Why knights fought snails in medieval art

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  • Опубликовано: 4 окт 2024
  • 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: / philedwardsinc1
    Lillian Randall's paper is here: www.scribd.com...
    And Michael Camille's book about marginal art can be found here: www.reaktionboo...
    press.uchicago....
    Subscribe to our channel! goo.gl/0bsAjO
    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 Europe. Snail was an insult and, over time, it became a type of meme detached from its original meaning.
    Of course, like much of art history, this theory is just a theory. But it gives us an insight into the rich culture of marginal art and all the complexity, confusion, and amusement that sits on the side of the page.
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Комментарии • 3,8 тыс.

  • @sammylong3704
    @sammylong3704 5 лет назад +5172

    The answer is simple, in medieval times giant snails were a real menace but thankfully the brave Knights of Europe wiped them all out for us.

    • @wackwacker8623
      @wackwacker8623 4 года назад +241

      Just like how lamps have shrunk Moths, Newton invented gravity to shrink the snails.
      The government wants us to believe no beasts can touch us, but I fear the day the moths and snails go back to their original size.

    • @tavishfinnegandegroot3513
      @tavishfinnegandegroot3513 4 года назад +42

      ur one of the time travelling knights!!
      even tho theres no such thing as timemachine in the middld ages

    • @CaptainSeaDog_
      @CaptainSeaDog_ 3 года назад +24

      This is my head canon now

    • @rahmat4848
      @rahmat4848 3 года назад +20

      @@wackwacker8623 lol 🤣 good thing Newton invented gravity huh?

    • @ra_alf9467
      @ra_alf9467 3 года назад +6

      Knight Jiub

  • @jordanguy4241
    @jordanguy4241 6 лет назад +4465

    This is not a question I've ever asked, nor was I ever going to ask. yet here I am for an answer

    • @ReddishNeck
      @ReddishNeck 6 лет назад +64

      Jordan Guy This is how we all feel, I think. Weird. But it's such an intriguing video title, we all just clicked on it.

    • @SaladinGucman
      @SaladinGucman 6 лет назад +4

      😂

    • @pufwuf
      @pufwuf 5 лет назад +7

      The answer lies in the stars. Specifically; a snail can be seen in Cassiopeia, where also can be seen the shining 'countenance divine' of William Blake's 'Jerusalem'. This countenance is that of the biblical god (c.f. 'snails! - short for 'god's nails' - being an interjection of surprise and es-car-got translating loosely as 'you're for god') and it is this the knights are confronting, with good cause. There is some myth about the snail returning to Jerusalem (can't locate it at the moment) and I think it safe to say that it is well on it's way. Happy days ahead!

    • @dionjaywoollaston1349
      @dionjaywoollaston1349 5 лет назад +1

      Nick Addey I always thought that the snails represent the French, given how the french like to eat snails and it would have been a bit ridiculous to paint a giant clove of garlic, I feel a bit sorry for the knights who had to fight giant snails”my liege why doth That fellow from palastine George get to fighteth a dragon while I must slay a giant snail”speaking in RPG terms would a giant snail be more or less dangerous than a slime?

    • @Bee_v0mit
      @Bee_v0mit 5 лет назад +1

      O wow I saw you on a Jack stauber video and I see you in this comment section as well. Nice profile pic btw

  • @r8them84
    @r8them84 5 лет назад +3985

    everybody gangsta till the giant snail start fightin

    • @Ginerization
      @Ginerization 5 лет назад +33

      Then nobody helps with the dishes after...

    • @mickymouse2445
      @mickymouse2445 4 года назад +12

      That giant snail that fights everybody really, really hard but also really, really slow

    • @rahmat4848
      @rahmat4848 3 года назад +7

      Just throw salt.. problem solved 😌

    • @healthandsurvival4461
      @healthandsurvival4461 5 месяцев назад +1

      You laugh but just wait....the great prophecy shall come true

    • @MrNeti-mn5oz
      @MrNeti-mn5oz 4 месяца назад

      everybody gangsta till it starts raining frogs and your body turns into a snail

  • @TheSwordbird98sPage
    @TheSwordbird98sPage 6 лет назад +2549

    i have a feeling it was probably over something dumb. like a well-known person freaked out over a snail once and they started mocking them through drawings of snails vs knights

    • @foxify_nz
      @foxify_nz 5 лет назад +70

      Kind of like sarcasm?

    • @phanvan4076
      @phanvan4076 5 лет назад +37

      But nope it was racial slur

    • @natebush8217
      @natebush8217 5 лет назад +20

      Hmm..."Knights vs. Snails"...yeah, that sounds like the next big Dream Works hit! :D

    • @venture3800
      @venture3800 5 лет назад +46

      and thus dank medieval memes were born

    • @bashkillszombies
      @bashkillszombies 4 года назад +16

      Doubtful, it was some group so powerful that you couldn't ridicule them. To see who rules over you look to he who you cannot ridicule. Or count the cookies one can bake per year.

  • @FrizzleLamb
    @FrizzleLamb 5 лет назад +2502

    This is the medieval times' equivalent to today's "this meme will be hard to explain in 100 years"

    • @johnnoahdeandres9458
      @johnnoahdeandres9458 4 года назад +29

      True

    • @Mary_OTT
      @Mary_OTT 3 года назад +25

      I don no If anyone cares but I made the likes 420

    • @ginterka381996
      @ginterka381996 2 года назад +4

      Hahaha, true. XD

    • @rage_2000
      @rage_2000 2 года назад +15

      “Here you can see an image of a common guy with a green shirt immersed in some sort of blue flame….”

    • @johnlee7164
      @johnlee7164 2 года назад +5

      Try explaining 4 year old memes.

  • @beelzeboo
    @beelzeboo 5 лет назад +3906

    Its quite obvious that they were fighting giant snails hundreds of years ago

    • @GrassPossum
      @GrassPossum 5 лет назад +175

      Or that people were much smaller then.

