What did November 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 harvesting acorns to prepare for winter survival. The video highlights the importance of pig farming during this era and looks into forest law and food practices from that time, as seen through art history. This richly painted scene by Jean Colombe and the Limbourg Brothers captures the medieval tradition of pannage, when swineherds led pigs into oak forests to feast on acorns before winter.

Speaker: Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

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

Learn more

Learn more about Fall and Spooky Season: https://www.artsq.org/fall-and-spooky-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