The Farming Year
Introduction
The pictures below, from The Luttrell Psalter (written about 1340), show work on the estates of Sir Geoffrey Luttrell, an English knight.
Study these Sources, then answer the question sheet by clicking on the 'Time to Work' icon at the top of the page.
Links:
The following websites will help you research further:
Medieval Farming:
• The History Learning Site on
medieval farming and
the farming year
•
Witheridge village archive
- a VERY detailed account of the farming year •
Kibworth - BBC video
•
Les Très Riches Heures
- brilliant slideshow of the farming year as painted in a 15th century prayer
book. The Farming Year
This cheat-sheet tells you the correct order of the scenes; do not look at
this until you have completed Task One!
a. Stacking sheaves
b. Harrowing
Harrowing broke up the clods of earth and killed the weeds:
c. The Lord's Mill
Villagers had to grind their corn here.
d. Ploughing with oxen
e. Threshing
Beating the corn - either outside on a windy day, or in a barn with both doors open; the lighter 'chaff' (the husk and dust) blew away leaving the grain ready to be ground into flour.
f. Reaping using a tool called a sickle
g. A harvest cart
This carried the sheaves back to the barns for threshing:
h. Sowing
The man sows 'broadcast', expertly throwing the seed so that it is spread evenly over the soil.
