What did October look like in the Middle Ages? The Très Riches Heures Book of Hours offers a vivid glimpse through its October calendar page, showing farmers plowing and sowing seeds, birds stealing grain, an archer by the Seine River, and the medieval Louvre in Paris bustling with life long before it became the museum it is today. Above, Libra and Scorpio mark the zodiac, reminding us how medieval time was tied to the stars. Commissioned by Jean, Duke of Berry, this illuminated manuscript's blend of seasonal labor with the zodiac, and its naturalistic details, make it one of the most famous examples of medieval art.

Speaker: Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank

Image: October, 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