Cats and Clerics: A Medieval History — Julian Hendrix
Across the pages of a fifteenth-century manuscript track the paw prints of a cat who has first stepped into the ink, then sought to plant itself in the middle of its owner's attention
By March 28, 2013
Across the pages of a fifteenth-century manuscript track the paw prints of a cat who has first stepped into the ink, then sought to plant itself in the middle of its owner's attention. Snapped by the medievalist Emir Filipović, the image went viral, an instantly recognized example of "a long and glorious historical movement" of cats walking across work. In this case the writer was a bureaucrat, working on a collection of government correspondence.
Tthe Dubrovnik manuscript is not the only example of the casual mayhem cats created for medieval writers. Medievalist Thijs Porck points to another fifteenth-century manuscript from what is now the Netherlands. The scribe angrily indicates where the page has been damaged: "Cursed be the pesty cat that urinated over this book during the night in Deventer and because of it many others [other cats] too" (translation by Porck).
Both writers probably had the cats around for the practical purpose of rodent control. Yet as a routine part of daily life, cats might have also served an important role for the Dutch copiest in his or her pursuit of a more realized spiritual practice: the Dutch scribe was creating a particular collection of devotional material, one aimed at those who aspired to a higher level of piety and were interested in the whole range of Christian efforts in this regard, from the earliest flowering of Christian asceticism in the fourth-century Egyptian desert to the latest trend of the Devotio Moderna.
The lesson that might have been learned by the Dutch copiest can be seen in a poem from a ninth-century manuscript from the monastery of Reichenau (now in Germany), which celebrates a feline companion named Pangur Ban:
I and Pangur Ban my cat,
'Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
(translation by Robin Flower)
'Tis a like task we are at:
Hunting mice is his delight,
Hunting words I sit all night.
(translation by Robin Flower)
By the ninth century, Latin was a foreign language to many Christians and was certainly not the mother tongue of the author of the poem, which is written in Old Irish. To study Christianity required the study of Latin. But language was not the only challenge. In addition to mastering Christian theology and doctrine, at the end of the day the Benedictine monasticism of Reichenau was an activity, a continual effort that sought to align the entire world around the worship of God. Pangur Ban proved a loyal assistant:
Practice every day has made
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.
Pangur perfect in his trade;
I get wisdom day and night
Turning darkness into light.
While the bond between poet and cat flows through the poem, Pangur Ban is ultimately a daily lesson for the poet on the practice of monasticism. In this final stanza of the poem, the hunting for words invoked in the opening of the poem is replaced by the ultimate goal of a monk: wisdom. This wisdom is freely available at any time to the monk who has learned how to look for it and the author celebrates what he has found in his feline companion.
The bond between monk and companion animal captured in the poem is not limited to the medieval world. If you have ever trained a dog, it is very likely that you have drawn upon techniques developed by the monks of New Skete monastery in Pennsylvania. Their classic dog-training manual, How to be your Dog's Best Friend, is one element of the various businesses the monastery relies upon to support itself. The manual opens by acknowledging that many might find the idea of monks breeding and training dogs to be an odd combination, but what follows suggests the extent to which the fruit of monastic training manifests itself in the continual effort to perfect all relationships, even those of the humble household pet.
Perhaps this is why Michael Walsh, commenting on the retirement of scholar-pope Benedict XVI, suggested that the pope wished to "get back to his books and his cats."
References
Dr. Marty Becker's facebook post, February 16, 2013. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php? fbid=10151738035014348&set=a.224211574347.173182.221013509347&type=1
Dr. Marty Becker's facebook post, February 16, 2013. https://www.facebook.com/photo.php? fbid=10151738035014348&set=a.224211574347.173182.221013509347&type=1
Cologne, Historische Archiv, G.B. quarto, 249, fol. 68r.http://historischesarchivkoeln.de/de/lesesaal/dokument/2001528
Emir Filipović, "Of Cats and Manuscripts," The Appendix, March 5, 2013.http://theappendix.net/blog/2013/3/of-cats-and-manuscripts
The Monks of New Skete: http://www.newskete.com/
Thijs Porck, "Paws, Pee and Mice: Cats among Medieval Manuscripts", medievalfragments, February 22, 2013.http://medievalfragments.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/paws-pee-and-mice-cats-among- medieval-manuscripts/
St Paul in Lavanttal, Stiftsbibliothek St Paul, Cod. 86b/1 [Reichenau Primer]http://web.archive.org/web/20071119004340/http://www.rz.uni-potsdam.de/u/lingtri/schulheft/
The scholar and his cat, Pangur Bán, trans. Robin Flower. http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~beatrice/pangur-ban.html
Eric Spillman, "Thousands Say Farewell to Pope Benedict", KTLA.com, February 27, 2013.http://ktla.com/2013/02/27/st-peters-packed-for-popes-last-public-address/#axzz2O16KEq6P
Author Julian Hendrix is assistant professor of Classics and History at Carthage College. His current research focuses on the origins of monastic commemoration and the early history of liturgical books.