Cathars, Vegans in 13th century France
I am a descendant of the XIIIth century Cathars from my maternal grandfather. Interestingly, they were basically militant vegans - they didn't eat anything that bleeds and no dairy or eggs and it was also a duty for them to rescue trapped animals.
"Killing was abhorrent to the Cathars. Consequently, abstention from all animal food (sometimes exempting fish) was enjoined of the Perfecti. The Perfecti avoided eating anything considered to be a by-product of sexual reproduction. War and capital punishment were also condemned - an abnormality in Medieval Europe. In a world where few could read, their rejection of oath-taking marked them as social revolutionaries."
Unfortunately the English version of the wikipedia entry on Cathars doesn't explain much concerning their care for animals. Basically, if they saw a trapped animal, it was their duty to rescue it, but because they didn't want the hunter to suffer either they would place a coin or vegan food instead of the animal.
I'm not quite sure why the English version says "sometimes exempting fish" - as far as I know they didn't eat anything that bleeds and no dairy, eggs or animal fat.
Also, when they were persecuted by the Catholics and had bounties on their heads, one way to tell if someone was a Cathar was to ask them to kill a chicken. They would refuse to kill it. They considered killing an animal to be murder.
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I find this fascinating. It's a complete coincidence that I am a vegan, I never really knew much of the Cathars except that my mum and her dad talked about it a lot. I am the only vegetarian/vegan in my family as far as I know (excluding my partner and children of course).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism 
