8
then may have had monasteries keeping cats
for fur as well as catching rodents and as pets
it is quite clear that feral cats were hunted.
The groups of cats scavenging around the
monasteries were apparently hunted down in
earnest from time to time.
Although other 'cats' such as the martin-cat
were chased, and despite it seeming unpalatable
today, it is clear the groups of feral cats were
pursued. Also the medieval chase term of a
'clowder of cats' refers to a group, which is
far more applicable to the ferals than to a
forest wildcat. Cat hunts are recorded as being
a popular sport of the Augustinian canons at
Essex's Bicknacre Priory, and to have been
formally sanctioned by Henry III.
As time passed villages grew and odd cats would
have begun to haunt their edges. As today there
is a vast army of dedicated feral cat feeders
which are typically elderly solitary ladies,
so odd cats are likely to have struck up a com-
fortable relationship with quiet lonely widows
at the edge of medieval villages. Unfortunately
the scene was set for a macabre swing away from
an exploitive tolerance of the cat to the per-
secution deriving from the witch-hunts, in which
Essex took the lead.
A more sympathetic understanding of what has
probably been occurring has been developing since
Margaret Murray's sound case was proposed during
the 1920s, that in late medieval witchcraft we
are witnessing the remains of pre-Christian spirit
worship. Nature spirit worship lies at the base
of most cultures from Classical Greek to modern
Hinduism, and was doubtless still strong in
medieval Essex. Though Christianity dates from
the time of Christ, in Essex there were only odd
centres of conviction from the