The Medieval Calendar Year celebrates the pictorial convention
known as "The Labors of the Months" and the ways it was used in the
Middle Ages. Richly illustrated and elegantly presented, it
provides valuable insights into prevailing social attitudes and
values and will fascinate all readers who are interested in the
history and culture of medieval Europe.
The "Labors" cycle was most popular during the High Middle Ages
(ca. 1200-1500). The traditional cycle depicts the year as a round
of seasonal activities on the land. Each month has its allotted
task, and each of these represents one stage in the never-ending
process of providing food for society. The small scenes that made
up the cycle were well-known and used widely throughout Europe.
They were chosen to decorate both public and private spaces:
churches and houses, town fountains, baptismal fonts, as well as
books of devotion intended both for priests and for the laity. The
cycle was sculpted in stone, carved in wood, painted on glass and
on manuscript pages. Examples from such media are described, but
most of the illustrations have been taken from manuscripts,
primarily Books of Hours.
The author has spent the past fifteen years studying calendar
after calendar, and one of her great strengths is her ability to
see the social reality that lies hidden, even masked, behind the
stylized presentation. In the chapter on winter, she shows how the
image of this season, dreaded in the Middle Ages, was softened and
sweetened by calendar artists to bring it more into harmony with
the characteristic mood of the cycle as a whole. For autumn, she
reveals how depictions of the harvest of grain, grapes, and
livestock hint at a sophisticated market economy. Thematic chapters
on children, women, and the hardship of work brilliantly cut
through idealized conventions and assumptions to unveil the
underlying complexities of life.
The "Labors" cycle and its social context have not hitherto been
examined in depth and with the care they deserve. The Medieval
Calendar Year is a book worthy of the beautiful and beguiling
tradition it describes.
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