Cowboy Kisses: Those cute Easter Bunnies.

A few months ago, we were all enamored of those darling Easter Bunnies. History, however, indicates these sweet furry critters may have a more eye opening beginning. And perhaps the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog in Monty Python's "In Search of the Holy Grail" wasn't so outrageous after all.

Killer Rabbit Of Caerbannog Tapestry

From TeePublic

Along the edges of Medieval books, manuscripts’ marginalia, we find odd images with all sorts of monsters, half man-beasts, monkeys, and more. Even in religious books the margins sometimes have drawings making fun of monks, nuns and bishops.

Were these fascinating inserts the dark humor of the monks who spent millions of hours copying manuscript after manuscript? More likely, the illustrations were used to add humor, showcase imagination, and occasionally provide social commentary by mocking contemporary life.

These images, opposites of real life, became known as drollery. According to Webster droll means having a humorous, whimsical, or odd quality. Drollery, is the world turned upside down.

In these examples, the unassuming gentle bunny, frequently hunted and eaten by the local people, is shown turning the tables and attacking the hunter.

An axe-wielding rabbit approaches a king

Here, an axe-wielding rabbit dares attack a king. The Gorleston Psalter, East Anglia, England, 1310-24

But rabbits-gone-wild wasn't a flash in the pan idea. The practice of drollery in illuminate manuscripts spanned several hundred years with many fantastic beast/human combinations.

It's kind of reassuring to think this covert sense of humor survived during a time when so many had so little. And wouldn't this be a good plot devise, secret information in the margins of an old manuscript...or a new manuscript depending the time period and genre in which you write.

I really liked Peter Austin's idea that these drolleries are like modern day memes, and we have been sending one another comical animal cartoons for centuries.

visit Peter Austin here

Here is a look at Rabbits in Art from

https://www.facebook.com/archaeologyart/reels/

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