Was there a period in medieval European history when house cats were almost completely eradicated because they were believed to be associated with witchcraft?

zbeckabee

Witches and cats became firmly linked together during the Reign of Terror of religious persecution in medieval Europe where the cat became despised and persecuted. Religious bigotry has often utilized the trick of changing other peoples heroes and gods, into devils and villains. And so it was that the cat once protected and worshiped by the ancient Egyptians, became despised and persecuted from before the 10th until the 18th century. In the 16th and 17th centuries tens of thousands of witches and cats were put to death in Germany, 75,000 in France and 30,000 in Great Britain. Cats were often tortured, along with their unfortunate humans, before being burnt, or buried alive. http://www.best-cat-art.com/witches-and-cats.html Aug 12 09, 5:22 AM

star_gazer

During this time, in Western Europe, cats were publicly tortured and killed. People used them to represent all sorts of evil including: witchcraft, vampirism, and black magic. They began symbolizing the sins of laziness, lust, backbiting, nosiness, gossip, deceit, and promiscuity. They were an image of the prostitute and were painted with Judas to show the quiet deceit of his heart. Cats were believed to be attracted to the graves of the damned. They hissed in imitation of that old snake - the Devil. Their nine lives, once given to them because nine was a lucky number, were now considered devilish. http://users.netnitco.net/~legend01/cat.htm Aug 12 09, 6:20 AM