Strange faces with human features, elongated or flattened bodies: why don’t cats in medieval manuscripts resemble real ones? The particular shapes given to these animals have nothing to do with the personal skill of the authors involved in their creation, but it is a precise choice given by the historical symbolism of the cat during the European Middle Ages.
There are several theories on this. The first and most widespread is that, as in other cases in the medieval West, the influence of the Catholic Church was important. Before Christianity spread to Europe, cats were much loved: as already happened among the Egyptians – who had elevated them to divinity – even among the ancient Greeks and Romans they were animals appreciated both for their work as hunters of mice and other invasive animals, and for their association with the female world, with freedom, sexuality and independence.
Given the pagan symbolism of the cat and its connection to feminine aspects considered unruly, it is very plausible that the medieval Church sought to eliminate it during the process of evangelization and cultural replacement in Europe. The characteristics attributed to the feline – sensuality, independence, ambiguity – were opposed to the ideal of the Christian woman, docile and pure, modeled on the image of the Virgin and strengthened by the tradition of courtly love. On the contrary, these traits were associated with the most feared female vices: lust, moral weakness, the tendency to temptation. It is no coincidence that Pope Innocent VIII defined cats as “favorite animals of the devil and companions of witches”.
Numerous superstitions contributed to favoring the demonization of the cat. In addition to being linked to heretics and feared for its ability to move in the dark – interpreted as a diabolical power, similar to the abduction of souls – the feline ended up at the center of beliefs that mixed religious fear and social prejudices. In an era in which anti-Semitism was deeply rooted, the rumor spread that Jews could transform themselves into cats to enter Christian homes and carry out sacrilegious acts, while it was believed that sorcerers and witches raised cats, especially black ones, as their familiars. These ideas, fueled by ignorance and suspicion, consolidated the evil image of the animal, which became the target of persecution and cruel rituals, often justified as acts of purification.
Medieval art was fundamentally religious, it had the aim of illustrating the most important aspects of Christian teaching and reflecting its ideals: among these was the belief, linked to the myth of creation, since it was thought that God had given life to animals so that they would be available to men. If, among many, dogs were symbols of loyalty and value and the ermine of purity, cats essentially became demonic beasts incapable of controlling themselves, with abnormal faces and twisted poses that emphasized their evil.
Another theory, however, holds that cats were actually welcome and coexisted peacefully with monks and religious people in convents and monasteries. Proof of this is the numerous depictions in manuscripts and the ink prints left by their paws on books. But why then, in many miniatures, do they appear so bizarre? Probably because the scribes tried to attribute human traits to them, making them more similar to small anthropomorphic figures, in line with medieval symbolism and imagery.
