Medieval knights often fought giant snails in the margins of manuscripts
Illuminated manuscripts from the late thirteenth century frequently feature bizarre illustrations of armored knights engaged in life-or-death battles against oversized, menacing snails lurking in the margins.
These whimsical drawings, known as marginalia, appear in dozens of prayer books and legal texts across Europe. While modern readers find them humorous, historians believe the snails may have symbolized social climbing, the inevitability of death, or even a satirical jab at cowardice.
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