The conversation: today we talk about weird snails in Medieval art

What’s up with all the knights fighting snails?

I’m starting a new article format and hopefully series in-here: in which I answer questions and comments that I have received from readers in the comment section of other articles.

The first one comes from this article, in which I wrote about some rather strange illustrations of rabbits in Medieval manuscripts.

What’s up with weird rabbits in medieval manuscripts?

Reader Paul Coogan would like to know: But what about the snails?

(Namely, what’s up with all those illustrations of knights fighting snails, out of all things?)

Source: Vox Almanac

Well, it sounds like it’s about good old-fashioned xenophobic humour. The Lombards (or Langobards) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774, with origins near the Elbe in…