For one, rate outnumber cats by a huge margin, like everywhere, and always have. I like cats, but I dont wear leopard skin or go around posting pictures of cats everywhere. The truth is that cats could not have prevented the black death. But, despite all the people who make their livings as cat psychologists, cats will just be cats. This bull, the story goes, declared cats as the instruments of Satan, and set Medieval Europe on a great cat purge, with special attention paid to black cats, who were particularly Luciferian. Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/Is-the-Vox-in-Rama-authentic-What-effects-did-it-have, Sheldon, Natasha. I adore cats, they are so zen. As a noble hailing from the prestigious noble family of Conti di Segni, Ugolino is still related to other popes such as Innocent III, Alexander IV, and Innocent XIII. According toSmithsonian Magazine, the Nazca geoglyphs may have been used for astrological, calendrical purposes as well as religious rituals to encourage rainfall and fertility. In any case, the various popes saw nothing wrong with burning heretics alive, so they already had a savage reputation. We have detected that you are using extensions to block ads. The Black Plague did happen. One should not direct them the affection due only to persons.. Firstly, they are greeted by an abnormally large frog or toad, whose behind they must kiss and then a man of fearful pallor and thinness whose task was to suck out every last remnant of faith in the Catholic Church from their soul. There are two types of people in this world: cat people, and not cat people. I SAY GOOD FOR ALL THOSE SENSELESS HUMANOIDS. As I understand it, people used small dogs for rat hunting. Cats breed quickly, know how to survive on their own, and are hard to catch. Cats are natural hunters. In fact, most people who believe the Europeans wiped out cats which caused the Black Death bull crap, is that cats werent the only animals used for catching rats. First the novice, then the master, then each one of the order who are worthy and perfect, kiss the cat on its buttocks. A quick Google search shows that a felinefemme fatalecat mask is conveniently available on Amazon for only $25.22. Im coming out pretty strong against this cat-plague connection, but the truth is I cant say for sure. This timeline stretched from 1346 to 1353, a little more than a century after Gregory. The novice kisses him and feels cold, [like] ice, and after the kiss the memory of the [C]atholic faith totally disappears from his heart. Elsewhere in Europe, the legacy of cat killings passed into folk practices. Nature tries to maintain a balance .. dogs, cats, chickens, and snakes all relate well to preying upon rats and fleas. Not only did the Egyptians hold the cat sacred in the form of Bast, a warrior goddess associated with fertility and the moon, but so too did the Romans, for whom the cat was one of the symbols of the goddess of freedom, Liberta. And thats the official take on Halloween from theVatican News. Many of these rodents had fleas that carried diseases including the Black Plague. Some believed that the disappearance of those cats helped rats spread the bubonic plague aka the Black Death that killed millions of people in the 1300s. A witch riding a broomstick with a black cat. I am in France since 3 years and I would see the amount of cats I saw here during that time, maybe in a day or two in Turkey. Where do we get our stuff? Retrieved from https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/02/06/in-the-middle-ages-devil-fearing-christians-killed-cats-which-carried-the-unintended-consequence-of-increasing-the-rat-population-and-the-spread-of-the-black-death/, Horrox, Rosemary. cats were only interested in our rat infested granaries. As mentioned, this Pope initiated what has been described as the feline Holocaust 3 in Europe. as a dvm (research quickly with phd, now DO, but still love animals) I agree about cat fanatics but this loser has all wrong about the need for cats to kill the Y Pestis flea vector rats; also, that species of flea does not infest on cats or dogs- their anticoagulant is perfect match for RATTUS NORweigica, and humans; not even mice suit them; his map of plague is laughingly inaccurate. Forgive us! says the master, and the one next to him repeats this, a third responding, We know, master! A fourth says And we must obey. 4, So whats up with this? Neither does rogue operative, Jason Bourne. The Church had already accused the Waldenses of worshipping the devil in the form of a cat. However, historian Donald Engel believes that the Vox acted as a death warrant for the cat. The people of the time may have felt that this was the end of days, but the wake of the plague was nothing but an opportunity for survivors. Cats came to be seen as a symbol of witchcraft, and even as the embodiment of Satan himself. The Vox described the depraved rituals of the cult in detail, portraying the devil worshipped by the witches as a shadowy half cat and half man figure. He was born Ugolino di Conti but took the name Gregory when he becamethe pope. What he did caused the persecution of domestic and stray cats for 500 years. Denmark's Fastelavn held at the start of lent was based on the premise that for spring to begin, evil had to be banished. Henry was acquitted when he appealed to the bishop of Mainz and later that year Marburg himself was mysteriously murdered- probably at Henrys behest. Do you believe that cats are invested with