International Cat Day takes place in August. We thought Medievalist.net should do something to commemorate this day and let you know that cat pics existed in the Middle Ages as well.
Cat playing music
From New York Public Library, this image was found in a 15th century Book of Hours
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Riding a Cat to Battle
From the Welcome Library – this image from a 1420s manuscript depicting the Apocalypse shows a warrior riding cat.
Three Cats and a Mouse
From British Library manuscript Harley 4751
Cat playing rebec
Another images from the British Library Harley 6563, from around the 1320s, where a cat plays a musical instrument.
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Cat, monkey and heads
From the Walters Art Museum, this 13th century Persian manuscript showing the Wonders of creation features lighthouses with a cat, a monkey, and the heads of animals and humans.
Fat Cat
From the Germanisches National Museum in Nuremberg, this image from about 1500 has the cat catching the mouse before it gets to the food.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Cats
Leonardo da Vinci drew this page of cat images around the year 1513.
Cat with mouse
From MS. Rawl. C. 328 at Bodley Library in Oxford University, dating to the 14th century. It doesn’t look good for the mouse!
Cats in the Book of Kells
The famous 8th century Gospel Book, now at Trinity College Library in Dublin, even has a few cats in it.
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Cat in the house
From the 14th-century Tacuina sanitatis, this scene of medieval daily life includes a cat watching as a lady tends to a pot on the fire.
Cats vs Mice
You can find many images, such as this one from a 13th-century Northumberland Bestiary, in which cats hunt and chase mice.
Cats from medieval China
This 11th century image from Sung Dynasty China features a cat as well as cat with a monkey
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Cat at the Last Supper
Medieval and Renaissance artists might place a cat in some historical scenes, such as this fresco of the Last Supper by Cosimo Rosselli, which was done around 1481 and can be found in the Sistine Chapel.
Lorenzo Lotto’s Cat
The Italian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto included a cat being scared off by an angel as part of his Recanati Annunciation that he made around 1534.
Cats can’t win them all
This poor cat is being ridden by a mouse in Paris, Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, MS 143, a late 14th-century manuscript.
Cat in a snail shell
Detail of a marginal image of a cat in a snail shell, from the British Library MS Stowe 17
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The Cat as Pall-bearer
In this Book of Hours, Tilbert the Cat is carrying the front of Renard the Fox’s bier. From Walters Art Museum Manuscript W.102
The Rocket Cat
This 16th century manuscript (UPenn Ms. Codex 109) includes an image of cat with a rocket on its back. It comes from a work that examines gunpowder and weaponry – around this period, one idea was to use doves and cats loaded with flammable devices to set fire to enemy positions. Hopefully it wasn’t done too many times!
Medieval Awesomeness: Cats in Manuscripts was created by Artful Images.
And finally…in 2013 this image from Emir Filipović went viral – a 15th century cat making its own art!
There are many, many more medieval images of cats. Check out:
International Cat Day takes place in August. We thought Medievalist.net should do something to commemorate this day and let you know that cat pics existed in the Middle Ages as well.
Cat playing music
From New York Public Library, this image was found in a 15th century Book of Hours
Riding a Cat to Battle
From the Welcome Library – this image from a 1420s manuscript depicting the Apocalypse shows a warrior riding cat.
Three Cats and a Mouse
From British Library manuscript Harley 4751
Cat playing rebec
Another images from the British Library Harley 6563, from around the 1320s, where a cat plays a musical instrument.
Cat, monkey and heads
Fat Cat
From the Germanisches National Museum in Nuremberg, this image from about 1500 has the cat catching the mouse before it gets to the food.
Leonardo da Vinci’s Cats
Leonardo da Vinci drew this page of cat images around the year 1513.
Cat with mouse
From MS. Rawl. C. 328 at Bodley Library in Oxford University, dating to the 14th century. It doesn’t look good for the mouse!
Cats in the Book of Kells
The famous 8th century Gospel Book, now at Trinity College Library in Dublin, even has a few cats in it.
Cat in the house
From the 14th-century Tacuina sanitatis, this scene of medieval daily life includes a cat watching as a lady tends to a pot on the fire.
Cats vs Mice
You can find many images, such as this one from a 13th-century Northumberland Bestiary, in which cats hunt and chase mice.
Cats from medieval China
This 11th century image from Sung Dynasty China features a cat as well as cat with a monkey
Cat at the Last Supper
Medieval and Renaissance artists might place a cat in some historical scenes, such as this fresco of the Last Supper by Cosimo Rosselli, which was done around 1481 and can be found in the Sistine Chapel.
Lorenzo Lotto’s Cat
The Italian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Lotto included a cat being scared off by an angel as part of his Recanati Annunciation that he made around 1534.
Cats can’t win them all
This poor cat is being ridden by a mouse in Paris, Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, MS 143, a late 14th-century manuscript.
Cat in a snail shell
Detail of a marginal image of a cat in a snail shell, from the British Library MS Stowe 17
The Cat as Pall-bearer
In this Book of Hours, Tilbert the Cat is carrying the front of Renard the Fox’s bier. From Walters Art Museum Manuscript W.102
The Rocket Cat
This 16th century manuscript (UPenn Ms. Codex 109) includes an image of cat with a rocket on its back. It comes from a work that examines gunpowder and weaponry – around this period, one idea was to use doves and cats loaded with flammable devices to set fire to enemy positions. Hopefully it wasn’t done too many times!
Medieval Awesomeness: Cats in Manuscripts was created by Artful Images.
And finally…in 2013 this image from Emir Filipović went viral – a 15th century cat making its own art!
Medieval Cats from Larsdatter.com
European Renaissance Art at the Cat Museum on Pinterest
Top 10 Medieval Butt-Licking Cats from Discarding Images
A Rocket Cat? Early Modern Explosives Treatises at Penn
Paws, Pee and Mice: Cats among Medieval Manuscripts
Curious Cat Walks Over Medieval Manuscript
Lolcats of the Middle Ages
You can also learn more about cats in the Middle Ages. See:
Why Cats were hated in Medieval Europe
Pet Care Advice from the Middle Ages
Killing Cats in the Medieval Period: An Unusual episode in the history of Cambridge, England
How to Swing a Mouse: Intersections of Female and Feline in Medieval Europe
The role of the feline in the medieval society of the North Atlantic region
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