Greetings!
>Ironically, anchorites were allow to keep a cat as a companion. This was
>sanctioned by the Church. I am not sure if this was for mousing purposes
>or to relieve loneliness. Julian of Norwich is known to have kept cats and
>is often illustrated with one at her feet.
Yep, I knew about this, which makes it hard to believe in constant cat
persecution in the Middle Ages (as opposed to later--big beef of mine when
early modern behavior is attributed to the Middle Ages). There are also so
many manuscript illuminations featuring cats chasing mice and the like that
I find it hard to believe that no one realized cats' role in rodent
population control before the 1600s.
Susan
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