Knight and snail
The margins of medieval manuscripts are fascinating and I will surely get back to this topic many times. Because those margins are full of very interesting things: notes, but most of all crazy pictures: funny, weird or disturbing…
One of the most interesting motives is a fight between a knight and a snail, quite popular in the 14th– and the 15th-centuries manuscripts. Lately there has been an interesting post on this issue published at the blog of British Library – it collects various hypotheses on what may be the meaning of this motif, and the readers add more proposals in their comments. So, what may such a depiction mean?
In the mid 19th century Auguste de Bastard d’Estang suggested that it is a scene referring to the Resurrection, as it appeared in two manuscripts close to the miniature showing the Raising of Lazarus. Lilian Randall proposed that the snail might refer to the Lombards, who were described as non-chivalrous and traitorous (as in opposition to the knights) – but that doesn’t explain the presence of this motif on the margins of religious books, as Psalters or Books of Hours. Other hypotheses say that this image is supposed to symbolize the fight between aristocracy (the knight) and the plebs (the snail). Also, the snail could just symbolize the forces of evil, as it is a garden pest.
In the comments under that BL post there are more proposals from the readers – it is very interesting that the snail is present in many nursery rhymes in different languages. In the 14th century La Vie du Prince Noir (by Chandos Herald) “snail-imitation” is listed among the courtly entertainments. Shakespeare uses a word “snail” in the meaning of “cuckold”, as snails have horns.
However, most probably snail symbolises laziness and sloth, and those were in the Middle Ages condemned as one of the worst sins of the knights – so it is understandable that knights should fight them. Actually we should say that the snail refers to acedia – that is an apathy, a depression, a sadness and a despondence. The Church Fathers widely discussed this problem and finally Saint Thomas of Aquinas placed acedia among Seven Deadly Sins (sloth). Therefore, fighting it is obligatory for a christian knight, and that may explain the presence of the motif in the books of prayers.
And finally… let’s get politically incorrect. According to some scholars, a snail may symbolize femininity. That is a tempting hypothesis – a snail is so slow, and so soft, and so moist… and it is seemingly unarmed, yet it confronts a well-armed knight!
Actually, connecting a snail with femininity goes very well with interpreting it as a symbol of sloth. Because women are the reason why knights get lazy! It is an idea that appears for example in the 12th century story about Erek and Enida: Erek was a great knight but when he got married he abandoned all his knight duties because he preferred to have a good time with his wife. Later he had to fight to get his reputation back, and his wife (although she did nothing wrong) was punished by being forced to remain silent. But that is a completely different story…
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The mentioned post on British Library blog is here: http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2013/09/knight-v-snail.html
Additionally I recommend you an interesting project dedicated to the motif of a snail in nursery rhymes: http://www.gkweb.it/filachio/listenglish.html