“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
–Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808–90)
Cats have been a fascinating presence throughout history, leaving their mark in unexpected places. One such discovery was made by Emir O. Filipovic, a medievalist at the University of Sarajevo, when he stumbled upon a 15th-century manuscript in the State Archives of Dubrovnik with inky paw prints casually tracked across it.
Similarly, the Historisches Archiv in Cologne, Germany, houses a manuscript with a peculiar history. In the early 15th century, a Deventer scribe found his work tainted by a cat’s urine stain, leading him to leave the page blank, draw a cat, and curse the creature for its actions.
Here is nothing missing, but a cat urinated on this during a certain night. Cursed be the pesky cat that urinated over this book during the night in Deventer, and because of it, many others too. And beware well not to leave open books at night where cats can come.
The enduring legacy of these feline encounters raises questions about the preservation of history and the impact of cats on our lives.
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