Cats and Witchcraft: How Cats became the Devil’s Consort

According to a “Witch Finder Manual” from the 1600s, owning a cat was a mark of a witch.

According to Nicholas Remy, a French witch finder, not only could the devil appear in cat’s form, but cats were basically demonic.

In the Middle Ages cats were persecuted and their numbers fell sharply.So how did things get so bad for cats? How did this anti-cat hysteria come about? Let’s take a look at the reasons why.

Kissing a Cat’s Backside

The starting point for our story is the 12^th century and a cult called the Albigensians. They worshipped the devil who was good enough to put in an appearance at their satanic masses. The devil took the form of a black cat who demanded the attendees kiss his posterior.

It’s postulated that this explains the other name for the Albigensians – the Cathars – a blend of “cat” and “*rse”. (This is a quaint idea but Cathar actually comes from a Greek word meaning “purified”.)

Pope Gregory VII
Not a big cat lover

The Catholic Church

By 1233, Pope Gregory VII was decidedly twitchy about devil worship, and blamed lack of faith in the Catholic Church as the work of the devil. However, whilst stories broke of devil worship and evil deeds, some counter claims surfaced. People appealed to Pope Gregory's sense of justice, claiming that his Inquisitor, a man named Conrad, had extracted confessions by threatening people with being burnt at the stake.

A witch (woman) with her familiar (cat).

However, Gregory’s reacted by strengthening the laws, granting his Inquisitors extra powers to persecute suspected heretics. To this end Pope Gregory issued a Papal Bull, the “Vox in Rama” (Voice in Rama). This is thought to be the first official document to condemn black cats as the devil incarnate and effectively became a death warrant for our feline friends.  

With encouragement from the church on their quest to stamp out the devil, this link between cats and witchcraft strengthened. Persecution was encouraged, indeed it was mandatory, and to protest was to risk being labelled sympathetic to dark forces.

Common Sense Makes things Worse

However, some people still clung to the remnants of common sense. In the 1480s when Inquisitors appealed to a local church for help prosecuting suspected witches, the local clergy refused. Again, the Pope of the day, Innocent XII reacted by beefing up the law.

On 5 December 1484, Pope Innocent issued a Papal Bull, the Malleus Maleficarum. In it he gave explicit instructions about the Church’s duty to stamp out witchcraft. A witch was described as:

“Unmindful of their own salvation and straying from the Catholic Faith.”

It seemed witches were responsible for all the ills of the world:

“Slain infants…also the offspring of cattle…blasted the produce of the earth, the grapes of the vine, the fruits of the trees”

Witches Familiars

Pope Innocent heaped responsibility for a host of terrifying afflictions at the feet of so-called witches, thereby increasing suspicion within communities, and fuelling unease. Cats were said to be a witch’s familiar; a way in which the devil could take on solid form, and so owning a cat became a high-risk occupation if you wanted to stay healthy.

Ironically, Pope Innocent also found a way to twist ill fate in his favour as proof of the malevolence of the witch. He believed that witches had the power of revenge from beyond the grave.

If you think about it, with so few cats around, the rat population rose. With rats came fleas which carried the bubonic plague. Between 1300 and 1700, when cat persecution was at its height, the Black Death roamed unchecked across Europe and must have seemed like the devil was rife. This led to further persecution...

The Ultimate Irony

Whilst people had no idea of the link between rats and the plague, with one in every four people dying of the plague it must have seemed there was evil all around. Ironic, when you think that the cat, which could have helped, was being mercilessly persecuted, and tortured to death at a time of mankind’s greatest need. 

Halloween - Cats and the Undead.

For centuries cats have been linked to the supernatural - and never more so than at Halloween when spirits from the underworld are said to roam the earth. This superstition has its roots in Samhain, a Celtic festival marking the start of winter, when a portal between the spirit and physical worlds briefly opened. The Anglo-Saxons adopted this festival but renamed it 'Halloween', and later the Christian church rebranded it as the eve of All Saints Day. However, folklore in many countries has it that the devil can enter man’s domain throughout the year, using the cat as his agent. 

 

Old English tradition said a cat roaming in a graveyard was in search of a soul to possess and worse still, a cat sitting on a gravestone had claimed the deceased for the devil. Indeed, two cats fighting in a graveyard were interpreted as a battle between an angel and the devil, and in medieval Europe black cats represented the devil and white, a healer.

 During the middle ages in Eastern Europe, it was said that a cat jumping over a corpse transformed the deceased into a vampire, whilst in Northumbria a cat that walked over a body would be killed, so as to preserve the soul of the departed. Remarkably similar superstitions existed in ancient China.  On the death of his owner, a cat would be given away until after the burial. The relatives believed that if the cat leapt over the body, the corpse would rise up and miss its chance of redemption.   

 On a more positive note, the Malayan Jakurs held that on their death, a cat would lead them through the fires of hell, spraying as he went to cool the path to heaven. Likewise the Egyptian Pharaoh, Tutankhamen, was led safely to the underworld by a black cat.

A Norse legend, tells that Freya, the goddess of love and fertility, rode in a chariot pulled by two black cats although the latter were actually horses that had been possessed by the devil. The cats served Freya well for seven years, and at the end of this time were rewarded by being turned into witches – disguised as cats.

