Animals in the middle ages have often been discussed - but usually only as a source of food, as beasts of burden, or as aids for hunters. This book takes a completely different angle, showing that they were also beloved domestic companions to their human owners, whether they were dogs, cats, monkeys, squirrels, and parrots. It offers a full survey of pets and pet-keeping: from how they were acquired, kept, fed, exercised, and displayed, to the problems they could cause. It also examines the representation of pets and their owners in art and literature; the many charming illustrations offer further evidence for the bonds between humans and their pets, then as now. A wide range of sources, including chronicles, letters, sermons and poems, are used in what is both an authoritative and entertaining account.
Dr Kathleen Walker-Meikle is a Wellcome Trust Fellow at the University of York, working on animals and medieval medicine.
Reviews
A novel and comprehensive survey. [...] Not only a milestone in the history of our obsession with pets, but also furthers our understanding of the complexity of human-animal relations in the past. BBC HISTORY
An exceptional survey. MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
Details
First Published: 18 Oct 2012
13 Digit ISBN: 9781843837589
Pages: 200
Size: 23.4 x 15.6
Binding: Hardback
Imprint: Boydell Press
Subject:
Medieval HistoryBIC Class: HBLC1
Details updated on 24 May 2013
Contents
- 1 The Medieval Pet
- 2 Getting a pet
- 3 Pet welfare
- 4 Living with pets
- 5 Pets in iconography
- 6 Pets in literature
