If they were dumb, then that means were comparatively smart. He is mostly known for issuing the Decretales and starting the Papal Inquisition. 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. Although the explicit heretic activities mentioned within the Vox in Rama do mention something about our feline friend, this doesn't mean that Gregory IX endorse cathunt. For the worship of the cat had its basis in the pagan past. If these furry creatures association with fictitious international criminals isnt enough, cats also have been linked to witchcraft: In the Middle Ages, women who owned black cats came under suspicion as did the cats, who were assumed to bewitches in disguise and were burned at the stake. Wikimedia Commons. While there were no immediate effects of the unjust cathunt, Europe will be affected in the years to come, with the rise of the Bubonic Plague. Gregorys response was to issue the Vox in Rama. 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. The truth is that cats could not have prevented the black death. We have detected that you are using extensions to block ads. The Bubonic plague was carried not by rats themselves but their fleas; fleas which could just as easily transfer to dogs- and cats. But in the final analysis cats just arent dogs. Next the myth of toxoplasmosis! I came just to quickly peruse the article in attempts to finally finding out whether or not there was validity to the Pope being the plausible cause of the Black Plague in hopes that he did indeed cause it, since today is Sunday and when I refuse to go to Church with my grandmother I could hit her with this, and it could be a legitimate reason for me not attending Church because the Pope caused millions of people to die from the Black Death/Plague, and I am in no support of mass killing. We know they had terrier like dogs in Medieval Europe and that they were used as ratters. Though, really, they were dealing with a cat infestation and decided to make it an excuse to drink. This dudes job was to rid Germany of heretics, so he had plenty of reason to stoke the Popes fears of heretical activity (gotta keep that job). All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. The most you can say about cats from this papal bull is that they are perhaps among the icons worshipped by a Satanic cult. Was considering writing a song about the folly of feline flaying, now Im not so sure. Both rats and pigeons would make a great next plague material though, The bull does not, however, dictate that Catholics across Europe kill all cats to stop Satan Islam doesnt tell Muslims to kill pigs but they still chase and try to kill one by kicking and hitting if they see it on the street because they believe it is evil and forbidden. The mass murder of cats was not the only cause of the Black Plague, but it removed a crucial natural predator of the flea-carrying rats that spread the disease. On October 11, 1231, he appointed Conrad as the first grand inquisitor of Germany. 1999. some particularly superstitious believers seized on the idea that the black cats were servants of Satan. Cats and the Black Plague. With Halloween is around the corner, Chairman Meow is reminded of a time hundreds of years ago when similar institutional dogma helped fuel the outbreak of The Black Plague across Europe, leading to the (ignorant) mass killing of cats in the 14th century. His condemnation of cats may not be responsible for the spread of black death, but it's definitely connected to the decline in cat populations at the time, and the proliferation of rat populations. Did Pope Gregorys comfort with the law cause him tooverstephis station as the pope? 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. Public Domain. OVERPOPULATION OF HUMANS IS THE RUINATION OF THE PLANET. Although he did not approve the use of torture in the interrogation of suspects, Gregory did pass the law that sent unrepentant heretics to the fire and in some cases repentant heretics to prison for life. I dont know what to make of the authors contention that we like to hate on the middle ages. Now this seems like a story of immense fiction but as it happened so recently in this modern time we have documented proof this is true so why is it so hard to believe the Pope and cat story? Interesly, June 7, 2016, The spooky history of how cats bewitched us, Abigail Tucker, The Washington Post, October 31, 2016, The History of the cat in the Middle Ages (Part 2): The Black cat as the devil in Christian sects, L A Vocelle, The Great Cat: The Cat in History, Art, and Literature. Ugolino chooses the name Gregory IX, as he assumed the office at the monastery of St. Gregory ad Septem Solia and fully embracing the papal supremacy policy following the footsteps of Gregory VII and Innocent III. Conrads methods, however, yielded results and in 1231, the Archbishops of Trier and Mainz wrote to the Pope, full of praise for their heretic catcher. Thanks for writing this! Besides, it mutated into septicemic and pneumonic forms, thus spreading even faster. Once the initial hysteria died down, cats, like the would-be witches were left alone for a time, giving them time to repopulate- and remained prolific enough to continue to be culled. Either way, his account cant be true. Because the powers that be dictated that the cat composed one of the main identifiers of a witch, the Church officially excommunicated the entire species. Then, when the rats came bearing the Plague, there were no mousers left to keep the disease in check.3. To understand why suspicions of cats persist, you need to go back to the 13th Century, whenPope Gregory IXhad a definite opinion of cats and it wasnt a positive one. Cats were seen as agents of the devil, throughout much of history, and slaughtered again centuries later in New England during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Elsewhere in Europe, the legacy of cat killings passed into folk practices. 