Squirrels: pet or pest?

In the Middle Ages people had pets. Dogs were by far the most common (blog anyone?). Others had cats and birds. Women put animals on rings and heraldic shields. Popular dog names were “Dyamant” and “Mopsus.” Legal cases were brought against others for accidental killing. Even Isabella d’Este staged a funeral for her dog and cat.  The 2012 book Medieval Pets makes much of this clear.  But were any animals hated? I’m reminded of this because of my current animosity for the squirrel. Since April, squirrels have been setting up a nibble shop on my deck table and gnawing at it. Once black, it’s now mostly silver with little nibble marks spread around the outside of my 6 foot round table, as well as down the legs. I thought they worked only at night, but I have recently seen them cavorting in broad daylight sticking their little squirrel teeth into the table that is now more silver than black. They are not just removing paint; they have etched their front teeth into where I like to set my dinner plate. It's  personal. On a walk today, squirrels jumped joyfully from nut to nut, thinking how happy they were to destroy my furniture. This got me thinking, were squirrels liked, or despised, in the Middle Ages?

Squirrels could be considered companions. According to the author of Medieval Pets, it was the fourth most common pet. Women kept them as pets especially. At the Crystal Bridges museum in Arkansas I have a favorite American painting of a woman with a squirrel on a leash (see below), but I had not made the connection to the Middle Ages.  Though they appear to be loved and trained, some were depicted in literature as being greedy since they slept one third of their lives and never stopped collecting food. So I’m left with awe that in the Middle Ages folks trained squirrels, a phenomenon that spread into early America, and yet I can’t even get them to pay attention to my pepper spray. Still, check out the squirrel cloak worn by the Virgin Mary below; another link has additional images of squirrels by someone who has done extraordinary work collecting images from medieval rings, Bibles, books, and paintings.

A very rare medieval image of a pregnant Virgin Mary. I saw this last summer in Umbria. The most amazing part was the tent of squirrel coats . . . 

Only 2 hours away with a visit to Crystal Bridges Museum, c. 1765. This is a fragment of the larger portrait.

http://www.boydellandbrewer.com/content/docs/qa_medieval_pets_k_walker-meikle.pdf

http://www.abbeville.com/blog/?p=390

 http://www.larsdatter.com/squirrels.htm