🧵 Paw Prints in Medieval Manuscripts

When cats left their mark on history - literally.

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Feb 04, 2025

Looking through old medieval books, researchers found something pretty cool - actual paw prints 🐾 from cats that lived hundreds of years ago. Back then, monks kept cats around their libraries to hunt mice (who loved munching on the books). Sometimes these cats would step in the wet ink and walk right across the pages the monks were writing on. While scribes probably weren't thrilled when their feline friends tracked ink across their careful work, these prints give us a wonderfully tangible connection to the past. They remind us that even 800 years ago, cats were just being cats - helping and occasionally hindering their human companions, much like they do today.

Following Medieval Paw Prints

While digging through ancient manuscripts, researchers occasionally find actual paw prints preserved in ink from centuries ago. In 2013, a researcher named Emir Filipović spotted something unique in the Dubrovnik archives: perfect cat tracks stamped across a letter from 1445. The document was discussing silver mining and politics in Kosovo, but clearly, some monastery cat had different plans that day.

This finding quickly gained internet popularity, sparking interest in the intersection of medieval history and feline behaviour.

Several instances of cat paw prints in medieval manuscripts have been documented:

12th-century copy of Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae: Muddy paw prints found on the pages.

Early 15th-century copy of works by Duns Scotus and Robert Cowton: Dirty cat paws discovered at Balliol College, Oxford.
aren’t these cute? 🐾

1475 Parisian printed collection of Latin works: Muddy paw prints observed on the pages.
17th-century Japanese map: Cat paw prints revealed through ultraviolet photography on a map of Nagasaki.

9-to-5 at the Medieval Cat Office

The presence of cats in medieval scriptoria and libraries was not accidental. These feline companions served a crucial purpose:

Pest control: Cats were primarily kept to hunt mice and rats, which posed a significant threat to manuscripts. Rodents found parchment and paper to be appetizing, as evidenced by an 11th-century copy of Boethius's "De consolatione philosophiae" that shows extensive damage from rats and mice.
Companionship: Some scribes developed affectionate relationships with their feline assistants. A 9th-century Irish monk wrote a poem about his cat "Pangur Bán," comparing their respective pursuits of mice and words.

When Cats Strike Back

Medieval cats may have been excellent mousers, but their presence in scriptoriums wasn't always helpful. Take the famous Dubrovnik manuscript, where inky paw prints show exactly what happened when a curious cat crossed paths with fresh writing. Even more dramatically, a 15th-century scribe in Deventer had to leave an entire page blank after a cat decided it made the perfect spot for a bathroom break.

We can ally see these cat-caused headaches weren't rare - there's this funny drawing from 800 years ago of a monk named Hildebert trying to chase off a mouse that's eating his lunch, while his cat's nowhere to be found! Looking at all these cat-related accidents in old books really shows us what daily life was like back then. Monks and their cats: sometimes friends, sometimes a total pain in the neck.

When Mistakes Became History

Medieval scribes often kept these cat-caused accidents instead of trying to fix them. Today's researchers are pretty thankful for that decision. While these monks could've tried scraping off the ink or starting over, they chose to let those paw prints stay, giving us a rare glimpse into their daily lives.

Same Cats, Different Century

Finding cat prints in these old books does more than just make historians geek out - it hits home for anyone who's ever had a cat. These little marks bridge the gap between then and now, showing us that whether you're a medieval monk or a modern office worker, cats have always been... well, cats. Who knew some inky paw prints from centuries ago could tell us so much about what daily life was really like back then?