Viking Cats: Ships, Farms and Myth

Before there were ship’s cats in the Royal Navy, there were ship’s cats on Viking longships. Cats kept rats out of the grain, curled up by the hearth, and, less cozily, provided fur. They even pulled the chariot of a goddess. So how did cats get to Scandinavia in the first place?

Becoming Viking Cats

The prevailing theories on domesticated cats state that cats, specifically Felis sylvestris lybica, developed a symbiotic relationship with humans in the Fertile Crescent and domesticated themselves. Humans created farms, which attracted vermin, which attracted cats. The cats ate the vermin, protecting the humans’ food, and earned the right to stay on the farm.

The first migration of cats likely took place 8,000 years ago, reaching into Europe and across the Middle East. Egyptians revered their cats during this time.

The second migration brought cats in boats and started 1700 B.C.E. The migration accelerated between 400 and 1200 C.E. This is when the Vikings found their new feline friends.

On the Ship

Cats seem to arrive in Viking territory in urban areas first. This points to boats and ships as their primary means of migration. Ships kept cats on board to take care of rats and mice that would otherwise eat the ship’s food supplies. Vikings took their cats to Greenland and may have brought cats to North America.

On the farm

Cats weren’t just famed for their ability to control rodents. They were also prized for their fur. There is evidence that Vikings farmed cats to create clothes from their warm pelts. A well at the Viking fortress of Nonnebakken had the remains of 68 cats in it; their injuries, including broken necks, were consistent with skinning. Freyja is said to have mittens made of cat fur.

Viking Cats in Mythology

Cats belonged to Freyja. The Prose Edda says she rides in a chariot drawn by two cats, and she drives it to the funeral of the god Baldr. Other details you may have read, such as that Thor gave her the cats, that they were gray, or that a bride who enjoyed good weather on her wedding day had ‘fed the cat well’, come from much later folk belief and modern retellings, not the medieval sources.

The medieval evidence itself is brief: Snorri mentions Freyja’s cats only a couple of times, once describing her cat-drawn chariot and once her arrival at Baldr‘s funeral.

The sound of a cat walking is one of the components of Gleipnir, a chain that restrains the wolf Fenrir. The gods feared Fenrir’s power and penchant for chaos.

Modern Cats

While most domesticated species get smaller with their involvement in human lives, domestic cats today are 16% larger than the Viking cats of old. One more interesting fact, the modern Norwegian forest cat (Norsk skogkatt) descended from Viking cats.