Man Fighting a Goat Snail - Medieval Marginalia - Tote Bag

A man fighting a goat snail from the Breviary of Renaud de Bar, France (Metz), 1302-1303. Drawings of snails are a recurring theme in the margins of medieval manuscripts. They are often depicted fighting knights and sometimes as hybrids with the upper bodies of other animals. While their meaning remains uncertain, several theories suggest they could symbolize cowardice, death, female sexuality, the common people, or the Lombards, who were reputed to be slimy and dishonorable in the Middle Ages.