What did December look like in the Middle Ages and medieval art? An image from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, one of the most famous illuminated manuscripts from the early 1400s, focuses on boar hunting in the Forest of Vincennes. The video highlights aristocratic activities, chateaux (castles), and the beginning of the Winter Season, as seen through art history. This richly painted scene captures the medieval tradition of venery. It also discusses the famous keep at the Château de Vincennes and how it connects to Charles V and the Hundred Years' War.

Speaker: Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Image: December, in the Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (c. 1412–16), Limbourg Brothers and later artists. Musée Condé, Chantilly, France.

Learn more

Learn more about Winter Season: https://www.artsq.org/winter-season

Standards Alignment

C3 Framework for Social Studies:

• D2.His.1.6-8 – Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts

• D2.His.2.6-8 – Classify historical events and developments as examples of change and/or continuity

• D2.His.4.6-8 – Analyze multiple factors that influenced perspectives of people during different eras

• D2.His.14.6-8 – Explain multiple causes and effects of events and developments in the past

• D2.His.6.9-12 – Analyze how people’s perspectives shaped the sources they produced

• D2.Geo.5.6-8 – Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by geographic context