Chantilly, Musée Condé MS 340 fol-303 [~ 1460 AD]
Calendar with the twelve labours of the months
Author: Pietro Crescenzi le Rustican
Artist: Master of the Geneva Boccaccio (fl 1448 – 1475)
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Educational text by Musée Condé:
1) January: the clay extraction under the snow
Pietro de’Crescenzi devotes several chapters to the work of preparing the fields: weeding, crumbling clods of earth with a mallet, enhancement by manure, green manures and other amendments. These agrarian scenes are rarely repeated by illuminators.
This scene above can also represent the extraction of clay on the bank of a river, by a peasant using a pickaxe. The harvested clay is piled up behind him. Remember that clay is used in the composition of the tiles and in the construction of the walls of peasant houses and half-timbered stables. The winter months are good for building maintenance.
2) February: spreading animal manure
Manure, that is to say, the amelioration of agricultural land by spreading manure, has always been one of the weak points of medieval agriculture. If agronomic treatises insist on its necessity, this is precisely because the practice was rare, limited to a few large farmers such as the monastic communities. Stabling remained short (from a few weeks to about three months), and the litter, insufficient due to the scarcity of straw, did not allow large quantities of manure to be formed. Consequently, the manure could not be spread over all the land and most of it was intended for spade cultivation in enclosed areas: gardens, vegetable gardens, as shown in the illumination. Because there was no artificial fertilizer, each field was worked for two years and in the third year it lay idle (fallow) to recover.
3) March: The pruning of the vine
This activity often symbolizes viticulture in the Middle Ages. In fact, this work occurs several times a year: according to Pietro de’Crescenzi, in February or March only in cold regions, in October or November and in February or March in the hottest areas. It is also represented in book four of the manuscript. The author does not expand on the techniques used, the tools or the gestures. The illuminations, however, provide interesting details: the cut is generally carried out using a billhook with a sharp, protruding back, with a fairly wide blade. The peasant, leaning forward, grasps with his left hand the branch above the billhook, which he holds with his right hand. In the background, another peasant repeats the same gesture, but kneels down so that he can prune lower branches.
4) April: Sheep shearing
Sought above all for its wool, the sheep was also regarded as a meat animal and was used incidentally for milk and cheese. In northern France, the bulk of the herd was made up of very small animals, similar to the present-day Ouessant salt meadow sheep. The keeping of animals made it possible to supplement the inputs of manure for the fertilization of the land. The shepherds were generally mature men, as here. Wrapped up in a blue hood, his cap on his head, he immobilizes between his legs with his left hand the animal chosen from the herd, which he prepares to shear using large scissors called forces.
5) May: Falcon hunt
The theme of the falcon hunt comes from the liturgical calendars and has no relation to the text of the Rustican, devoted to agronomy. On the other hand, it can only appeal to readers who are likely to practice this hunt, considered the noblest and most distinguished of all. This is probably a nod to the> Tres Riches Heures