the spirit of Mr. Morningstar. (Accessed June 1, 2018). Wikimedia Commons. He tended to treat all those accused as guilty until proven innocent and threatened all those who would not confess with the flames. Over many centuries, Egyptians found that a cat was the one creature that could make the world safe, according to Purina. But how did cats become to be seen as evil? if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,600],'historyofyesterday_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_5',111,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historyofyesterday_com-large-mobile-banner-2-0');Ancient Peruvians may have been attracted to cats in a way similar to Egyptians. Then, there is the fact that cats just arent good ratters-, which is why dogs; especially terriers are employed to catch rodents. Retrieved from https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/ravens-memory-unfair-trade/. 1999. He said they ate too much grain and it was the responsibility of every person to kill a sparrow if they saw one and they were not to give up until they achieved it !!.. Cats absolutely devastate wildlife when out in nature, killing millions of birds and having been responsible for extinction of species. (along with other predators including snakes, which had long since carried the label of being evil). The Popes were all lecherous greedy thieves seeking nothing but power for themselves & their families. The most you can say about cats from this papal bull is that they are perhaps among the icons worshipped by a Satanic cult. Theres a little bit about a cat in the third paragraph but what Gregory is really talking about here is a ritual carried out by a Satanic sect, as reported by an overzealous inquisitor named Conrad von Marburg. Missionary Activity under Pope Gregory the Great. This description created an image that was to be used for all future depictions of witches sabbats- and one that established the cat as a creature of the devil. Even for modern times, that is not a young age to take on the papal role. However, historian Donald Engel believes that the Vox acted as a death warrant for the cat. Pope Innocent VIII came to power in the late 1400s, during the throes of witch crusades in Western Europe. Black Death. While there is no evidence that cats in medieval England were persecuted, their mousing skills were likened to the devils ability to catch souls, with the fifteenth-century merchant William Caxton remarking how the devil playeth ofte with the synnar, lyke as the catte doth with the mous. Some historians believe that the persecutions across Europe so depleted cat numbers that mouse- and rat-catching by cats diminished- one of the reasons why the Bubonic Plague took such a deadly hold in Europe during the fourteenth century. The only problem is that this story probably isnt true. The Vox (or Voice in Rama, after the city of Ramah in ancient Judah) beseeched the archbishops Mainz and Hildesheim to lend their full support to Conrad in his efforts to root out the cult and its adherents. From there, its just a couple of logical leaps to the connection to the Black Death: inspired by Pope Greg IXs bull, everyone across Europe killed off all the cats. Others are less sure. On a personal level, my parents taught me the value of travel when I was young, and since then,Ive been an avid traveler I have visited 20 countries. What effects did it have? Cats are awesome rodent hunters. In a papal bull of 1233 he denounced the black cat as diabolical. Though, really, they were dealing with a cat infestation and decided to make it an excuse to drink. The novice then feasted with the rest of the congregation, after which they assembled to pay homage to a black cat which emerged from a kind of statue which normally stands in the place where these meetings are held., The whole coven was required to kiss the cats behind, and once they had done this, a wild sexual orgy occurred. Conrads methods for identifying heretics were questionable to some. We know they had terrier like dogs in Medieval Europe and that they were used as ratters. Pope Gregory IX did not say cats are evil, and did not order people to kill cats. Cat burning became a favorite medieval pastime in France, where cats were suspended over fires in cages or doused and set alight- even chased on fire through the streets by cat chasers. Not only were they a source of companionship they were also a status symbol and source of worship. Purina. https://historycollection.co/thou-shalt-not-suffer-a-cat-to-live-why-pope-gregory-ixs-vox-in-rama-implicated-cats-in-devil-worship/3/, Of course, theres also the wee tiny fact that the paranoia about witchcraft didnt really start to get into full swing until the 16th and 17th century, and that included black cats. (2017, June 6). Dogs are sweet but they dont really have that self respect that cats do. Used as widespread clickbait, a frequently repeated story claims that in the 13th century Pope Gregory IX, who led the Catholic Church from 1227 to 1241 and has been remembered for initiating the Papal Inquisition against heretics, suffered from a serious case of cat contempt. The Bubonic plague was carried not by rats themselves but their fleas; fleas which could just as easily transfer to dogs- and cats. I thank you for your service to this great multiverse. The truth of the plague variations that wiped out Europe is, they were the results of a perfect storm. 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