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. On January 23, 1229, he sent messages to Riga, Lubeck, Sweden, to Gotland with an appeal to begin . Fewer cats, more rats, more fleas, and more plague. Like most diseases, were hard pressed to find thebad guy. The Bubonic plague was carried not by rats themselves but their fleas; fleas which could just as easily transfer to dogs- and cats. Wikimedia Commons. Oh and I like dogs but dog people kind of irritate as they always say or think negative stuff about cats, like cats are arseholes. In 1233, Pope Gregory IX's "Vox in Rama," a warning against the perils of witchcraft, accused its targets of canoodling with a black cat that was actually Lucifer in disguise. Why did Pope Gregory IX issue Vox in Rama in the first place? Although witch trials did occur on a local scale, they were mainly for the practice of pre-Christian beliefs and tried in secular rather than ecclesiastical courts. Its also true that there was a pope at the time who was not a fan of cats, who banned them. The account began by describing the initiation of novices to the coven. Chairman Meow Says: Iz so awful that such a time occurred in our history. Since the ninth century AD, the Canon Episcopi of the Catholic Church had deemed belief in witchcraft to be a heresy in itself. So, rather than being a document banning cats from Europe, it was a letter sent to a city warning them about a cult. A witch and her cat. A pandemic so severe that it kills more than 50 million people in Europe in a couple of years, and killed more than 200 million people worldwide. While there appears to be no evidence that Pope Gregory IX ever told people to kill cats, there have been smaller historical examples of Medieval folks killing cats for weird reasons. One of these was the sparrow! Neither does rogue operative, Jason Bourne. 23 April 2018, Vox in Rama, Pope Gregory IX, uoregon.edu, Conrad of Marburg, Kevin Knight, Catholic Encyclopaedia, 2017, Was there a great Cat Massacre in the Middle Ages? Thanks for publishing! In the fourth century, a Christian monk named Evagrius Ponticus wrote down what's known as the "eight evil thoughts": gluttony, lust, avarice, anger, sloth, sadness . 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. Classical Cats: The Rise and fall of the Sacred Cat, Donald W Engels, Psychology Press. Pope Gregory IX How did this come about? Does the dwindling population of cats indirectly cause the infamous Black Death? I SAY GOOD FOR ALL THOSE SENSELESS HUMANOIDS. Guess what? 1999. The following rites of this [sect] are carried out: When any novice is to be received among them and enters the sect of the damned for the first time, the shape of a certain frog [or toad] appears to him. Elsewhere in Europe, the legacy of cat killings passed into folk practices. Its funny thinking about cats as the symbol of evil. Conrads methods for identifying heretics were questionable to some. Indeed the belief that the torture or killing of cats could break spells continued across northern Europe. Is the Vox in Rama authentic? No one can say for sure how many cats were killed because of the association made between them and witchcraft by the Vox in Rama. I was among the attendees of this event, and can attest that it was a doozy. 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. This sudden lack of cats led to an increase in rat infestation which in turn increased the spread of disease, the most devastating being the Bubonic Plague. The truth of the plague variations that wiped out Europe is, they were the results of a perfect storm. But the association between cats and gender is not a new one. Cats are awesome rodent hunters. no; mice? So theres a lot of weak info out there about the backwards things that Medieval people were wont to do. In any case, the various popes saw nothing wrong with burning heretics alive, so they already had a savage reputation. One example is the idea that Catholic fear drove people, including Pope Gregory, to wipe out cats, which resulted in a population explosion among plague-infected rodents, thus leading to the Black Death. Nature tries to maintain a balance .. dogs, cats, chickens, and snakes all relate well to preying upon rats and fleas. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Museum Hack leads small group, VIP museum tours that are fun, fast-paced and surprisingly cool. If anything, the cathunt is Konrads interpretation of the papal bull. The Sphinx being the most obvious representation of their reverence of cats, Egyptians also covered their walls with images ofregal-lookingcats and made fine statues of them too. Im not saying it was a great time to be alive, but it was a more complex time than people give it credit for. STOP W/ THE BABIES ALREADY. I have no idea where you get the idea that cats place is in the wild. Of course, the Bubonic Plague also motivated the kitty killings, as many believed that cat germs contributed to the plagues spread. Enter the ancestors of Garfield the Cat. It mentioned Pope Gregorys hate on for cats. Queen Elizabeth I celebrated her coronation with the burning of a cat-stuffed effigy. However, history shows that the Black Death, which ravaged Europe in the mid 1300s, was actually caused by rats and the fleas on them. Even today, the Vatican still throws shade at cats. Thou Shalt not suffer a Cat to Live: Why Pope Gregory IXs Vox in Rama Implicated Cats in Devil Worship. Lastly, a bit of science about the plague: the disease is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is initially transmitted by fleas, which pass it to their hosts. Share this article your friends will love it too! By rough estimates, as many as 200 million people died. That misguided stereotype is why witches are still depicted with black cats to this day. Indeed the belief that the torture or killing of cats could break spells continued across northern Europe. And the Black Death didnt just travel to Europeit did its thing in Egypt, too, where it may have done more damage than it did in England.7. Cats just arent dogs, and I respect and love them specifically for that reason. For years there was a debate if the Black Death and the Bubonic Plague were the same, adding speculation to the rat spreading theory. Retrieved from http://www.kattenstoet.be/en/page/497-511/the-cat-throwing.html, MedicineNet.com. Apparently torture produced some pretty convincing confessions from people who worshipped the devil and his black cat. But how did cats become to be seen as evil? Actually, the murder of cats in Europe continued for hundreds of years, and another Plague swept through Europe again in the 17th Century. THE HUMAN OVER-POPULATION IS CAUSING ANIMAL SPECIES TO GO EXTINCT. (2017, June 6). However, it was also a piece of papal legislation that was notable in another way, for the Vox was the first papal bull to associate the cat with witchcraft. (along with other predators including snakes, which had long since carried the label of being evil). 