    • @anaccountmusthaveaname9110
      @anaccountmusthaveaname9110 5 лет назад +238

      @@GrassPossum They wouldn't have written normal sized books then. I think we should leave behind these childish conspiracies about tiny knights and stick to the hard science of gigantic snails.

    • @kseventytwo
      @kseventytwo 5 лет назад +28

      anAccountMustHaveAName its not exactly ‘hard’ science, unless we talk about the shells

    • @anaccountmusthaveaname9110
      @anaccountmusthaveaname9110 5 лет назад +71

      @B. J. If giant snails aren't real, then explain how you were so slow to get a joke.

    • @nikolasmichael6377
      @nikolasmichael6377 5 лет назад +14

      That’s what the History Channel would interpret from this

  • @chistinelane
    @chistinelane 7 лет назад +518

    The reason we don't see them is because the knights won. The greatest heroes we never knew

    • @scienceme9794
      @scienceme9794 7 лет назад +48

      Yeah, Don Quixote wiped the giant snails out before he took on the windmills.

    • @JotaDeeMeO
      @JotaDeeMeO 7 лет назад +1

      Otherwise we would have heroic stories about snails and dragons nows.... and let's not talk about snail movies..

    • @Wavemaninawe
      @Wavemaninawe 7 лет назад +62

      Surely you jest. Knights were wiped off the map centuries ago.
      My brother is still fighting snails in his garden to this day.

    • @alantomy1444
      @alantomy1444 7 лет назад +2

      chistine lane history favors the victor

  • @schmurble2254
    @schmurble2254 7 лет назад +1763

    RIP dude at the end. Horrifically murdered by a mutant snail from the 1300s. Gone too soon.

    • @Cyber_Noot
      @Cyber_Noot 7 лет назад +50

      KSJDbv you're right. Mutant snails are no joke.

    • @millerrepin4452
      @millerrepin4452 7 лет назад +39

      How insensitive my family was killed by mutant snails

    • @TheOtherNeutrino
      @TheOtherNeutrino 7 лет назад +23

      It was a decoy snail

    • @luiscarvalho6428
      @luiscarvalho6428 7 лет назад +7

      TheOtherNeutrino If that's the decoy snail where's the real one...

    • @witnesstochange1801
      @witnesstochange1801 7 лет назад +8

      Luis Carvalho right behind you!!!

  • @Andy-gq5hb
    @Andy-gq5hb 5 лет назад +6163

    The correct title would have been, "Rare medeival memes"

  • @lukmigindnuforhelved
    @lukmigindnuforhelved 5 лет назад +3775

    Knights were the athletes superstars of the time. Monks were the academics.
    Maybe the nerds were mocking the jocks?

    • @bluemantis1448
      @bluemantis1448 5 лет назад +217

      A time when nerds bullied jocks?

    • @lukmigindnuforhelved
      @lukmigindnuforhelved 5 лет назад +252

      @@bluemantis1448 In their little margin world, yes :)

    • @maosama3695
      @maosama3695 5 лет назад +55

      Nah it's probably the king hired those knights to kill any snails they could find for if anyone touches the king he'll die.

    • @deusexrockina
      @deusexrockina 5 лет назад +4

      Haha! Nice

    • @venture3800
      @venture3800 5 лет назад +10

      @@bluemantis1448 not so much bullying as satire? 😂

  • @dutchministryofdefence604
    @dutchministryofdefence604 6 лет назад +1143

    its a older meme sir but it checks out

    • @-yourandyoureare2different612
      @-yourandyoureare2different612 5 лет назад +14

      an*

    • @krabbza
      @krabbza 4 года назад +5

      Thank you Robert EO Speedwagon of the Speedwagon Foundation from the popular anime manga franchise Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

    • @yokokurama5174
      @yokokurama5174 3 года назад

      @@krabbza obnoxious*

  • @m1l22
    @m1l22 5 лет назад +2672

    *_So basically this is the birth of shitposting?_*

    • @philiproe1661
      @philiproe1661 5 лет назад +173

      Nah shitposting dates back to Egypt.

    • @philiproe1661
      @philiproe1661 5 лет назад +127

      @Aleksa Petrovic
      Really shitposting is as old as drawing and writing themselves.

    • @Anti-HyperLink
      @Anti-HyperLink 4 года назад +7

      Can you speak like a person?

    • @guyfacks1320
      @guyfacks1320 4 года назад +26

      @Aleksa Petrovic the egyptians are as old to the romans as the romans are to us

    • @lashlarue7924
      @lashlarue7924 4 года назад +11

      @@guyfacks1320 That is freaking mindblowing, but yeah. Actually I think the Egyptians would have been even more slightly older to the Romans than the Romans are to us (today)...

  • @ChronicleLiving
    @ChronicleLiving 7 лет назад +1662

    Legends says that the French Knights are still fighting with snails in their fancy restaurants.

    • @olddoggeleventy2718
      @olddoggeleventy2718 6 лет назад +53

      How dare you insult my French forefathers..."I fart in your general direction." ( Monty Python and The Holy Grail) couldn't resist the opportunity to use that line!

    • @sendai6694
      @sendai6694 6 лет назад +7

      Also the snails are eaten in the region of catalonia in spain

    • @jayrussell1825
      @jayrussell1825 5 лет назад +2

      Deww nut git funnee with ME, Meeseuer - - Sir Jacques Clouseau, Knights of the Ringside Tables

    • @kwest9747
      @kwest9747 5 месяцев назад

      Snails are widely eaten across Europe and can be popular village food, e.g on the island of Lebos. In fact you’ll sometimes find snails in the frozen section of Lidl (not by accident) even in the UK.

