The Medieval Calendar Year

Book excerpt: Henisch, an independent scholar, focuses on High Middle Ages renditions of the "Labors of the Months", a pictorial calendar convention that depicted the traditional cycle of the year revolving around seasonal activities on the land. She examines how artists chose to depict the cycle and the ways in which the conventions and assumptions of art styled the reality of agricultural drudgery into far prettier images. Fine color and b&w illustrations from manuscripts, particularly the Book of Hours.