Interesting note from the comments: > It's worth noting that snails love to eat bark, paper, cardboard, etc. I would imagine that books stored in damp cellars

Interesting note from the comments: > It's worth noting that snails love to eat bark, paper, cardboard, etc. I would imagine that books stored in damp cellars and such were at real risk of damage from them, hence snails were probably not well-regarded by bookish monks. Looking a little into it, turns out that snails like eating paper. I wonder if they were a common scourge of librarians and copiers? It points to why they would be ubiquitous, and why so many Knights are depicted as losing.