Liber Ruralium Commodorum




Many illustrations of the Middle Ages depicted peasants at work. One illustration is called the Crescenzi calendar. Each block depicts a type of work or labor that peasants (free or serf) would do throughout the year in terms of crops and harvest. The calendar is located in the work, Liber ruralium commodorum ("book of rural benefits"), written by Pietro de’ Crescenzi around 1304-1309. It was the first printed modern text on agriculture when it was published in Augsburg by Johann Schüssler in 1471. Liber ruralium commodorum was divided in to twelve books about agriculture. It offered advice on many of the things to be done on the medieval farm. The list below describe the content of each book.
  1. Siting and layout of a manor, villa or farm, considering climate, winds, and water supply; also the duties of the head of the estate
  2. Botanical properties of plants and horticultural techniques
  3. Agriculture of cereals and building of a granary
  4. Vines and winemaking
  5. Arboriculture—trees useful for food and medicine
  6. Horticulture—plants useful for food and medicine
  7. Management of meadows and woodland
  8. Pleasure gardens
  9. Animal husbandry and bee keeping
  10. Hunting and fishing
  11. General summary
  12. Monthly calendar of tasks
Liber ruralium commodorum remained the most widely read and printed book on agriculture in Europe until the seventeenth century

Sources: 

2 comments:

  1. Every now and then I think that being a medieval peasant sounds nice...then I remember you had to actually do work every month like is shown here.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Every now and then I think that being a medieval peasant sounds nice...then I remember you had to actually do work every month like is shown here.

    ReplyDelete

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