Cats and Witches had a Historical Friendship at Mutual Peril

In medieval Europe, women who were healers and defied social norms by being independent and free-spirited were persecuted and executed as witches. The superstition was so pervasive that even the cats these women kept as pets were not spared.

The tale of these witches and their cats is worth retelling to remind us how stupid and cruel we can be in our blind faith and beliefs.

Scottish Witches and Cats

According to witch lore, the Scottish Highlands had a unique breed of wild cats known as Elfin cats. People believed that they were witches in disguise. These cats were huge, about the size of a dog, and black. They had a white spot on their chest.

They were also called cat-sìths and were believed to collect the souls of the newly dead.

Cat-sìths were thought to have the power to grant wishes, foretell the future, and speak to humans. On Samhain, the Gaelic festival celebrated on November 1 marking the end of the harvest season and the onset of winter, Scottish people would leave a saucer of milk outside for the cat-sìth.

Witches were believed to be able to transform into cats only nine times. This belief is behind the saying that a cat has nine lives.

In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the first witch responds to the call of her cat, Graymalkin, saying, "I come, Graymalkin.” This literary moment in Macbeth originated from the Renaissance English belief that Satan sends evil spirits to help witches carry out their vile undertakings. These spirits came in the form of animals, and Graymalkin was one such spirit that shapeshifted into a cat to help the first witch. Act IV, Scene I of Macbeth opens with the three witches stirring the potion inside their cauldron. The scene goes as follows-

“(Thunder. Enter the three Witches)

First Witch

Thrice the brinded cat hath mew'd.

Second Witch

Thrice and once the hedge-pig whined.

Third Witch

Harpier cries 'Tis time, 'tis time.” (Macbeth, Shakespeare)

Reginald Scott’s famous 16th-century book, ‘The Discovery of Witchcraft’, was written to prove that witchcraft was just magic and to argue that persecuting those who practised witchcraft was cruel and un-Christian. In this book, Scott documented specific practices of witchcraft that were believed to exist in Europe and recorded how cats were associated with witches.

Scott wrote that the Spanish villagers had many superstitions, one of which was about a strange cat entering their house. Another was that misfortune would befall people if they saw a cat when they left the house.

The Chelmsford Witches and Their Cat, Satan

Chelmsford Witches Trials constituted the four major witch trials that commenced in the 16th and 17th centuries. The first trial was held in 1566, soon after Queen Elizabeth’s parliament passed the second witchcraft act in 1563. This law enforced stringent punishment for witchcraft, irrespective of whether it caused any harm.

In the first trial, three women—Elizabeth Francis, Agnes Waterhouse, and her daughter, Joan Waterhouse—were accused of practising witchcraft. They lived in the village of Hatfield Peverel. A white-spotted cat named Satan connected these three women. The villagers accused this cat of being a ‘familiar’, an evil spirit sent by the Devil. Witnesses alleged that the cat could talk to humans. The strongest testimony against the cat and the witches came from a single witness, a 12-year-old girl.

From the Chelmsford Witches Trial Records

The Witches' Cats: Holt the Kitten and Pyewacket

The records further claim that the white-spotted cat, Satan, assisted Elizabeth, one of the accused, in killing her own child. The trial records also narrate how Elizabeth gifted Satan to Agnes, the other accused after she had got tired of the cat, keeping him for 15-16 years. Or, rather, Agnes bought the cat from Elizabeth in exchange for a cake. Elizabeth taught Agnes to feed the cat with her blood, milk, and bread.

Elizabeth, Agnes, and Joan confessed to their crimes during the trial. Such confessions were often elicited under extreme duress and even torture. Agnes’ crime also involved entrusting the cat with destroying her neighbour’s cattle and geese.

Elizabeth, Agnes, and Joan were hanged after the trial. No record shows what happened to Satan, the cat, but the approved practice was to burn the witches’ cats. Sadly, Satan might have paid the price of human superstition with his life.

The fear that all cats were the witches’ ‘familiars’ (evil spirits) led to the mass killing of cats in mediaeval Europe. England’s most famous witch hunter of the 17th century was Matthew Hopkins. His first victim was Elizabeth Clark, and among her five ‘familiars’ was a kitten named Holt. Pyewacket was the name of an imp associated with her, as revealed in this trial.

In the movie ‘Bell, Book, and Candle’, a witch, Gillian Holroyd, has a ‘familiar’, a Siamese cat named Pyewacket. This cat became a favourite in literature in no time. Many children’s stories and films since have cat characters named Pyewacket.

In 1618, in another infamous witch trial, Joan Flower, along with her two daughters, were accused of witchcraft. Joan had a ‘familiar’ cat named Rutterkin. This cat was accused of helping Joan and her daughters to harm an Earl and his family who employed Joan.

Women in Medieval Europe were accused of witchcraft for just owning a cat. These innocent victims of a superstitious and cruel society, at least, had the comfort and companionship of these lovely animals in their isolated lives.