Why knights fought snails in medieval art

Look in the margins of medieval books and you’ll find an unusual theme: knights vs. snails. Follow Phil Edwards and Vox Almanac on Facebook for more: Lillian Randall’s paper is here: And Michael Camille’s book about marginal art can be found here: Subscribe to our channel! Medieval snails and knights — who knew? It turns out that medieval illuminated manuscripts featured a lot of bizarre imagery in the margins, but this pocket of art history might be one of the most intriguing. Scholar Lilian Randall provides the best theory for the unusual motif: these medieval knights fought snails in the margins because snails represented the Lombards, who had become widely despised lenders throughout Eu