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  Medieval Realms
 
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detailTopic 4: Through the year
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illuminated detail

Illustrative detail
This activity could be used as part of the Key Stage 3 History units on 'Britain 1066-1500' or 'Britain 1500-1750'.

The activity uses 12 pictures from the calendar pages of an illuminated manuscript of the 16th century. The pictures are found with the list of saints' days and other feast days and thus depict activities for each month of the year.

Pupils can look at the pictures on screen or print them off.

Things for pupils to look out for in the pictures include

Bullet Lovers meeting; bat and ball game
Bullet Dancing and feasting; playing hoops
Bullet Gardening and tree felling; playing music/game with rattles
Bullet Tournament for knights; hobby horses
Bullet Killing pig for Christmas; tug of war on sledges
Bullet Falconry; making hay; chasing butterflies
Bullet Keeping warm; firewood; sledging
Bullet Ploughing and sowing; playing marbles
Bullet Checking the year's wine; playing skittles
Bullet Stag hunt; threshing and winnowing; playing bowls
Bullet Boating; archery practice
Bullet Bringing in harvest; cock throwing

The multimedia CD-ROM 'Medieval Realms: Britain 1066-1500' for Key Stage 3 History produced by the British Library contains over 1500 original sources for the study of medieval Britain. Many are images of illuminated manuscripts that can be used for similar activities. All the images on the CD-ROM can be saved or printed and used in class.

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illuminated detail

 

 

Further reading

Bullet

'Books of Hours' by Janet Backhouse: The British Library, 1985

Bullet 'The Illuminated Page: 10 centuries of Manuscript Painting' by Janet Backhouse: The British Library, 1997
Bullet 'The Bedford Hours' by Janet Backhouse: The British Library, 1990
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illuminated detail

 

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