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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. Medieval Pets takes a completely different angle, showing that they were also beloved domestic companions to their human owners. It offers a full survey of pets and pet-keeping: how they were acquired, kept, fed, exercised, and displayeda; it looks at the problems pets could cause, and finally, how they were mourned. 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.
1 The Medieval Pet
2 Getting a pet
3 Pet welfare
4 Living with pets
5 Pets in iconography
6 Pets in literature
Dr Kathleen Walker-Meikle is a Wellcome Trust Fellow at the University of York, working on animals and medieval medicine.
"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