  • @johnpetrov6602
    @johnpetrov6602 7 лет назад +641

    Yes it is most accurate to say the snails are a meme. In my law class we ran over an ancient Roman law that required individuals to flee from battle if an avenue of retreat was available, rather than to fight an aggressor. This law was meant to prevent personal skirmishes from resulting in pointless death. Two aggrieved parties would menace each other with weapons then slowly back away to avoid combat while keeping their honor. In the margins of the book containing this law, there is a knight defending himself from a snail. Obviously, the point is that he could easily run away from the snail. That's the punch line. Like any meme, every time it appears the joke is slightly different until the original meaning is obscured. The joke might have several origins; there's no telling where it came from.

    • @OktoPutsch
      @OktoPutsch 7 лет назад +37

      one of the most interesting comments here ,Sir, thank you.

    • @rib_rob_personal
      @rib_rob_personal 7 лет назад +9

      That's really freakin' cool.

    • @ixian_technocrat
      @ixian_technocrat 7 лет назад +5

      Do you happen to remember the title of the manuscript with the aforementioned law and the drawing?

    • @johnpetrov6602
      @johnpetrov6602 7 лет назад +12

      Ixian Technocrat Ah well it would probably have been out of the Code of Justinian. That's all I remember.

    • @barbequesauce7167
      @barbequesauce7167 7 лет назад +6

      If you removed the old law then you'd have to find every reference to it and change it appropriately, then check the references to _those_ laws to make sure they still made sense...
      New laws sort of overwrite old ones. There's that one about it being legal to shoot a Welshman with a longbow, but newer laws about bodily harm have priority.

  • @seepdrer3990
    @seepdrer3990 5 лет назад +677

    When you are lvl 1 player, so you have to fight some snails to get some xp.

  • @3hallaman
    @3hallaman 7 лет назад +1596

    Man, this guy just ignoring the invasion of the giant alien snails.

    • @merrittanimation7721
      @merrittanimation7721 6 лет назад +77

      gingersassy I know right? Those men died valiantly.

    • @tarasarma2888
      @tarasarma2888 6 лет назад +57

      It's shameful. My friend's ancestors died in that war.

    • @codyg6514
      @codyg6514 6 лет назад +73

      You mean the Snailens right?

    • @codyg6514
      @codyg6514 6 лет назад +12

      Damnit, someone in the comments above already used my joke..

    • @AT-gk1tw
      @AT-gk1tw 6 лет назад +3

      Cody Green is a genius.

  • @CraftxTD
    @CraftxTD 4 года назад +509

    This technically is a meme since a meme is an “element of a culture or system of behavior that may be considered to be passed from one individual to another by nongenetic means, especially imitation.”

  • @kitsandcards7968
    @kitsandcards7968 5 лет назад +466

    Back then they go braggin about "I fought snails more fearsome than you!"

    • @Corvus__
      @Corvus__ 5 лет назад +14

      Just like how an f-1 racer today could say "I've seen snails faster than you!"

    • @lemiov6885
      @lemiov6885 5 лет назад +18

      In the next few decades, it would be mud crabs.

    • @Corvus__
      @Corvus__ 5 лет назад

      @@lemiov6885 Why mud crabs?

    • @kitsandcards7968
      @kitsandcards7968 5 лет назад +5

      @@Corvus__ it's an elder scrolls game reference hehe

    • @Corvus__
      @Corvus__ 5 лет назад

      @@kitsandcards7968 So mud crabs, aren't a real thing?

  • @roxyshow123
    @roxyshow123 7 лет назад +597

    The knights killed off the really big snails. So only the little itty bitty mollusks were left.

    • @aljoschalong625
      @aljoschalong625 6 лет назад +32

      @brainchild. Nonono, the knights didn't kill off the big snails - the normal, everyday mollusks, decimated the small anti-mollusc knights to extenction. So we still have snails today, but no knights, especially tiny ones.

    • @pamungkastabah8163
      @pamungkastabah8163 6 лет назад +1

      Breaking Darwin

  • @Laerei
    @Laerei 7 лет назад +2209

    600 years from now: why astronauts fought rainbow farting toast cats in digital era internet art.

    • @mk_rexx
      @mk_rexx 7 лет назад +98

      We'll never know...

    • @smaugtheimpenetrable8009
      @smaugtheimpenetrable8009 6 лет назад +44

      The mystery will be unveiled , but until then...

    • @anonymous.t6649
      @anonymous.t6649 6 лет назад +1

      Laerei ajakjsjjsjjehfbiejddjiosjenosodnowienodjdjowkemksidniwisn*djdj*eein(ejiiejdiiskwi*×××

    • @milascave2
      @milascave2 6 лет назад +5

      Is that actually a thing?

    • @MrGamelover23
      @MrGamelover23 6 лет назад +13

      Opinunate ted Well Nyan Cat is the thing he described being fought.

  • @eldaroses.g.r.7945
    @eldaroses.g.r.7945 2 года назад +187

    So, it’s confirmed. Snail vs knight was a medieval meme. We’ve been memeing way longer than we get credit for.

    • @thecandlemaker1329
      @thecandlemaker1329 5 месяцев назад +8

      Even longer than you think. Ancient romans shitposted on rocks and the walls of their public structures, leaving such important messages as "On April, 19th I baked a bread"

    • @TheCasualAbsurder
      @TheCasualAbsurder 4 месяца назад

      Absolutely. Dawkins just rehashed some classical rhetorical analysis as an evolutionary advantage. Even “meme” is just a variation and abbreviation of “enthymeme.”

  • @itsjustlukeRevive
    @itsjustlukeRevive 4 года назад +928

    Snail: *slimes* on Knight's foot
    Knight: DEMON!!! 🗡️

  • @caityreads8070
    @caityreads8070 7 лет назад +331

    obviously it's because there used to be giant killer snails and the brave heroes killed them all which is why there isn't any anymore

    • @theAverageJoe25
      @theAverageJoe25 6 лет назад +13

      Their weapon were made of salt

    • @Texelion3Dprints
      @Texelion3Dprints 6 лет назад +7

      They probably played Bastion.

