The illuminations in bestiaries were a little bit like the medieval memes - often standarised images that could mean many things to different readers and having many versions. And they had cats, my friends. A thread on the distracted cat meme 1/ #medieval #CatsOfTwitter

The basic idea of this illumination is simple: there is a cat, holding a mouse just caught and another one, who does not pay attention! Why? Well the cat has spotted a different mouse just outside of the frame! 2/

BL Royal MS 12 C XIX, early 13th century https://bit.ly/2JiMvsu 

There is a lot of playfulness with this format: the breaking of the image frame by the little rodent, the look outside. And the ever so slightly disappointed face expression of the cat on the left! 3/

Getty Museum Ms. 100, mid 13th century https://bit.ly/2wCXhHb 

But cats will be cats, right? Enter the Third Cat, who, well, does not have a mouse but just *does the cat thing* of course.

Bodleian Library MS. Ashmole 1511, early 13th century https://bit.ly/2UF9H9g 

The cats multiply in all the different colours, green, blue, and tan. Still disappointed though. In a comic turn, if you look really closely at the mouse in the middle it also has a bit of a WTF expression to it... 4/

Morgan MS M.81, late 12the century https://bit.ly/3dypgbx 

There is also a slightly different version of it, a protomeme, if you like, that does not have the little mouse running out of the frame, just three cats in a completely unrealistic calm. They would fight over that mouse. 5/

Cambridge MS Ii.4.26
BL Harley MS 4751

There are odd exceptions as well! In the otherwise very prestigious Aberdeen Bestiary something is missing... The cats are looking out for the mouse (apart from Steve, Steve is well... busy), but it is not there! 6/

Aberdeen Univ Lib. MS 24, 12th century https://bit.ly/2vPjZLM 

There you have it: a standard illumination that proliferated in many different versions, with different actors (and Steve) and having various meanings: a medieval cat meme! 7/