Killer rabbits / hares taking revenge on hunters
About the work
Imported from the workbook's Full reassessment sheet, revised 7 October 2026 (record ID 38). The assessment below is the workbook's comparative judgment under its stated criteria; source links and limits are retained.
Workbook assessment: Spread only
Date or witness: From c.1170s; numerous securely dated examples in the 1300s–1340s
Region: Germany, England, France and Low Countries
Workbook date-sort bounds: 1170 CE to 1349 CE; these bounds are not automatically invention or disappearance dates.
Description
Rabbits hang, capture or attack humans and carry weapons. The Arnstein Passional, Harley MS 2801 f.151r, already has hares hanging a hunter in the 1170s; Gorleston f.13v shows an axe-wielding rabbit approaching a king.
Evidence of adoption or transmission
Armed or vengeful hares recur in several manuscript contexts over a long period.
What remains uncertain
Role reversal alone does not establish lower-class authorship, consumption, or political identification. The inspected witnesses are illuminated religious and secular books; no historical cheap rabbit badge has been verified. Modern reproduction badges are not evidence.
Workbook revision note: Reassessed using grassroots criteria