Freya- and her cat drawn chariot.

Centuries old insecurities led the cat to be labelled as the witch’s familiar. The Hungarians even specified the age at which this happened and the cat could be spared by incising a crucifix on its skin before it reached seven. Scotland even had its own sinister cat, the Cait Sith or Highland Fairy Cat; more demon than fairy, this monstrous black and white animal with a spot on his chest, was said to be a transformed witch.

 

So strong was the association of cats with witchcraft that in 15^th century Europe they were synonymous as a symbol of evil. Pope Innocent VIII legalised the persecution of witches, and many women who kept cats were tortured. The hysteria spread, harming women and cats was encouraged in the name of ‘casting out the devil.’ When Elizabeth I came to the throne, some Protestants staged mocking ceremonies of this superstition, by filling a wicker dummy of the Pope with cats, which they threw onto a bonfire. The screams of the cats was said to be,
‘The language of the devil from the body of the Holy Father.’
This sick circle continued with Catholics shaving cats' heads, to represent protestant friars, and then hanging the poor animals.

The Ainu (Aboriginal people of Japan) had a much healthier respect, or even fear, of hurting a cat. Their folklore held that a cat would avenge his death by bewitching the killer, causing him to waste away whilst acting like a cat, and die horribly whilst mewing. The Ainu called this possession ‘Meko Pagoat’ or ‘cat punishment.’

A Japanese ghost cat.

The victim could avoid this fate by eating the cat that he had killed. Indeed, it wasn’t too late even if symptoms started to develop, since killing another feline and that one instead could affect a cure!

Consider then the Irish, three hundred years ago, who believed that to kill a cat brought seventeen years bad luck. A man who drowned a cat would himself die by drowning, and a farmer could expect all his cattle to die. Although a broth of boiled cat was said to cure tuberculosis, people were so afraid of the consequences, that they hired professional ‘hit men’ to kill the cat for them and hence take the bad luck.

The last word goes to the Cat-Goblins of Provence. These are spirits that after sunset appear as cats with glowing eyes, who like nothing better than to cause mischief to humans. The traveller is advised to cover his own eyes against them, seek the help of the saints and make for a lighted building – an excellent excuse to find the nearest hostelry in which to recover!
Happy Halloween everyone!

 

The Horse Accused of Witchcraft.

A modern day dancing horse.

During my delvings into things historical (researching my next book, ‘Eulogy’s Secret’) this true story caught my attention and I decided to share it with you. It is the tale of a 16^th century horse trainer, William Banks, and his dancing horse, Marocco – an act so good that they were accused of witchcraft!

Living in Elizabethan England, William Banks is the earliest recorded horse trainer. It seems likely that Banks started life as a retainer of the Earl of Essex, working in his stables, and Banks is first mentioned in 1591 as visiting Shrewsbury fair with a white performing horse.

 It seems the success of this mare, (who could count money, bow and curtsy, and pick out different colours) whetted Banks appetite for animal training as he then sold everything he owned, bought a small bay horse, Marocco, (named after a type of saddle) and moved to London. Marocco was small, lithe, muscular and intelligent. Legend has it that Banks shod Marocco in silver, but his daring paid off as the horse was an immediate success.

Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I painted to commerate victory over the Spanish Armada.

Banks taught Marocco to dance on two or four legs, return a glove to a specific member of the crowd, bow to the Queen of England but refuse to bow to the King of Spain (England’s deadliest enemy), count the value of a coin with his hoof, and even play dead so effectively that members of the audience burst into tears.

Part of Marocco’s appeal was that he was that he was a cheeky; he could urinate on request and play tricks such as:-

“Discern a maid from a maulkin.”

Banks would order his horse to bring him a chaste virgin from the audience, and then a harlot from the streets. By the mid 1590’s Banks was a wealthy man and pamphlets circulated country wide celebrating Marocco.

“Ballad shewing the strange qualities of a young nag called Morocco.”

But if it’s possible, Banks’ act was too good. Whilst on tour, visiting Oxford and Shrewsbury audiences began to mutter about witchcraft: that Banks was a sorcerer and Marocco his familiar. So Banks returned to safer ground in London.

But in his absence London had changed. Banks no longer had the only performing animal act and Marocco was being out done by the novelty of camels and elephants. Ever the showman Banks hit on a great idea for a publicity stunt. He led Marocco up the 1,000 step spiral staircase to the original (pre-fire of London) St Pauls Cathedral, to dance on the roof. Amazed, crowds stood in the street below staring up to see the horse “on top of Powles.”

The original (pre-fire of London) St Pauls Cathedral.

Seeking new and bigger audiences Banks took Marocco to France. It seemed the horse knew different colours and was able to give a key, to a member of the crowd wearing a purple, red, blue or green dress. But this was too much for the French and both Banks and Marocco were arrested on charge of sorcery, on threat of being burnt alive. The resourceful Banks eventually proved their innocence by asking Marocco to kiss a crucifix. After this, their accusers declared that the horse was inspired by the Holy Spirit, and freed the both.

After this experience Banks return to England and it is not known if Marocco was retired, or died in harness. Mentions of the pair stop around 1606 and Banks never trained another horse, but used the money accrued during his showman days to open a tavern.

 

(My midweek post reveals how Marocco did his tricks.)