I am not a Medievalist so I do not know why snails are so prevalent throughout illuminated manuscripts from the middle ages. Often these snails are in conflict with knights and other animals – this blog here gives several explanations What’s So Funny about Knights and Snails? Whatever the reason for them, here are some medieval snails for you to enjoy.

A knight charging a snail, and a bird from Le Livre du Trésor (France, c. 1315-1325) shelfmark Yates Thompson 19 f.65, © British Library Board

Cat in a snail shell from Book of Hours, Use of Maastricht (‘The Maastricht Hours’) (Netherlands, S. (Liège), 1st quarter of the 14th century),
shelfmark Stowe 17 f.185, © British Library Board

Snail and mouse in conflict, from Spiegel der Weisheit (Austria, W. (Salzburg), c1430), shelfmark Egerton 1121 f. 10, © British Library Board

Rabbits and snails jousting from Chroniques, Vol. IV, part 1 (the ‘Harley Froissart’) (Netherlands, S. (Bruges), between c. 1470 and 1472),
shelfmark Harley 4379 f. 23v, © British Library Board

Flowers and a snail from Book of Hours, Use of Sarum (Netherlands, S. (Bruges), c1500), shelfmark King’s 9 f. 67, © British Library Board

A snail with a human head from Le Régime du corps, (France, N. (Lille?), 3rd quarter of the 13th century (perhaps c. 1285)),
shelfmark Sloane 2435 f. 23, © British Library Board

Flowers, strawberry, a bird, and a snail from Book of Hours, Use of Rome (Italy, N. (Bologna), c1500), shelfmark Yates Thompson 29 f. 75, © British Library Board

You may also be interested in the following posts with images from the British Library’s Medieval Manuscript collections:
– Images of Tudor people
– Wild Animals and Early modern England
– Images of the Devil in the Medieval/early-modern period
– Images of medieval cats
– Images of medieval cats – part 2
– Images of medieval dogs
– The Medieval Spinsters
– The sinful hermit

Notes
All digital images from the British Library’s Online Images archive appear by courtesy of the British Library Board and may not be reproduced © British Library Board.