Carol knows I like cats, (who wouldn't), so

she brought me a cool book from the children's library at Kari's school, 'It's All About Me-Ow', that is really cute/funny/informational. Piper loved it, and so did I. I learned that cats were nearly wiped out in the Dark Ages, SO, I looked it up, on-line.
It started when one of the sects, the Waldens, claimed men didn't need a priest to communicate with God, SO, the church, worried about losing power/control/money banned the Waldens, AND the cats they were famous for having. They claimed the Waldens were devil-worshippers and the cats were devils, incarnate, the same charges later used against the Cathars and Knights Templar.
In 1233 Pope Gregory IX issued a 'papal bull' wherein the church declared cats 'a vessel of the devil', and began the eradication of cats and the persecution of their owners.
During The Inquisition, owning a cat could get you killed, cuz they were deemed 'of the devil'. After your death, the Church got your property. Cats were nearly eradicated by the superstitious peasants, and the church, until mice and rats became a HUGE problem, stealing food and carrying disease, which led to the Black Plague, carried by fleas on rats, that killed nearly a third of Europe.
Why does this story not surprise me, at all....