# Mediaeval knights fighting snails!



## Brian G Turner (Jan 17, 2014)

Yes. Knights fighting snails, from mediaeval manuscripts.

The mind boggles as to why.



























And if you can't fight them, pray to them:


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## Ursa major (Jan 17, 2014)

How odd.

Depending on how old those manuscripts are, perhaps it was a reaction to the introduction of firearms (and the... er... slugs** they fired...).






** - And some of the scribes obviously imagined larger calibre weapons, ones that could fire shells....


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## Gary Compton (Jan 17, 2014)

Fifty Snails of Lord Grey


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## Teresa Edgerton (Jan 17, 2014)

Scribes really let their imaginations go wild when drawing (and painting) the little pictures around the margins in illuminated manuscripts.  You can find a number of weird and grotesque things, also some that are whimsical and charming.  I always love the faces on the little people.

But the snails?  Very, very odd that those scenes should turn up in so many manuscripts!


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## Jo Zebedee (Jan 17, 2014)

Alien snails. Obviously. Sci fi ruleth..


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## alchemist (Jan 17, 2014)

Nobody mentioned Monty Python yet?

Interestingly, the Irish word for snail, snake and serpent is the same* (peist -- although google translate is currently contradicting my teachers). Maybe the instructions were to illustrate a knight fighting a snake?



* the same is true of the Irish words for rat and Frenchman, except for capitalisation


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## Jo Zebedee (Jan 17, 2014)

The rat is capitalised. Excellent.


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## Alex The G and T (Jan 18, 2014)

Avast Frenchie!  I will not eat your Escargot!


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## Bowler1 (Jan 18, 2014)

I said:


> The mind boggles



Maybe the wrong snail is a bit like the wrong mushroom and mind expanding. That, or they were very hungry, or really liked snails. Still, all very artistic, if odd.


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## Abernovo (Jan 18, 2014)

I don't know...if I saw snails that size, I might pick up a bladed weapon--or a holy hand grenade (there you go, alc )--to defend myself. And the one in the first picture looks aggressive.

I notice two of the knights have face-shaped shields and, more alarmingly, one of them has the legs and tail of a lion(?). Evidence of mead consumption, and ergot-contaminated bread, perhaps?


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## Ice fyre (Jan 20, 2014)

I do wonder if this was an illustrators joke.

Sometimes I understand if a client didnt pay in time or up front (or just for the hell of it)  the illustrators added little jokes at their expense. The delights of which I noticed on a document with a chap having a number two off the side of a ship in the margins of an ancient map.... toilet humour clearly isnt anything new!


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## Kylara (Jan 20, 2014)

Haha, One of my seminar leaders loves the snail illustrations - he puts a new one on his handout every week, and apologises every week for doing so. They really are amazing.


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## Ursa major (Jan 20, 2014)

Kylara said:


> Haha, One of my seminar leaders loves the snail illustrations - he puts a new one on his handout every week, and apologises every week for doing so.


Has his interest in them extended to finding out what they're about?


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## HareBrain (Jan 20, 2014)

Ursa major said:


> Has his interest in them extended to finding out what they're about?



I've done a bit of googling, and it does seem to be a genuine mystery. One theory is that the snail represents sloth, a sin. But it could also be just an absurd one-off joke by some medieval Terry Gilliam that then became fashionable amongst illuminators. I guess the snail, with its "armour", might have seemed an appropriate comical opponent for a knight.


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## Kylara (Jan 20, 2014)

No...he just loves the idea of knights fighting snails!


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## ibrooks (Jan 20, 2014)

I reckon the third guy should worry more about the squirrel - it looks like it's plotting something to me. Of course he should also maybe worry about the belt (or snake?) that he's got tangled around his sword.


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## monsterchic (Jan 22, 2014)

Abernovo said:


> --or a holy hand grenade (there you go, alc )



Didst thou count to three before launching?  Not one, not two, unless thou proceedeth to the number three.  Five's right out, correct?

Also, how were the fruit bats, and the breakfast cereals, and the sloths, etc.?

Seriously though...that was weird.  Not that snails are scary or anything, but I suppose if they were that big, I too would pick up a long bladed weapon


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## monsterchic (Jan 22, 2014)

ibrooks said:


> I reckon the third guy should worry more about the squirrel - it looks like it's plotting something to me. Of course he should also maybe worry about the belt (or snake?) that he's got tangled around his sword.



His hand is on the blade too.  I'd be more worried about THAT!  How come he doesn't have a thought bubble--"Ouch, this hurts, maybe I should keep my hand off of the blade."


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## Abernovo (Jan 22, 2014)

monsterchic said:


> Five's right out, correct?


Verily, it is. 
Brilliant, Monsterchic! 



monsterchic said:


> His hand is on the blade too.  I'd be more worried about THAT!  How come he doesn't have a thought bubble--"Ouch, this hurts, maybe I should keep my hand off of the blade."


I've seen some of the fighting manuals, and holding/guiding the blade (with hand or arm) was, sometimes, a part of the fighting technique. Broadswords were not always razor sharp. and didn't need to be - much of the damage was caused by the weight of the weapon.


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## monsterchic (Jan 22, 2014)

Abernovo said:


> I've seen some of the fighting manuals, and holding/guiding the blade (with hand or arm) was, sometimes, a part of the fighting technique. Broadswords were not always razor sharp. and didn't need to be - much of the damage was caused by the weight of the weapon.



That makes a lot of sense, actually.  Just crush your enemies, slam them!  Looks like my topic of research for the day is fighting techniques and swords


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## JoanDrake (Jan 23, 2014)

Could it be something to do with Chimeras? I've seen chimeras combining a snail and a squirrel, with wings.


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