    • @TheSkepticalIdealist
      @TheSkepticalIdealist 6 лет назад +8

      crusades was actually about snail wars

    • @pauljones3017
      @pauljones3017 6 лет назад +3

      But there still are snails arround, what we lack is knights. Huw...

    • @robjossick7380
      @robjossick7380 6 лет назад +4

      The brave men didn't kill the snails... The brave men rode them.

  • @willhoffman6629
    @willhoffman6629 2 года назад +118

    False. The Knights were granted immortality but in exchanged a snail hunted them down, if caught the Knights would perish. The photos depict said events.

  • @vixen768
    @vixen768 7 лет назад +1333

    FINALLY! An answer I've been looking for!
    Thank you. So much.

    • @Sara3346
      @Sara3346 7 лет назад +12

      Yes and I also wanted to know about the snails!

    • @mdarnell514
      @mdarnell514 7 лет назад +13

      vixen768 no way, totally medieval world's misconception of ammonite fossils that could be quite large. You can see in the illustrations that sometimes they look more like modern day Nautilus's... or squid like in the opening... but... who can prove ammonites didn't walk on land? Maybe some were alive then still. >:)

    • @RIFLQ
      @RIFLQ 7 лет назад +19

      The day I think about why knights fought snails is the day when Vox upload this video

    • @JacobJonesy
      @JacobJonesy 7 лет назад +2

      Okay the problem is that this is just an opinion. Take your "answer" not as fact.

  • @aabcc
    @aabcc 6 лет назад +725

    "Yo dude look at this snail i just drew"
    "Hey thats a good one!! Imma draw one too."
    Medieval meme stealing

    • @cerridianempire1653
      @cerridianempire1653 3 года назад +14

      yup it's terriffying to think that our humor will just go full circle and revert back to banana slipping gags

  • @darrenlynch2619
    @darrenlynch2619 5 лет назад +263

    The snails were very clearly just a meme for the medival arts

  • @mugensamurai
    @mugensamurai 6 лет назад +2303

    Maybe they really hated escargot.

    • @noneofyourbeeswax01
      @noneofyourbeeswax01 6 лет назад +54

      I was expecting to find that the snail represented the French, a traditional foe of the English and notorious eaters of the cuisses de grenouilles, flesh of le cheval and more pertinently, as you have pointed out, the escargot in question... but apparently not.

    • @Changeling9au
      @Changeling9au 6 лет назад +4

      Don't trifle with truffles!
      :)

    • @Hal-kc5bk
      @Hal-kc5bk 6 лет назад +1

      and the french

    • @TheLiamis
      @TheLiamis 6 лет назад +1

      mugensamurai or the french

    • @mywallet7367
      @mywallet7367 6 лет назад

      are you in the wrong timeline?

  • @jaschabull2365
    @jaschabull2365 6 лет назад +499

    1:40: Praying is no use, knight. Snails never do anything quickly!

    • @teslagirl1
      @teslagirl1 6 лет назад +1

      Shellikybookies. There's a wonderful Irish children's song about snails, and that's what they were called.

  • @yeah8598
    @yeah8598 2 года назад +104

    Obviously people back then were just immortal,the snail is inevitable.

    • @tancredi7106
      @tancredi7106 2 года назад +5

      Finally someone said it 💀

    • @skellybird8697
      @skellybird8697 2 года назад +2

      Oh this is Christmas *WAAAR IS OVER IFF YOU WANT IT and what have we done

  • @aprilrhoden116
    @aprilrhoden116 7 лет назад +393

    This was hilarious and informative. This has sparked an interest in me for medieval manuscripts that did not exist before. Thank you, Vox.

    • @Vox
      @Vox  7 лет назад +55

      We linked the main paper/book in the description.
      If you want to just look at gorgeous medieval ms scans, this one is great:
      brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3433279
      You'll find a snail/knight battle on 169r.
      brbl-zoom.library.yale.edu/viewer/1020266
      -Phil

    • @aprilrhoden116
      @aprilrhoden116 7 лет назад +9

      Thanks again!

    • @fdsdh1
      @fdsdh1 7 лет назад +12

      It might be worth taking a look at the British Library too, they have a fairly substantial collection of digitised manuscripts
      www.bl.uk/manuscripts/

    • @aprilrhoden116
      @aprilrhoden116 7 лет назад +2

      Okay, Thanks, I'll do that!

    • @JacobJonesy
      @JacobJonesy 7 лет назад

      Are you older than 13, April?

  • @hobbesfield1082
    @hobbesfield1082 7 лет назад +855

    I just kind of learned that medieval monks made memes.
    I can die happily.

    • @ghiribizzi
      @ghiribizzi 7 лет назад +7

      Hobbesfield well that escalated quickly , well for medieval time standards

    • @92alexmaster
      @92alexmaster 7 лет назад +11

      There are even older memes. The Three Hares meme is about 1500 years old from China, The Abracadabra is from the Roman Empire and The Sator square dates to the roman republic.

    • @AxelLeJeff
      @AxelLeJeff 7 лет назад +4

      And Kilroy has existed since the dawn of man.

    • @facelessman9224
      @facelessman9224 7 лет назад +4

      History's first trolls!

    • @crazyeyes8962
      @crazyeyes8962 7 лет назад +12

      It's really not hard to imagine when you realize that a bunch of dudes who all lived in monasteries totally remote from the rest of the population were in control of almost all written information

  • @justas423
    @justas423 5 лет назад +229

    My theory is that it's a representation of them fighting boredom.

    • @bashkillszombies
      @bashkillszombies 4 года назад +1

      You'd be wrong.

    • @reieben886
      @reieben886 3 года назад +21

      Yes, before printing press, medieval scriber are very boring and time consumming job, they lose time to socializing with other people.. the snails symbolizing slowness and boredom

    • @therealrenegade
      @therealrenegade Год назад +1

      YES! Finally! I knew I wasn't the only one think that.