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. Statues of black cats dont come to life, and you sure as sh*t cant get a cat to walk backwards and let you kiss its butthole.5. These new, heretical beliefs varied. Anyone with a thing against cats may get some satisfaction from a weird history "fact" circulating on the internet. Cats were later blamed for the Black Death (13461352), though rats were actually the culprit. We may not be that much superior to that time frame, but we have learned a thing or two since then, I hope. Pope Benedict died Dec. 31, 2022, at the age of 95 in his residence at the . But feline-human relations deteriorated sometime in the early 1230s (CE) when Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull called Vox in Rama. It was one of the most deadly pandemics in history. But feline-human relations deteriorated sometime in the early 1230s (CE) when Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull called Vox in Rama. Pope Gregory IX (1147-1241). Great read! However, amongst the warped fantasies were some bare facts from past beliefs which lent themselves to the dark image of witchcraft the church was attempting to conjure. Meanwhile, they need that meat on the regular and know how to get it, so theyre great at killing and eating vermin. However, historian Donald Engel believes that the Vox acted as a death warrant for the cat. Want more crazy cat facts? 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. Gregory IX. Encyclopedia of World Biography, Encyclopedia.com. Ravens Hold Grudges Against Cheaters. As it went into the fourth and fifth years ! Then, there is the fact that cats just arent good ratters-, which is why dogs; especially terriers are employed to catch rodents. 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. Weve discovered that the two diseases were one and the same, spread by contact, not the air. 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. One assault (I despise catholic church so much-am true protestant) by a pope- I do not bother with their names- was due to cat allegedly not suiting him mentioned in their bible; one pope reversed these edicts-seeing half of europe dead- and anyone abusing a cat was severely punisheds), I love catholic people, but HATE the evil infiltration that came early, making a mockery of Jesus real story, one mother superior teaching mary got impregnated by another man when engaged to Joseph; also, during world war II; we fought germany japan and ITALY; so his holie ness: (misspelled to mean he is full of holes) sat in basement- the asshole that had power to divide spain and portugal surely could have rallied his cult to fight nazis and japanese fanatics; Luther returned us, PRAISE JESUS to the real truth of Jesus, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, this jackass is an I read one briticanna entry, now I know it all- when he knows zero; he paints pope as trusting one bad apple in this eradication of the limiting factor on rats- either a sharpshooter (as healthcare provider, like my clients who read one footnote in a pharmacology book I am not immediately aware of, suddenly, they should have DVM and PHD and DO (believe it or not, I do)-. The author provides citations for his claims. Indeed the belief that the torture or killing of cats could break spells continued across northern Europe. The Black Death or Black Plague was the original zombie apocalypse. Homeless Cats Recruited to Fight Rising Tide of Rats, Erika Engelhaupt National Geographical, September 29, 2017. Pope Innocent VIII came to power in the late 1400s, during the throes of witch crusades in Western Europe. In the decree, he declared that Satan is half cat and claimed that there were . If you survived, you lost many people you loved. Cats Blamed for Spreading the Plague During the Middle Ages, it wasn't uncommon for cats to be killed, given their association with evil, Compora says. In the ensuing years huge numbers of cats (especially black cats) and even their owners were killed across Europe in fear that they were evil witches and linked to Satan. Without them, pests would run wild, and not just rats. Allegedly, people confess to Konrad that Luciferianism initiates goes through an initiation process that includes giant toad, pale man, and licking the bum of a backward walking-living statue of a black cat. All this was about to change. CATS ARE BETTER THAN PEOPLE & ALWAYS WILL BE BETTER THAN HUMANS. The proverbial compendium of collective human knowledge at that point was certainly shorter and harder to access than it is now, but people back then still used their brains. First, consider the dates: Pope Gregory IXs papal bull was issued between 1232 and 1234. Unfortunately, modern DNA testing allowed us to dig into the causes of death from aging corpses. When an animal is removed from the ecosystem (especially out of fear) it usually causes a chain reaction. Ugolino di Conti was born around 11451170 in Anagni, Rome. Over many centuries, Egyptians found that a cat was the one creature that could make the world safe, according to Purina. 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