01 December 2012
A Calendar Page for December 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for December, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18882, ff. 12v-13
These December calendar pages feature another relatively tame version of Capricorn - a lone, rather wistful-looking goat rather than the more common half-goat, half-fish (see last year's December page for another example). Below Capricorn, on the first calendar page, livestock are being slaughtered. Two men on the left are about to deliver the coup de grâce to a standing steer, while on the right two other men are cutting a pig's throat (and collecting its blood in a nearby pan). Behind can be seen a stretched and butchered carcass. On the right two butchers are at work in a shed; outside is a market square with a long row of tables for the meat to be sold to waiting customers (including another nun - perhaps the same one that can be seen in the November scene?).
01 November 2012
A Calendar Page for November 2012
For more details on calendar pages of the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for November, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 11v-12
A common scene for November calendars is the fattening of pigs for the winter. The page on the left shows a typical example, with a peasant knocking acorns down from trees to feed a group of hungry animals, while a man on the right seems to be trying to coax a less-eager pig to eat. On the right is a market square, bordered by tall buildings (including perhaps a church) and watched over by a centaur-archer, the traditional depiction for Sagittarius. In the square a group of men (and a single nun, strangely enough) are engaged in the sale of cattle and pigs.
01 October 2012
A Calendar Page for October 2012
For more details on calendar pages of the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for October, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 10v-11
The year's final cycle of plowing and sowing is underway in these two connected scenes from the October calendar pages. On the left, two men work with a horse and an oxen team to plow a field, beneath a threatening sky. On the right, a group of people are at work scattering seeds into the field, while a woman holds a beautiful metal jug (filled, one hopes, with the fruits of last year's wine-making). In the roundel above can be seen a set of scales, a symbol for the zodiac sign Libra; this symbol was probably painted in error, as it is usually shown in September.
01 September 2012
A Calendar Page for September 2012
For more details on calendar pages of the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for September, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 9v-10
September is (and was) traditionally the month to begin the grape harvest, and the vitally important task of wine-making. The calendar pages for this month give us two such scenes, beginning on the left, where a group of men and a single woman are harvesting grapes and carrying them in wicker baskets, overlooked by a turreted castle on the hilltop. On the right hand page, two men with wicker baskets are carrying their grapes into a barn, where one man is pouring wine into casks and another is crushing grapes in a barrel (and making a bit of a mess, it appears). Above this scene is a strange-looking scorpion, for the zodiac sign Scorpio; this is most likely an error, since September is most traditionally associated with the sign Virgo (see last year's page, for example).
01 August 2012
A Calendar Page for August 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012
Calendar pages for August, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 8v-9
The important work of the wheat harvest continues in the August calendar pages; there seems no place for leisurely springtime entertainments (such as drinking in a garden or flirting on horseback) in these two scenes of demanding labour. Three men, stripped to the bare essentials of clothing, are threshing wheat on the left, inside a barn with a broken roof. On the right, a female figure - for Virgo, the virgin - overlooks a group loading the wheat grains into sacks, which appear very heavy indeed.
01 July 2012
A Calendar Page for July 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for July, from the Hours of Joanna of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges), between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 7v-8
The strenuous work of summer continues in these two miniatures from the calendar for July, which focuses on the yearly harvest of wheat. On the left folio four men are at work in a field, in what must be very warm weather; the men have all rolled up their sleeves, and two seem to have divested themselves of their trousers as well. On the right, beneath a small and rather scowly lion (for the zodiac sign Leo) another group of men are bringing their harvest to a timbered barn.
01 June 2012
A Calendar Page for June 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for June, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 6v-7
Most calendars depict June as a month of true labour, a time to leave behind the pleasures of early spring. This is largely the case for this calendar, but not entirely, as we can see on the left-hand folio above. Two men are at work mowing in a walled meadow, but a couple of their fellows have put down their tools to relax on the grass and have a drink. A well-dressed lady seems to be entering the meadow to join them (presumably in the drinking rather than the mowing). At the top of the facing folio is a strange-looking crab for Cancer, while at the bottom is a scene of men and a woman mowing hay and gathering it into bundles. At the upper right another group is at work winching these bundles into a barn.
01 May 2012
A Calendar Page for May 2012
For more details on calendar pages or the Hours of Joanna of Castile, please see the entry for January 2012.
Calendar pages for May, Hours of Joanna of Castile, Bruges, between 1496 and 1506, Additional 18852, ff. 5v-6
Courting and hunting are the themes for the month of May, in this calendar and many others. On the left-hand folio is a miniature of a gentleman and two ladies on a pleasure trip. They carry musical instruments, and their boat is piloted by two figures that bear a strong resemblance to grotesques. On the facing folio, beneath the two nude figures of Gemini, is another scene of courting, with a gentleman kneeling before his lady. This lady bears a strong resemblance to the woman on horseback in the April miniature, but in the intervening month she has apparently found a new admirer. At the far right are two men, with hounds and birds of prey, presumably about to join the hunting party that can be seen in the fields above.
Medieval manuscripts blog recent posts
- A calendar page for November 2018
- A calendar page for October 2018
- A calendar page for September 2018
- A calendar page for August 2018
- A calendar page for July 2018
- A calendar page for June 2018
- A calendar page for May 2018
- A calendar page for April 2018
- A calendar page for March 2018
- A calendar page for February 2018
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