What did medieval farmers need to do each year? A fourteenth-century guide breaks down their tasks month by month.
The Liber ruralium commodorum was written by Pietro de’ Crescenzi around 1304-09. This treatise about agriculture offered advice on all kinds of things to be done on a medieval farm, ranging from beekeeping to winemaking and includes a chapter detailing a monthly calendar of tasks.
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This work became very popular in the later Middle Ages, with numerous manuscripts and print versions coming out. These illustrations, from a manuscript made around 1475, show the ‘Labours of the Months’ that medieval peasants did around the farm during a typical year.
January
Harvesting clay from under the snow – the peasant using a hoe to break clay from the ground beside a riverbank. Clay could then be used for building or creating goods.
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February
Spreading manure – to help the fields prepare for crops, the farmers would be dropping manure on them to act as fertilizer.
March
Pruning – here the farmers are working over the branches of these plants, getting rid of dead branches and working to keep the plants healthy.
April
Sheep Shearing – using a large pair of scissors, the farmer is taking off the wool from a sheep.
May
Falconry – this is a more noble activity, as the white bird helps in hunting.
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June
Haymaking – in the summer months the farmer would be collecting hay. This field was enclosed by a fence to protect it from the farm animals.
July
Harvesting – using sickles, a man and a woman are cutting handfuls of wheat.
August
Threshing – in another small enclosure, the farmers are separating the grain from the chaff.
September
Sowing – after ploughing the fields, the farmer is scattering seeds into the ground.
October
Crushing grapes – the farrmer is standing in this tub, stomping on the grapes to turn them into juice. You can even see some of the juice leaking out.
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November
Feeding the pigs – the farmer has taken out his herd of pigs into the forest, where they are feeding on acorns.
December
Slaughtering the pig – the man gets ready to cut the pig, while the woman stands by with a bowl.
Each spring, the medieval farmers plant their fields and prepare their own gardens, as well as collect the wool from sheep. Generally the work was somewhat easier during these months, but would get busier in June when hay would need to be harvested, dried and stored. Afterwards, the harvesting of the field crops would see the medieval farm at its most active, with extra labour often being hired. Once the crop had been harvested and prepared, the farmers would return to the fields to plant new crops for the following year.
As the autumn moved into winter, work on the farm decreased but some of the outstanding chores could include repairing buildings, gathering firewood and bringing the animals in from the fields. During the winter months the farmer might also kill and eat some of his livestock for food, and also to preserve what hay had been stored.
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Agricultural calendar from a manuscript of Pietro Crescenzi – Condé Museum MS 340, folio 303
Some of our other articles about medieval agriculture:
What did medieval farmers need to do each year? A fourteenth-century guide breaks down their tasks month by month.
The Liber ruralium commodorum was written by Pietro de’ Crescenzi around 1304-09. This treatise about agriculture offered advice on all kinds of things to be done on a medieval farm, ranging from beekeeping to winemaking and includes a chapter detailing a monthly calendar of tasks.
This work became very popular in the later Middle Ages, with numerous manuscripts and print versions coming out. These illustrations, from a manuscript made around 1475, show the ‘Labours of the Months’ that medieval peasants did around the farm during a typical year.
January
Harvesting clay from under the snow – the peasant using a hoe to break clay from the ground beside a riverbank. Clay could then be used for building or creating goods.
February
Spreading manure – to help the fields prepare for crops, the farmers would be dropping manure on them to act as fertilizer.
March
Pruning – here the farmers are working over the branches of these plants, getting rid of dead branches and working to keep the plants healthy.
April
Sheep Shearing – using a large pair of scissors, the farmer is taking off the wool from a sheep.
May
Falconry – this is a more noble activity, as the white bird helps in hunting.
June
Haymaking – in the summer months the farmer would be collecting hay. This field was enclosed by a fence to protect it from the farm animals.
July
Harvesting – using sickles, a man and a woman are cutting handfuls of wheat.
August
Threshing – in another small enclosure, the farmers are separating the grain from the chaff.
September
Sowing – after ploughing the fields, the farmer is scattering seeds into the ground.
October
Crushing grapes – the farrmer is standing in this tub, stomping on the grapes to turn them into juice. You can even see some of the juice leaking out.
November
Feeding the pigs – the farmer has taken out his herd of pigs into the forest, where they are feeding on acorns.
December
Slaughtering the pig – the man gets ready to cut the pig, while the woman stands by with a bowl.
Each spring, the medieval farmers plant their fields and prepare their own gardens, as well as collect the wool from sheep. Generally the work was somewhat easier during these months, but would get busier in June when hay would need to be harvested, dried and stored. Afterwards, the harvesting of the field crops would see the medieval farm at its most active, with extra labour often being hired. Once the crop had been harvested and prepared, the farmers would return to the fields to plant new crops for the following year.
As the autumn moved into winter, work on the farm decreased but some of the outstanding chores could include repairing buildings, gathering firewood and bringing the animals in from the fields. During the winter months the farmer might also kill and eat some of his livestock for food, and also to preserve what hay had been stored.
Some of our other articles about medieval agriculture:
A Medieval How-to Book for Shepherds
The secrets of defrauding your medieval lord
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