    • @andyramirez6016
      @andyramirez6016 5 месяцев назад +3

      Or sloth…

    • @petrospetromixos6962
      @petrospetromixos6962 4 месяца назад +1

      Dmn thats actually the best explanation i ve heard reading the comments

  • @ironsoul941
    @ironsoul941 7 лет назад +293

    Actually, in medieval times animals represented something. Snails possibly represented slothfulness, so fighting slothfulness and to keep copying might have been a theme many monks writings these books were familiar with.

    • @naverilllang
      @naverilllang 6 лет назад +12

      You know what represents slothfulness even more than snails?
      Sloths.
      Walked right into that one, didn't you?

    • @rin_etoware_2989
      @rin_etoware_2989 6 лет назад +26

      Sloths lived in America.
      Walked right into that one, didn't you?

    • @thatonehamster4130
      @thatonehamster4130 2 года назад +14

      @@rin_etoware_2989 and America is a sea away from europe
      Swam right into that one, didn´t you?

    • @muhammaddaffaarvianda5050
      @muhammaddaffaarvianda5050 2 года назад +10

      @@thatonehamster4130 and swimming wasn't invented yet in medieveal Europe
      Boated, idk, right into that one, didn't you?

    • @raenaprottengeier
      @raenaprottengeier 9 месяцев назад +4

      they actually represented strength, because they carry their houses on their backs.

  • @flensdude
    @flensdude 7 лет назад +156

    So it turns out the Monty Python joke about the killer rabbit (and other small animals) has been a long running joke in Europe.

    • @Abraxas948
      @Abraxas948 7 лет назад +16

      gladomi Ah yes, I remember when King Arthur was arrested and put in a police van before he could fight the battle for the holy grail. Oh, and how could I have forgotten about the holy hand grenade? Those crazy scribes sure were inventive

    • @VinchVolt
      @VinchVolt 7 лет назад +16

      Gilliam took various liberties for the sake of comedy, but if you remove the jokes it ironically follows the original plot of the legends closer than most other adaptations.

    • @MrMlinmlin
      @MrMlinmlin 7 лет назад +8

      but if you remove the jokes theres barely anything left... a dude named Arthur riding around with a bunch od dudes... -_-

    • @gamingolympian4245
      @gamingolympian4245 6 лет назад +2

      Which is exactly what it was... What did you think there was some like intense war or something? It's a Dude named Arthur who happens to be king of Wales/Britannia traveling through some shithole looking for the Holy Grail.

  • @cluckcluck6494
    @cluckcluck6494 5 лет назад +298

    Goku: I’ve got the strongest enemies
    Knights: Hold my beer

  • @onewhoisanonymous
    @onewhoisanonymous 7 лет назад +1149

    God. I can heard the future historians trying to describe 21st century memes to our distant future generations. "Here we see a photograph of a young person outlaid with a black border. Notice the ancient text encircling the photograph...its true meaning lost to time. Dr. ---- has been studying their cryptic texts for years and theorized...."

    • @BvousBrainSystems
      @BvousBrainSystems 7 лет назад +198

      My most profound hope is that I'm somehow transported to the future you're describing. I'm basically a meme scholar, I can explain them all about it and finally feel like I'm good at something.

    • @Diana-mu7pc
      @Diana-mu7pc 7 лет назад +121

      This sounds like a joke on Futurama

    • @NicolasOrlinski
      @NicolasOrlinski 7 лет назад +81

      All memes will disappear. The 21st Century will be known as the Dark Ages 2 without any written documents.
      Why? Because in 2017 I can't even use links to the digital articles from 1999, because whole newspapers and portals disappeared and when you google after them you may probably find some notes that they ever existed. The digital world is as stabile as the Facebook account with hundreds of pictures and wise words which get banned and goes to the digital nirvana during the one single minute.

    • @kipicbloud
      @kipicbloud 7 лет назад +64

      That thought has always been darkly amusing to me. We have "all" the information in the world at our fingertips, but when our civilization collapses and the next one rises, it is almost a given that there will be almost no written accounts of it given our reliance on electronics and transitional media that is wiped daily.
      Crazy, huh?

    • @edlingja1
      @edlingja1 7 лет назад +27

      Brandon Bricker it's like this analogy:
      Building a tent with no beams, instead we all have to blow as hard as possible to collectively help keep the tent up. If we all stop blowing, it ceases to be a tent and is, instead, simply just a very large blanket. Our current society relies on us ALL partaking in the fields of economics, politics, religion, and all other factors prevalent in our society.

  • @crozraven
    @crozraven 7 лет назад +218

    or snails pictures were just medieval trolls

  • @Nytr8
    @Nytr8 5 лет назад +131

    Title : why knights are fighting snails in images
    Video: we don’t know exactly why

  • @SomeoneJustWatching
    @SomeoneJustWatching 7 лет назад +425

    England, making memes since 1200

    • @marmorealcandors
      @marmorealcandors 6 лет назад +2

      Donald J Trump isn’t New York your city?

    • @Jescide
      @Jescide 6 лет назад +4

      Leonard Marc Ramos
      America is his city

    • @martind349
      @martind349 6 лет назад

      Jescide Life and all of these Londons' still

    • @xenotypos
      @xenotypos 6 лет назад +5

      The manuscripts (in this video) are written in old french.
      So I doubt any of those are from england.

    • @taptapuyo2714
      @taptapuyo2714 6 лет назад

      Harry Sinclair before it was cool. 😎

  • @thelardmaker6806
    @thelardmaker6806 7 лет назад +191

    In short these are basically medieval memes.

    • @eeeeea
      @eeeeea 6 лет назад +4

      The Lard Maker now i'm actually thinking what people in 1000 years from now will think about today's memes

  • @gunfiend5175
    @gunfiend5175 2 года назад +56

    The snail has finally caught up with them...it's their final day, and they are going down by their own terms!

