Loading...When you think of medieval knights in shining armor and their opponents, you probably think of majestic dragons, other knights, or beasts and monsters of many kinds. The knight archetype has many typical adversaries, but one that was lost to history was the mysterious Giant Snail. While no such snail ever existed, human-sized snails are littered throughout medieval manuscripts, depicted as fighting knights with seeming success.
Why might this be? The video above, made by Vox, explains one theory behind the enigmatic snails. Drawn in the margins of illuminated manuscripts, the creatures and their human foes appear across Europe. In the video, Vox explains a fascinating theory as to why these snails appear in the margins of these manuscripts, and as it turned out, it may have been one of the earliest known memes.