Black Death: Are cats connected to this fatal plague pandemic?
Unlike dogs, cats are independent and cannot be controlled. So, there is a mixed attitude for these feline creatures. While some are in love with them, others aren’t. If you flip through the pages of history, you will find that cats have been treated with extremities through ages. The Egyptians are known to have worshipped cats for thousands of years. After conquering Egypt, the Romans realised that cats come in handy in protecting crops from. So they brought them to Europe.
However, in the middle of the 13th century, their attitude towards cats changed, thanks to Pope Gregory IX. On 13th June 1233, Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull (an official document from the Pope) called Vox in Rama establishing a link between cats, satanism and witchcraft. Throughout most of this medieval period, cats had a horrible time characterised by tortures and mass killing.
Many scholars believe it was because of depleted cat numbers that the Black Death or Black Plague, one of the most fatal pandemics in human history carried by rats from the East, was able to gain a foothold in Europe in the mid 14th century. As the number of cats decreased, the rat count began to increase significantly. Incidentally, the organisms causing Black Plague are harboured by fleas found on rats.
What is Black Plague?
This is a plague pandemic that took Europe, parts of Asia and North Africa by storm from 1346 to 1353. This ailment is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis that sneaks into the body through the skin and travels via the lymph system. The bacteria live in the digestive tracts of fleas that are mostly fund on rats. The initial plague outbreak in the 14th century Europe was the most virulent. In fact, it was responsible for the decimation of much of the populations of England. However, this wasn't the only Black Plague massacre that Europe experienced. There were many more until the beginning of the eighteenth century. One of the last major outbreaks that hit was the European population was the Great Plague of London, which took place in 1665-1666.
Vox in Rama: Why was it issued?
This bull declared cats to be the tools of Satan. You must be wondering what made the pope apprehend the association between cats and satanism or witchcraft, right? Well, he was probably influenced by writings of Walter Map, a renowned medieval author, who asserted that the Cathars, a group of Christians who had turned to vice, worshipped cats as part of their evil rituals.
Alarmed by the possibility of cats having evil, satanic powers, Pope Gregory IX set up inquisitions. One of the inquisitors was the German priest and nobleman Konrad von Marburg. His report pretty much matched with Map’s version. This is what made the Pope declare war against cats.
Feline persecution
The linking of cats, especially the ones with evil and witcher, led to their persecutions. All across western Europe, they were beaten and tortured, in the belief that it was a way to get rid of the evil.
Burning cats became popular in medieval France, where these creatures were either trapped in cages and burnt over. In Denmark, cats were beaten to death while in Belgium, it became a custom to throw felines from church belfries and finally burn them. The Brits, however, didn't follow these trends. In England, black cats were actually considered lucky while white cats were believed to be ghostly.
Was persecution of cats actually responsible for Black Plague?
Well, it seems unlikely. This pandemic was witnessed a century after the mass feline persecution of the 1230s. Moreover, this was neither the first nor the last plague outbreak that people have experienced. So, the cause and effect relationship between cat killing and Black Plague seems a bit far fetched.