Manicules — exaggerated pointing hands in margins
About the work
Imported from the workbook's Full reassessment sheet, revised 7 October 2026 (record ID 104). The assessment below is the workbook's comparative judgment under its stated criteria; source links and limits are retained.
Workbook assessment: Plausible
Date or witness: Common from the 12th century onward; cited manuscript example 13th century
Region: European manuscripts
Workbook date-sort bounds: 1100 CE to 1500 CE; these bounds are not automatically invention or disappearance dates.
Description
Readers draw small hands, often with elongated index fingers, to point to noteworthy passages. The same annotation device is repeatedly adapted.
Evidence of adoption or transmission
Readers independently add and adapt pointing hands to mark passages; these are often signs of use rather than original commissioned layout.
What remains uncertain
This is participatory adoption, but a literate reading community is not necessarily working-class. Also, the 1357–1358 account-book hand in the Leiden article is explicitly distinguished from a manicule by its author.
Candidate-index family 21: Manicules — exaggerated pointing hands in margins
The workbook groups records 104 here and rates the family Plausible. This is a research shortlist, not proof of an independently established meme family.
Dated evidence: Common from the 12th century onward; cited manuscript example 13th century
Region: European manuscripts
Shortlist uncertainty: This is participatory adoption, but a literate reading community is not necessarily working-class. Also, the 1357–1358 account-book hand in the Leiden article is explicitly distinguished from a manicule by its author.
Workbook revision note: Reassessed using grassroots criteria