Identifying the labours of the months
Medieval iconography made simple
Gothic art loves completeness, and you’ll find most labours of the months in sets. However, sometimes you do find one on its own. Often, in sets of misericords, you find two or three, out of sequence; that probably means some have been lost, others repositioned. But usually, if you find one month, you’ll find more nearby.
January is a month of feasting, from Christmas Day to Twelfth Night. So a man is often shown sitting at the table, ready for a feast. Or you might see a man with two drinking horns, which reflects both the theme of feasting, and the two-headed Janus, the Roman god who looks both ways – ending one year, and beginning another. Just occasionally, the man seated at the table actually has two faces.
One of the misericords in Great Malvern priory shows a man with two chalices. I wonder if this is January from a now incomplete set of the months?
February in northern climates is a month when you can't do much work outside. The ground is frozen, and it’s cold. So we see a man sitting in front of the fire. In Chartres and Paris, he’s sitting by a recognisable chimney hood. In Pisa, the artist has borrowed a classical motif and we see him standing in front of what looks like a Roman altar, but the message is the same – time to warm up. In other areas of Italy, though, we see vine trimming – obviously the weather is better in the south.
March is the time for trimming the vines in France, a month later than in Italy, and this is shown at Chartres and at Notre Dame in Paris. But in Amiens, further north and not in a vine growing area, the peasant is shown digging, instead.
April is the beginning of spring and usually shows images of holiday and rejoicing. A king on his throne, a youth crowned with flowers, a man carrying ears of corn in Chartres (on the edge of the huge cornfields of the Beauce). In just one case, at Reims, we see vinedressing.
May is the month of courtly love. The knight on horseback, the lancer, the falconer, are all shown riding out. At Amiens, a peasant takes rest in the shade. A manuscript produced in Bruges, a city full of canals, not surprisingly shows a boating party rather than a hunting party - but the message is the same. There's a different image in East Anglia though - waving a banner at a Rogationtide festival.
June sees the mowing of the meadows, and haymaking; in Italy, the harvest begins. In a Belgian manuscript, we see sheep-shearing instead.
July starts the harvest. At Chartres, the peasant is cutting the crop with a sickle; at Notre Dame, he sharpens his scythe before starting work.
August continues the harvest, which is shown at Paris and Reims and in Chartres. Elsewhere, at Senlis, Semur, and Amiens, threshing begins, and the peasant is half naked, stripped to work in the heat. In Pisa, a man gathers fruit from a tree.
September is the vintage, nearly everywhere,
with scenes of grapes being picked and trodden; except in Reims, where threshing
is shown, a month late. In Amiens, again a different image replaces the
vine-growing scene; a man is shown up a tree, gathering fruit. In a Belgian
manuscript we see ploughing and sowing.
October is the month when the wine is transferred into casks in Semur and Reims. In non-winegrowing areas, such as Paris and Chartres, we see the peasant sowing the field for next year’s crop. Pisa shows ploughing - a month later than further north.
November shows the preparations for winter. At Reims a peasant gathers firewood; in Paris and Chartres, he fattens the pigs on acorns. At Semur, and in the window at Chartres, we see the pig being killed – livestock couldn't be fed in winter, so many of the beasts were killed and the meat salted. Amiens, again, is behind the rest of the world and shows a late sowing of seed.
December usually shows the killing of the pig, as at Paris, Reims, and Senlis. Sometimes, the baking of cakes is shown, and sometimes a reveller at the table.
If you have difficulty remembering all this there's a fine little fifteenth-century poem that sums up the labours of the months - though there are some variations from the versions shown by the artists. Not as we chanted at school, "January sends the snow, makes our feet and fingers glow", but:
By thys fyre I warme my handys;
And with my spade I delfe my landys.
Here I sette my thynge to sprynge;
And here I here the fowlis synge.
I am as lyght as byrde in bowe;
And I wede my corne well I-know.
With my sythe my mede I mawe
And here I shere my corne full lowe.
With my flayll I erne my brede;
And here I sawe my whete so rede.
At Martynesmasse I kylle my swyne;
And at Cristesmasse I drynke redde wyne.
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of the Months