The cats of the Macclesfield Psalter

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will know that I have often published in the past images of medieval animals and creatures – cats, dogs and snails – all from the British Library’s illuminated manuscripts. Today, it’s the turn of the Macclesfield Psalter to yield up its secret feline friends who appear in its folios.

The first two images below are most certainly magnificent micing medieval cats.  But the last two? Are they cats… Or are they bears?

The cats of the Macclesfield PsalterThe Macclesfield Psalter – folio 79v

The cats of the Macclesfield PsalterThe Macclesfield Psalter – folio 106r

The cats of the Macclesfield PsalterThe Macclesfield Psalter – folio 14v

The cats of the Macclesfield PsalterThe Macclesfield Psalter – folio 182v.
He seems to be a cat with a beautiful winged hybrid creature in his mouth.

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All digital images from the Macclesfield Psalter appear by courtesy of The Fitzwilliam Museum and may not be reproduced (© The Fitzwilliam Museum).

Further reading
Stella Panayotova The Macclesfield Psalter: A Complete Facsimile (2008)
Stella Panayotova The Macclesfield Psalter Book (Cambridge, 2005)
Stella Panayotova The Macclesfield Psalter (PDF format on CD)(Cambridge, 2005)

You may also be interested in the following
– Early-modern images
– Images of Medieval animals
– Images of Medieval music
– Images of Tudors
– Images of Medieval devils
– Images of Medieval funerals
– Images of Medieval cats

© Essex Voices Past 2013.

Comment (2)

  • Catherine Crout-Habel| 27th March 2013

    mmmhhh… The last one seems to have too long a nose for a cat… could it possibly be a fox? but, is the right colour? Beats me. I wonder what others think?

  • The Narrator| 27th March 2013

    Ahh – I hadn’t thought of it being a fox – being that I’m used to them being red these-days! But I think you could be right – perhaps he’s a beautiful medieval silver fox (he’s very gorgeous!)

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