The Great Cat Massacre
Encyclopedia
The Great Cat Massacre is the subject of a scholarly work by American
historian
Robert Darnton
, describing and interpreting an unusual source detailing the murder or "massacre" of cats during the late 1730s by apprentice printers
living and working on Rue Saint-Séverin
in Paris
.
Darnton describes how, as the apprentices suffered hard conditions, they came to resent the favours which their masters
gave to their cats, and contrived to deal with the nuisance cats by slaughtering them so as to distress their masters. Darnton interprets this as an early form of workers' protest
.
The cats were a favourite of the printer's wife and were fed much better than the apprentices, who were in turn served 'catfood' (rotting meat scraps). Aside from this, they were maltreated, beaten and exposed to cold and horrible weather. One of the apprentices imitated a cat by screaming like one for several nights, making the printer and his wife despair. Finally, the printer ordered the cats rounded up and despatched. The apprentices did this, rounded up all the cats they could find, beat them half to death and held a 'trial'. They found the cats guilty of witchcraft and sentenced them to death by hanging.
Method – Darnton, influenced by his colleague, anthropologist Clifford Geertz
, aimed to gain greater insight into the period and social groups involved by studying what he perceived to be something which appeared alien to the modern mind – the fact that killing cats might be funny. He has been criticised for this, however, as some people throughout history have doubtless found such cruelty amusing, and even today one could find examples of animal cruelty for fun – such as cock-fighting, dog-fighting, and bull fighting.
The book containing this account, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History, has become one of Darnton's most popular writings; it has been published in seventeen different languages.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
historian
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
Robert Darnton
Robert Darnton
Robert Darnton is an American cultural historian, recognized as a leading expert on 18th-century France.-Life:He graduated from Harvard University in 1960, attended Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship, and earned a Ph.D. in history from Oxford in 1964, where he studied with Richard Cobb,...
, describing and interpreting an unusual source detailing the murder or "massacre" of cats during the late 1730s by apprentice printers
Printer (publisher)
In publishing, printers are both companies providing printing services and individuals who directly operate printing presses. With the invention of the moveable type printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1450, printing—and printers—proliferated throughout Europe.Today, printers are found...
living and working on Rue Saint-Séverin
Rue Saint-Séverin, Paris
The rue Saint-Séverin is a sometimes boisterous street running parallel to the river in the north of Paris' Latin Quarter. Lined with restaurants and souvenir shoppes, much of its commerce is dedicated to tourism.-Name Origin:...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Darnton describes how, as the apprentices suffered hard conditions, they came to resent the favours which their masters
Master craftsman
A master craftsman or master tradesman was a member of a guild. In the European guild system, only masters were allowed to be members of the guild....
gave to their cats, and contrived to deal with the nuisance cats by slaughtering them so as to distress their masters. Darnton interprets this as an early form of workers' protest
Industrial action
Industrial action or job action refers collectively to any measure taken by trade unions or other organised labour meant to reduce productivity in a workplace. Quite often it is used and interpreted as a euphemism for strike, but the scope is much wider...
.
The cats were a favourite of the printer's wife and were fed much better than the apprentices, who were in turn served 'catfood' (rotting meat scraps). Aside from this, they were maltreated, beaten and exposed to cold and horrible weather. One of the apprentices imitated a cat by screaming like one for several nights, making the printer and his wife despair. Finally, the printer ordered the cats rounded up and despatched. The apprentices did this, rounded up all the cats they could find, beat them half to death and held a 'trial'. They found the cats guilty of witchcraft and sentenced them to death by hanging.
Method – Darnton, influenced by his colleague, anthropologist Clifford Geertz
Clifford Geertz
Clifford James Geertz was an American anthropologist who is remembered mostly for his strong support for and influence on the practice of symbolic anthropology, and who was considered "for three decades...the single most influential cultural anthropologist in the United States." He served until...
, aimed to gain greater insight into the period and social groups involved by studying what he perceived to be something which appeared alien to the modern mind – the fact that killing cats might be funny. He has been criticised for this, however, as some people throughout history have doubtless found such cruelty amusing, and even today one could find examples of animal cruelty for fun – such as cock-fighting, dog-fighting, and bull fighting.
The book containing this account, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History, has become one of Darnton's most popular writings; it has been published in seventeen different languages.