March from Walters Museum W.425
Walters Museum W.425 is a fragmentary prayer book. Fortunately, all the calendar images are extant. In the astrological medallion in the border on the left, Aries, the sign of the ram, is featured. The astrological symbol is, again, particularly worn, and I wonder if that’s because someone holding the prayer book open had a thumb resting there.
This March image is the first to feature a “naturalistic” border in the calendar images. On the right is a strawberry, and just below the strawberry, a strawberry blossom. The strawberry, because of the three-lobed leaves was associated with the Trinity, and the white blossoms with purity.
The labors of March typically show people plowing or otherwise digging and preparing soil for planting, or, in warmer climes, pruning the vines. In the Walters W.425 March image, in the foreground, a man on the left is using a space to dig. On the right another man with a basket on his back appears to be inserting a pole in the ground. Behind them a third man is tying vines to supports.
I suspect that the men in the foreground are meant to be turning the soil with a spade preparatory to planting new vines and inserting supporting posts for them (but I’m guessing!). In the distance men seem to be engaged in much the same labor, spading or digging the earth and inserting posts for vine support. Notice that all of the people are dressed warmly, with long sleeves, layers, and hats, even though the ground is bare of snow. Everyone is still wearing shoes and leggings as well. This is spring, but it’s early spring, and the air is chilly.
The scene is fairly typical for March in a wine-growing region.
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Richard J Legault
Walters Museum W.425 shows Aries as the sign for March, following the ‘Entry’ method. The Sun’s position enters Aries on or about 21 March.
More rarely, other medieval sources show Pisces as the sign for March, following the ‘Duration’ method. The Sun’s position is in Pisces from the 1st to the 20th of March, a duration of 20 days.
More rarely still, some sources show two signs for each month following both the Entry and Duration methods. The ‘Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry’ is an example that uses both methods. (Stangely, It also shows the cusp on the 12th instead of the 20/21st day of March).
Do you know of any other examples that use both methods?
Lisa Spangenberg
I don’t know any other mss. off hand that use both, but I will keep you in mind as I research. You might try looking at The Princeton Index of Medieval Art (https://theindex.princeton.edu). You’ll likely have to be creative in your searching, i.e. searching for a specific sign/month then visually checking the images. You don’t need to check all the images from a given ms. because it’s almost certain that the artists will be consistent within a ms. I’d also check the Getty; they have a huge number of calendar images online, and I’d email them to ask them.