r/MedievalCreatures • • Sep 05 '26

Moderator Announcement 📢 New Rule Update!

112 Upvotes

Hey everyone!

r/MedievalCreatures is fast approaching its 3 year anniversary! 🎉

Over the past few years, the subreddit has grown and evolved, and so has the kind of artwork and creatures that people have wanted to share here. With that in mind, we’ve decided it’s time for the rules to relax and evolve a little too.

From today, art from historical eras up to and including the 1800s is now welcome!

Although the subreddit will still be called “medieval” creatures (Reddit won't allow us to change it), we’re happy to allow humorous, weird, interesting, and entertaining artworks from up to and including the 1800s.

So yes, prehistoric art, ancient art, medieval art, and even delightfully weird 18th and 19th century artwork is all fair game!

One of the reasons for this change is that, over the years, we’ve had people post some fantastically weird, fascinating, hilarious, or otherwise brilliant artworks that absolutely belonged here based on their character and vibe, but had to be removed because they weren’t technically medieval.

For example, artworks like this, dated 1738:

In the past, the occasional non-medieval artwork has slipped through the net (usually sneakily posted by us Mods - shock! horror!). For example, the wonderfully bizarre work of Northern Renaissance artist Hieronymus Bosch or an Ancient Egyptian snake in boots. But now we're making it Officially Allowed™!

To make it clear what era of artwork is being posted, we’ve streamlined the mandatory Post Flairs to the following:

• Prehistoric Art (40,000BC - 4,000BC)

• Ancient Art (3,500BC - 500AD)

• Medieval (500AD - 1500AD)

• Post-Medieval (1500AD - 1800s)

To pre-empt the potential “Why not just make a new subreddit?” question- We actually did! But we felt that rather than splitting the community and having similar art scattered between the two, it made more sense to let this subreddit evolve and include it all.

What we are NOT doing is turning this into a generalised art subreddit. The art still needs to have that “wow, that’s amazing!” or “what the heck is THAT?” energy.

So, the main thing to keep in mind when posting is:

If it doesn’t look like a drunk monk painted it, or it isn’t cool, unusual, or interesting, then this is not the place for it.

Some of our other rules have also been updated, but so as not to make this post ridiculously long, please check the rules section in the sidebar.

Thanks to everyone who has been part of the community over the last few years. Here’s to many more years of weird and wonderful creatures! 🐍🦄

As this will be pinned in the Announcement section, the comments will be locked on this post. But if you do have any concerns, questions, or suggestions, our ModMail is always open.

  • The Mod Team

r/MedievalCreatures • • Aug 04 '26

Subreddit Update: We have just hit 100,000 members! 🎉

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2.7k Upvotes

Reddit cares more about views than members now, but 100k is a massive milestone for such a niche subreddit! Thanks for being here!


r/MedievalCreatures • • 15h ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) An embroidered bag with the Royal Arms of England. It was made in 1280 to protect the wax seal attached to a royal charter during the reign of Edward I.

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288 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 1d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) When you travel, it’s the people you’re with that matter, not where you’re going.

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232 Upvotes

Jacquemart GielÊe, Renart le Nouvel, 1301-1320, Français 372, Folio 37r. BnF


r/MedievalCreatures • • 2d ago

RENAISSANCE/BAROQUE, ETC (1450 - 1600s) Pages from the sketchbook of Stephan Schriber (1494). A manuscript which appears to be some kind of sketchbook, belonging to the fifteenth-century monk, where ideas and layouts for illuminated manuscripts were tried out and skills developed

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600 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 2d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) A load of balls -

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149 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 3d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) King Afonso V of Portugal with his little buddy (15th century)

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391 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 3d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) 🎶 The neck bone connected to the...oh...

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629 Upvotes

Source: Hours of Saint-Omer (produced in France around 1320)


r/MedievalCreatures • • 4d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) In medieval manuscripts, hedgehogs are depicted with fruit on their spines. It was said that they would climb up vines or shake them, then roll around on the fallen grapes spearing them with their quills. This way, they could carry all the fruit home to feed their young

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624 Upvotes

Illustration from the Rochester Bestiary, ca. 1230


r/MedievalCreatures • • 4d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) The party elephant is here! (from Matthew Paris's chronicle - 13th century)

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178 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 4d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) Leucrota be kidding -

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142 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 5d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) St. Margaret of Antioch walloping the demon Beelzebub with a hammer. From the paintings of the mystical marriage of St. Catherine, circa 1340

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1.4k Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 5d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) Saint Anthony getting beaten by demons - Aragon, 15th century

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335 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 5d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) Yale never believe this -

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74 Upvotes

The Yale from The Medieval Bestry circa 1200 - 1210.


r/MedievalCreatures • • 6d ago

RENAISSANCE/BAROQUE, ETC (1450 - 1600s) Detail from The Witches’ Cove, a 16th-century Flemish painting attributed to a follower of Jan Mandijn.

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1.5k Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 7d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) Can you please help me find this owl ?

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485 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 7d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) don't talk to me or my son ever again

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1.2k Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 7d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) “Imagine a big thing like you being scared…”

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299 Upvotes

War Elephant with Soldiers. France, c. 1360–1365 Illumination from the Bible historiale.
National Library of France, Department of Manuscripts, French 5707, fol. 172r.


r/MedievalCreatures • • 7d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) Because even Jesus had a horsey toy

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168 Upvotes

Initial O: The Virgin Mary Reading and Jesus Riding a Hobbyhorse
Circle of Jean Colombe (Paris, ca. 1480)

Tempera colors, gold, silver, and ink on parchment.

In a copy of The Hours of Anthony of Burgundy, Private collection, L.2021.70, fols. 224v-225.


r/MedievalCreatures • • 7d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) Good you wiped your feet before coming inside -

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130 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 7d ago

MEDIEVAL (500AD - 1450AD) Adam naming the animals

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376 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 8d ago

RENAISSANCE/BAROQUE, ETC (1450 - 1600s) Artist: Yes, of course I've seen a horse!

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2.2k Upvotes

17th Century painting of Santiago Matamoros. Unknown artist.

Currently on display at National Museum of Art (MNA) of Bolivia, based in La Paz.


r/MedievalCreatures • • 8d ago

RENAISSANCE/BAROQUE, ETC (1450 - 1600s) The Bishop Fish -

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279 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 8d ago

RENAISSANCE/BAROQUE, ETC (1450 - 1600s) The Monk Fish

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155 Upvotes

r/MedievalCreatures • • 8d ago

MODERN (1700s - 1800s) Raise your hand if you feel guilty when you’re on a diet

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118 Upvotes

Workshop of Minko Iwaemon, netsuke depicting a tanuki, c. 1790 - 1810, Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan.