Medievalist with PhD here. I have seen no evidence of "mass state sponsored killing of cats." For one thing, "the state" as we would see it in the 21st century simply did not exist in the Middle Ages in most countries, there was no organized body that could have carried out such measures, and royal administrations (the closest one could get to "the state") had other priorities.
Herissony_DSCH5 t1_j1pv1i5 wrote
Reply to comment by [deleted] in Were cats really seen as demons in medieval times? by Rear-gunner
Medievalist with PhD here. I have seen no evidence of "mass state sponsored killing of cats." For one thing, "the state" as we would see it in the 21st century simply did not exist in the Middle Ages in most countries, there was no organized body that could have carried out such measures, and royal administrations (the closest one could get to "the state") had other priorities.
This myth is a sloppy modern explanation.