Debunked Myths

The dramatic story that medieval Europeans exterminated cats—believing them witches' familiars—and thereby unleashed the Black Death represents history's compelling but oversimplified narrative. This account suggests mass feline killing eliminated plague-carrying rats' primary predator, allowing pandemics to spread unchecked.

Historical evidence reveals a more complex reality. While cats were sometimes persecuted during witch trials, there's little documentation of systematic, continent-wide feline extermination preceding the 1347 plague arrival. The actual transmission involved multiple factors: global trade routes carrying infected rats, crowded urban conditions, climate changes, and fleas transmitting bacteria between species.

Medieval people actually kept cats for practical pest control, and records show they were valued commodities for protecting food stores. This myth's appeal lies in its neat causality—transforming complex tragedy into simple human folly. The truth involves ecological, economic, and social factors that lack the clear moral lesson of the cat-killing narrative.