owner “dryve out dogge and catte, or els geve them a clout”.'

About the author
Kathleen Walker-Meikle completed her PhD at University College London on late medieval pet keeping. She is now a Wellcome Trust research fellow at the University of York, studying animal bites and venoms in medieval medicine.