  • @fionacowell3544
    @fionacowell3544 7 лет назад +809

    So..
    Are you telling me..
    That snails are the memes of the 14th century???

    • @quandovoceleroscomentarios9622
      @quandovoceleroscomentarios9622 7 лет назад +12

      They had memes. They had swords and pretty people. They were cool.

    • @armanderschreckliche
      @armanderschreckliche 7 лет назад +4

      Fiona Cowell Lmao 😂😂😂😂👏👏👏👏👌👌👌👌👌

    • @henryt3802
      @henryt3802 7 лет назад +18

      Fiona Cowell yup, they were people just like u and me, they also had their jokes, memes and running gags

    • @henryt3802
      @henryt3802 7 лет назад +4

      The Banana Melon dude my name's henry you should expect me to talk like that.😂

    • @Katie-mw7pd
      @Katie-mw7pd 7 лет назад +1

      JIM

  • @coreyshipe
    @coreyshipe 6 лет назад +369

    TLDR: Snails represent the Lombards, who were thought to be slimy merchants who carried their homes on their backs. The snail is a jest insult to the name of the time. (1400 Memes)

    • @fuckingblackgod
      @fuckingblackgod 5 лет назад +4

      @@tijuanaforeplay8232 hehe, I understood that.

    • @hunterkiller7352
      @hunterkiller7352 5 лет назад +5

      Oy Vey

    • @Max_Le_Groom
      @Max_Le_Groom 5 лет назад +3

      Only 1400s kids will understand 👍👌

    • @Gadget-Walkmen
      @Gadget-Walkmen 2 года назад +2

      lol just no, that's just ONE interpretation but no one knows for sure.

  • @jeremyuzca7697
    @jeremyuzca7697 3 года назад +62

    I imagine a video in 2420: Why 2020 memes used to have a frog named Pepe?

    • @josephsellers5978
      @josephsellers5978 5 месяцев назад

      No need. There's already a doc out on that.

  • @Peasant_of_Pontus
    @Peasant_of_Pontus 7 лет назад +77

    Snails=boredom. Reading=fighting boredom. Knights fighting snails=reading to pass time.

    • @kimurico1
      @kimurico1 6 лет назад +4

      Nice. I would have thought rather snail = time, knight fighting against snail = scribe finishing a manuscript after a loooong time of hard work

  • @Ares-5933
    @Ares-5933 7 лет назад +153

    And we thought we invented memes, turns out memes are hundreds of years old

    • @dutch1641
      @dutch1641 7 лет назад +7

      Ares5933 during ww 2 memes were a thing too

    • @nos4me
      @nos4me 7 лет назад +5

      Ares5933 memes started existing when culture did

    • @krieginphernjacobson
      @krieginphernjacobson 7 лет назад +14

      memes were born far before humanity, they will also outlive us all.

    • @horatiotrismegistus616
      @horatiotrismegistus616 7 лет назад +2

      Memes are a new invention, like water and dirt.

  • @Shaun-vy9vi
    @Shaun-vy9vi 5 лет назад +21

    Just clarifying something, they were called illluminated manuscripts because they often had gold leafing/inks that appeared to make the pages glow under candle light.

  • @DavidBlaze420
    @DavidBlaze420 7 лет назад +62

    this means there were huge snails back then but the knights killed them all

  • @cheesecakelasagna
    @cheesecakelasagna 7 лет назад +138

    Someone please make this ancient meme great again!

  • @2309-w5p
    @2309-w5p 5 лет назад +231

    There is an explenation:
    The knights were french

    • @dearsol.
      @dearsol. 4 года назад +6

      *shook*

    • @akachi1046
      @akachi1046 4 года назад +1

      shut up

    • @mammontustado9680
      @mammontustado9680 4 года назад +27

      "En garde, escargot!"

    • @lightningfletch5598
      @lightningfletch5598 4 года назад +7

      Remember the Lombards were defeated by Charlemagne was also French. A French king at that.

    • @Letizia2810
      @Letizia2810 3 года назад +1

      I don’t like French. Or Northern Italians

  • @nonamedpleb
    @nonamedpleb 7 лет назад +340

    TLDR: IT'S A MEME

  • @tigerboy1966
    @tigerboy1966 7 лет назад +18

    Here's a thought- the pictures were charms to protect the manuscripts from being eaten by snails.

  • @BOAYang
    @BOAYang 5 лет назад +188

    Lion: I'm the king of the jungle
    snail: *I'm about to end this man's whole career.*

  • @yosefyonin6824
    @yosefyonin6824 7 лет назад +68

    *VINTAGE MEMES! VINTAGE MEMES! GET YOUR PERFECTLY PRESERVED 700 YEARD OLD MEMES RIGHT HERE LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!*

  • @Kinopio710
    @Kinopio710 7 лет назад +484

    Medieval memes need to make a comeback 🤔

    • @SargentoBonzo
      @SargentoBonzo 6 лет назад +3

      I want Vox to make a video about: Why knights fought RABBITS in medieval art
      i.pinimg.com/originals/67/00/c4/6700c497d421ae1d0f032e740f7dfd00.jpg

    • @edwardliu111
      @edwardliu111 6 лет назад +1

      They have
      www.reddit.com/r/trippinthroughtime/?st=JD6NYJK0&sh=d881a549

    • @Trashproductions2
      @Trashproductions2 6 лет назад

      Oh I thought this was a meme.

    • @lohitjagarapu9351
      @lohitjagarapu9351 6 лет назад

      +Matt B: What's going to do? Nibble your bum?

    • @jonathanruiz866
      @jonathanruiz866 6 лет назад

      That's what I was thinking

  • @weaklistworm
    @weaklistworm 2 года назад +51

    He tried to fight the immortal snail, a brave soul

  • @werbearjack
    @werbearjack 7 лет назад +269

    So snails are medieval Pepes?

