Why Fighting Rabbit Pictures Are Found In Medieval Manuscripts

They’re a far cry from the cute and cuddly rabbits we know today.

When you were in school, did you ever sit and doodle in order to pass the time? It seems as if you may not be alone, as it is something that could have some rather ancient roots.

When officials looked into some medieval manuscripts that had pictures in them, they found out that there were some doodles of rabbits.

Photo: Picryl/British Library

According to the British Library, these were not the typical fluffy bunnies that you see depicted in many drawings, they were violent bunnies that were wielding swords and doing unspeakable things.

The pictures were included in the margins of those ancient manuscripts and they are commonly known as marginal illustrations, or officially known as drolleries.

Photo: Picryl/British Library

They weren’t part of some sort of religious imagery but rather, it seems as if they were probably the doodles of someone trying to pass the time and using rabbits as a source of violent entertainment.

I’ll have to admit that it is rather amusing to see something as innocent as a bunny cutting off the head of another bunny with a large sword or perhaps going face-to-face with a puppy and a spear.

Photo: PICRYL/Wikimedia Commons

At any rate, it seems as if somebody had a little too much time on their hands when either looking at or writing these ancient manuscripts.

Hundreds of years later, we get to enjoy the drawings and think about the person who drew them and what must have been going on in their mind at the time.

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