What did December look like in the Middle Ages? A famous illuminated manuscript gives us insight! A calendar page from the famous medieval manuscript, the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, focuses on a snowy peasant farmstead. This video examines what this detailed image reveals about life during this chilly month of the Winter Season, as depicted in medieval art such as the Très Riches Heures.

Speaker: Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

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

CHAPTERS

0:00 Introduction to February in the Middle Ages

0:47 The court of January vs. peasant life in February

2:08 The snow-covered ground and cold

2:47 Well-off peasants

3:32 Insight into medieval society

4:25 The lunette and zodiac signs

4:58 Books of Hours

5:16 The Limbourg Brothers

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