    • @iAmTheSquidThing
      @iAmTheSquidThing 7 лет назад +19

      Now would be a great time to invest in rare snails before the normies realise.

    • @happyswedme
      @happyswedme 7 лет назад +46

      Imagine future scientists being like "at the dawn of the third millennia people liked to draw frogs"

    • @TAURELLIAN
      @TAURELLIAN 7 лет назад +33

      𝖄𝖊 𝖔𝖑𝖉𝖊 𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖙𝖕𝖔𝖘𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖌

  • @checkmatefurries286
    @checkmatefurries286 7 лет назад +84

    I think this is my new favorite Vox video. Meme in peace, scribes. Meme in peace.

  • @LordBrittish
    @LordBrittish 5 лет назад +30

    Modern snails aren’t what their ancestors once were. Ancient snails used to tower over man, and we had to fight them off with fire and salt.

  • @booklover569
    @booklover569 7 лет назад +63

    so...knights battling snails was an ancient meme?

    • @yesmansam6686
      @yesmansam6686 7 лет назад +5

      Emily Daenzer it would appear so 😐

  • @hansofaxalia
    @hansofaxalia 8 месяцев назад +3

    “The snails reveal something….”
    No words have ever induced a greater sense of primeval fear within me

  • @NikkiKrissoff
    @NikkiKrissoff 4 года назад +28

    It’s all fun and games till the giant snail comes squirming into the room

  • @thinkgodd2501
    @thinkgodd2501 7 лет назад +184

    Plottwist Giant Snails Exist!!!

  • @leo.6541
    @leo.6541 2 года назад +23

    They fought the snails to protect themselves from the legion of the Immortal Snails; they succeeded, and got rid of all except one.

    • @leo.6541
      @leo.6541 2 года назад +4

      They used creative mode, by the way. Deleted all except the last.

  • @N1GHTSTRIKER-45
    @N1GHTSTRIKER-45 2 года назад +26

    Immortal snail meme predecessor

  • @IsThisRain
    @IsThisRain 7 лет назад +29

    *Insert comment here stating that the snails were medieval dank memes because no-one has commented this before*

  • @IamMeHere2See
    @IamMeHere2See 7 лет назад +72

    So it's basically the Wilhelm scream of Gothic literature. Cool.

  • @klyntarkenny8046
    @klyntarkenny8046 5 лет назад +64

    Did medieval knights do battle with snails?
    Ancient Astronaut Theorists say “yes”

  • @TheReverendGreene
    @TheReverendGreene 6 лет назад +110

    What if snails represented procrastination? Imagine you live in a monastery. People judge you harshly all the time, you're pressured to produce, but you never really go anywhere and probably lack motivation all the time. "Sloth" or laziness is a sin. Maybe it was an inside joke about how hard it was to fight off their laziness and actually make the manuscript they were always talking about

    • @yooringonghan
      @yooringonghan 5 лет назад +4

      honestly that was my interpretation as well

    • @darkmasterchief227
      @darkmasterchief227 5 лет назад +1

      Hmm yeah i gathered that too

    • @jelkel25
      @jelkel25 5 лет назад +2

      One of the 7 deadly sins, along with the 7 virtues a big part of Western culture that conveniently disappeared.

  • @kurz6860
    @kurz6860 7 лет назад +486

    It's interesting how the monks could draw clothes perfectly but knew barely anything about anatomy.

    • @JustinCage56
      @JustinCage56 7 лет назад +46

      360sblulev I can't believe your comment got upvoted

    • @kurz6860
      @kurz6860 7 лет назад +36

      I'm not complaining about humans combined with animals or other impossible stuff, that would be hypocrytical of me because I like to draw crazy creatures too, I have nothing against it. It just seems weird for me that they made the clothes look extremely realistic while the faces and body proportions of normal humans are kinda off.

    • @grandsome1
      @grandsome1 7 лет назад +49

      Max Hofman Words and symbols had litteral reality bending property in the mind of the ancient people (especially when a nobleman can get killed with one word), so artists would often refrain from drawing living things too well by fear of the drawing becoming alive or of fear of blasphemy. There's that sort of motif in many story from the Jewish golems to Pinocchio. This is also why Egyptian drew the way they did, and were afraid of writing some people names on walls. And this is also where the concept of spells comes from.

    • @kurz6860
      @kurz6860 7 лет назад +15

      That's cool to know! Thanks for informing me.

    • @neeneko
      @neeneko 7 лет назад +28

      Keep in mind that a lot of it was stylistic, and the styles changed over time.

  • @DZ477
    @DZ477 5 лет назад +64

    2019: Why knights fought snails in medieval art
    2119: Why players fought chickens in CSGO

  • @KevGoesRiding
    @KevGoesRiding 7 лет назад +195

    Last time I came this early, it was the dark ages

    • @maggers2580
      @maggers2580 7 лет назад +64

      *dank meme age

    • @youreallinsane
      @youreallinsane 7 лет назад +7

      the internet doesn't need to know your fetishes.

    • @quester09
      @quester09 7 лет назад +1

      Ride The Track and giant snails roamed the earth.

    • @FERTHEBOSS1
      @FERTHEBOSS1 7 лет назад +9

      more like the dank ages

    • @CeeVell
      @CeeVell 7 лет назад

      Mh

  • @Mars-ii6ki
    @Mars-ii6ki 7 лет назад +18

    YES I LOVE UR GUYS' VIDS ABOUT HISTORY

  • @cernunnos_lives
    @cernunnos_lives 5 лет назад +84

    So basically: how an ethnic slur became a meme for perhaps a few generations of scholarship.

  • @yseson_
    @yseson_ 6 лет назад +127

    Love the "pray that 🐌 kills you quickly" interesting fact an ex roommate and I would make our own paper and keep it in the basement guess what creature loves to eat fresh paper? 🐌
    So I imagine it was a precaution toward being diligent in the care of precious paper

    • @kriscampbell7807
      @kriscampbell7807 2 года назад +2

      Oh gosh, I hadn't thought of that at all.

