If you had lived in the Middle Ages and
wanted an animal companion, what would you have chosen? A good deal depended on
your gender and occupation. For ladies of the gentry and nobility, one breed
above all was the favourite, this one:
The Maltese is alleged to go back, as a
breed, for a thousand years. Certainly the existence of small, white,
long-haired dogs of the Maltese type, as the pampered pets of wealthy women, is
attested in the iconography, not only paintings but even tapestries.
Clearly the ownership of such a dog was a
status symbol, just as certain breeds today can become fashionable for a time,
then be replaced by the latest fad, often these days by some new cross-breed
(never to be called mongrels!).
These little white dogs were pampered pets,
sleeping on embroidered cushions or the owner’s bed, and frequently shown
wearing velvet collars adorned with bells.
Moralists raved against the keeping of such
dogs, usually fed on expensive white bread and milk, food which should have
been given to the poor. The dogs lived mostly indoors, only venturing outside
on a lead or carried by a loving mistress, though they must surely have
attended to the needs of nature, which might often have involved a long trek
from the lady’s private chambers to the garden. Perhaps a servant took care of
such problems. The dog would accompany its owner when travelling, either on
horseback or by carriage:
When the dog died, it would be mourned as
deeply as any modern pet, and many were given marble monuments. Poets and
friends of the bereaved owner would write elegies or appropriate epitaphs for
the tomb. For the owner it meant the loss of a beloved daily companion.
But was it only women who owned such dogs?
For their male counterparts, who spent much of their life outdoors, there were
also animal companions, but they tended to be different. Favourite dogs were
hunting dogs, who might be trackers, retrievers, or killers. Their descendants
are still with us today in the various retrieving breeds, including spaniels,
tracking dogs like fox hounds, or the hunting breeds like wolf hounds and boar
hounds. These male-owned dogs did not share their owners’ homes, but lived in
kennels, and their collars were practical and serviceable, sometimes adorned
with spikes to protect their throats in a fight.
Men of the nobility also owned favourite
horses, who clearly could not be pets, but lived in stables, and various types
of birds of prey, who were kept in mews, although they are sometimes pictured
indoors, where a favourite hawk might be seen perched on a special stand.
Another group of men did keep indoor pet
dogs: clergy and scholars (many of the latter also being in holy orders). Like
the wealthy ladies, they tended to favour the small white dogs, quiet
companions often shown curled up at the owner’s feet while he studies or
writes. Sometimes there might also be another, bigger dog, more of a watch dog.
Petrarch favoured large dogs and even wrote about them in surviving letters.
Dogs, of course, were not the only pets.
Cats were not merely companions but served a useful purpose too, since they
kept down mice and rats in the home, a laudable occupation as commemorated in
the ninth century Irish poem Pangur Ban
by an anonymous scholar. The moralists who condemned pet dogs seem to have been
more tolerant of cats, who were probably less spoiled and less expensive to
keep. They also seem to have been much more difficult for contemporary artists
to depict!
The typical native British cat was grey
with black stripes, probably still the commonest form of moggy to this day. Our
own rescue kitten is of this type. However, from the fourteenth century a type
of Syrian cat began to be imported into Britain. They were a tawny brown
with black stripes, a tabby colouring, and these exotic animals were much
coveted, selling for high prices. Merchants would buy them and import them,
often via Greece, Cyprus, and Italy, and if they survived the
journey they would become the latest fashion accessory for the wealthy.
Another small mammal which often occurred
as a lady’s pet – and unfamiliar today – was the squirrel. These are generally
depicted with a collar and lead, presumably because they were apt to run away.
They were, of course, red squirrels, the invasive American greys not yet having
reached Europe. One can be seen in the arms of
the woman at the front of the carriage below, while the woman at the back is
being handed a small white dog. The ladies were off on their travels, taking
their pets with them.
The only other type of animal which was
regularly kept as an indoor pet was the monkey. Some ladies loved the
creatures, despite their destructive habits, dressing them in little coats and
treating them like substitute children. However, they were most popular amongst
the higher clergy, who sometimes kept more than one and lavished rich food and
affection on them, a practice which was roundly condemned as improper and
immoral.
These abbots and bishops, like their
secular counterparts, also kept horses, hunting dogs, and hawks. Chaucer has
much to say (and mock) on the subject, as indeed he mocks the Prioress with her
dogs.
Birds were the last of the main types of
pet. These were often singing birds, our common garden songsters. Sparrows were
popular, and had been ever since Catullus wrote two poems lamenting the death
of his mistress Lesbia’s pet bird back in Roman times. These birds frequently
had elaborate cages, some even of gold and studded with jewels. There was no
limit to the ostentatious bling for such pets.
What can surprise us is the number of
parrots which were kept. A parrot sounds like a very exotic pet for the Middle
Ages, yet they seem to have been fairly common. These were Indian parrots, the
green rose-ringed parakeet, and they appear in the margins of manuscripts, form
the subject of large illustrations, and occur in portraits of their owners.
Moreover, being more talkative than cats and dogs, they spawned a whole
literature of their own. They had a tendency to narrate satirical poems and
stories, all the way from Scotland
to Spain.
Pets in the wrong place could raise
hackles. Nuns had a habit of taking their little dogs (and rabbits) into divine
service with them. Repeated injunctions failed to eliminate the practice
altogether, though keeping pets in nunneries was tolerated as long as they were
not taken into church. So many animals were kept in monasteries that it aroused
the wrath of the authorities, but once again it had little effect.
The other institutions which tried to clamp
down on the keeping of pets were the universities. Again and again Oxford and Cambridge
issued regulations banning the keeping of pets by students. These boys came up
to university at a very young age, some as young as twelve, and one can have
some sympathy for a homesick boy wanting the companionship of a favourite dog.
However, as many students came from the landed gentry, they also liked to bring
their horses, hawks, and hunting dogs. The university bans grew ever more
desperate, excluding dogs, birds, monkeys, deer, ferrets, badgers, foxes,
wolves, and bears. Bears??
As far as I know, these regulations are
still in existence and more successfully enforced, though when I was at Oxford there was a
student who kept a pet python. He used to come to parties with it draped round
his neck . . .
Most of the literature and the portraits
depicting animals relate to the upper classes, but we should not assume that it
was only the wealthy who kept household pets. Certainly the less wealthy could
not afford collars and cages of gold, or costly embroidered cushions for their
pets to sleep on, but many families would have owned a cat, one of those simple
grey and black striped moggies, to keep the rats out of the vital food stores.
Most accusations of witchcraft against poor old women involved claims that her
pet cat was a satanic familiar. And a family dog does not have to be a pampered
overfed Maltese, carried everywhere like a toy. There were ordinary household
dogs, even in humble homes, like this one:
So, if you had lived in the Middle Ages,
which kind of pet would you have chosen?
Ann Swinfen