    • @markusgorelli5278
      @markusgorelli5278 7 месяцев назад

      So it was a charm of sorts to frighten snails away. Cool!

  • @allhailqueenhelga
    @allhailqueenhelga 6 лет назад +9

    One interesting theory I've heard about the rabbits and snails is that they're simply there because the people writing the manuscripts were monks and one of the main duties of monks was gardening. And who are two of
    a gardener's main enemies? Rabbits and snails.

  • @SerendipitousProvidence
    @SerendipitousProvidence 3 года назад +17

    I heard it was called the dank age because of its unfathomably profound memes.

  • @warhammernerd52Daxx-Lorenzo898
    @warhammernerd52Daxx-Lorenzo898 7 лет назад +63

    +Vox, why don't we see cars in medieval art?

    • @nemoflexual
      @nemoflexual 6 лет назад +33

      warhammernerd52 those things are way too hard to draw

  • @RandallStephens397
    @RandallStephens397 7 лет назад +114

    the rare medieval pepe

  • @liviahorowitz2225
    @liviahorowitz2225 3 года назад +8

    Plot twist: the crusades were actually just wars about killing giant snails, which were considered a delicacy for the elite.

  • @fionacowell3544
    @fionacowell3544 7 лет назад +22

    I'm so glad this Vox video came fast... not in snail mail.

  • @justcallmehaterik
    @justcallmehaterik 2 года назад +9

    So this was the first time the snail was hired to catch some dude? O.o

  • @lorettap.925
    @lorettap.925 4 года назад +16

    I really like that first "snail" at 0:34. It's like a cat-snail. Cnail.

  • @MrMovieduck
    @MrMovieduck 7 лет назад +39

    Why didn't they just end the snails rightly?

    • @unpaintedcanvas
      @unpaintedcanvas 7 лет назад +10

      MrMovieduck Sadly they just couldn't unscrew their pommel in time...

    • @magiv4205
      @magiv4205 7 лет назад +2

      We need Skallagrim to see this video

  • @tnought
    @tnought 7 лет назад +11

    Vox: Answering the important questions.

  • @emmytweetie2177
    @emmytweetie2177 5 лет назад +59

    Is it ok to draw in the margins of my school books now????

  • @davidmccullough4678
    @davidmccullough4678 7 лет назад +151

    now I understand both memes and Adventure Time

  • @spineck5499
    @spineck5499 5 лет назад +20

    everybodys gangsta till the snails roll up in the castle

  • @sarahtoonswastaken9990
    @sarahtoonswastaken9990 2 года назад +14

    the immortal snail came for them

  • @BltchErica
    @BltchErica 6 лет назад +74

    I wonder if they actually had memes inb4 christ. Imagine some egyptian kids drawing mummies with shiny eyes doing t poses on scrolls without any explanation.

    • @Pugetwitch
      @Pugetwitch 4 года назад +2

      It happened.

    • @chonacastillo4777
      @chonacastillo4777 4 года назад +1

      Nice profile pic.

    • @Pollicina_db
      @Pollicina_db 4 года назад +14

      There is one. When archaeologist found a place in Egypt with lots of pillars they noticed that one of them had hiyeroglifs. So they climbed up that very tall pillar to see what it said. It said:"This is a veryyyy tall pillar".

    • @swiggitysk8
      @swiggitysk8 4 года назад +2

      of course they had memes. memes are a human thing. they were just called common jokes up until recently.

    • @copperlemon1
      @copperlemon1 4 года назад +3

      Romans had graffiti accusing each other of buggery and cuckholdry, by at least year 79, as demonstrated by inscription preserved at Pompeii.

  • @apexshinbi638
    @apexshinbi638 5 лет назад +14

    2:52 *First Battle Royale Mode, colorized (1260)*

  • @sias9546
    @sias9546 6 лет назад +22

    My own hypothesis on the manuscript snail phenomenon is much simpler, less psychologically venturesome, and dare I say nearer-fetched. It goes as such: SNAILS ARE ARMORED.

    • @xaedes
      @xaedes 6 лет назад +5

      Even simpler: snails eat paper(--> enemy of books) and they put up the fighters against the snails to give the book some protection. Not that the snails would care..

  • @peehaha9742
    @peehaha9742 7 лет назад +8

    This question has been bugging me for months now! Thanks, Vox.

  • @edwinpaulhermo7650
    @edwinpaulhermo7650 2 года назад +6

    Someone agreed to be immortal, that's what.

  • @haarukko
    @haarukko 6 лет назад +15

    Snail... what a foul beast, intresting creature to observe as it slithes towards it's enemies demise

  • @davemarx7856
    @davemarx7856 7 лет назад +21

    1) I had no idea this was a thing.
    2) There are snails over a foot in length?!

  • @default2591
    @default2591 2 года назад +10

    So the immortal snail is real?

  • @waluigiisthebest2802
    @waluigiisthebest2802 6 лет назад +19

    It actually was because knights needed to fight off the ancient giant snails.

  • @ZachBobBob
    @ZachBobBob 7 лет назад +173

    So they're just early racist medieval memes?
    Oh how far we've come.

    • @Carewolf
      @Carewolf 7 лет назад +16

      Not racist as much as anti-bankers. And in a breath of fresh medieval air, it wasn't against Jews, by against Italo-Germans.

    • @GenerationX1984
      @GenerationX1984 7 лет назад +4

      Well, the Lombards shouldn't have invaded Italy then. Just saying.

    • @walotheman1
      @walotheman1 7 лет назад +2

      ffs

    • @rexhaereticus2468
      @rexhaereticus2468 7 лет назад +1

      you mean, anti-semitic.

    • @Mr.Obongo
      @Mr.Obongo 4 года назад

      Carewolf what if they actually were Jews though?