The Medieval Year:
Zodiac Signs and the Labors of the Months
In medieval art, the cycle of the year was represented by the signs of the zodiac, the "labors of the months," or both paired together. These representations can be found in carvings on church portals, medieval stained glass windows, misericords, and in many illuminated manuscripts.
The Labors of the Months (Labours in British spelling) are some of the most interesting and charming images surviving from the Middle Ages, as they show regular folk from the local area at work and play. The zodiacs were in widespread use in the Middle Ages as symbols of the months of the year. The pagan origins and astrological uses of zodiac signs were well-known to (and rejected by) medieval theologians, but the baby was not thrown out with the bathwater, as it were. The names and symbols were, after all, based in the constellations and simply made a handy symbol for illustrating a particular month. As an added bonus, many zodiac signs are depicted with strange and mythical beasts, for which medieval art had a great fondness.
The scenes in the Labors of the Months would have been instantly recognizable to medieval congregations, but in our less agricultural age most of us need a bit of education to understand what we're looking at. And all but astrological enthusiasts will need to be reminded which zodiac signs correspond with which month, a task made more difficult by the unusual ways some of the symbols were depicted in the Middle Ages.
The following guide provides an overview of the Labors of the Months and Signs of the Zodiac, with details on how to recognize them and examples from medieval art (with a few Roman examples). Below that is an index of the best places to enjoy depictions of zodiacs and labors in art.
| Month | Labor of the Month | Zodiac Sign |
| January | Feasting A man at a table, sometimes with two chalices or drinking from a horn. Or a man with two faces, representing the god Janus - he looks ahead to the new year and back to the old one at the same time. Janus might also be shown closing one door and opening another. |
Aquarius the Water-Carrier Depicted as a man pouring water out of one or two large vessels. |
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| February | Warming by the Fire This makes for some of the most charming and cheerful scenes. A man is usually sitting in a chair, stretching out a hand and a foot to the hearth. Often a boot has just been removed and is discarded nearby. In some parts of Italy (where it's warmer) February is represented by vine trimming. 
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Pisces the Fish Shown as two fish facing opposite directions and linked by a line in their mouths.    |
| March | Trimming the vines or digging. Vine trimming in Chartres and Paris but digging in Amiens, which is not a vine growing area. |
Aries the Ram. Distinguished from Taurus by his curled horns. 
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| April | Celebrating the arrival of spring. Scenes include a king on a throne, a woman between two flowering trees, a young man with a garland of flowers, a man carrying ears of corn (Chartres). But there is vine pruning going on at Reims. |
Taurus the Bull.  |
| May | Courting and hunting. Knight on horseback, hunting parties, men going hawking in the forest. A Bruges manuscript has a boating party. At Amiens a peasant rests in the shade. At Autun, a man may be daydreaming about his beloved. |
Gemini the Twins. Shown in a variety of poses, sometimes holding hands or embracing.
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| June | Hay harvest. The peasants put the playing behind them and get to work mowing meadows, haymaking, or sheep shearing. At Autun the unusual image of a squatting boy may be a depiction of the summer solstice. |
Cancer the Crab. Rarely a realistic depiction of a crab; sometimes looks just like a lobster and other times like a mythical monster with many legs. Sometimes even has a curly tail like Scorpio. But maritime Venice gets it right. 
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| July | Wheat harvest. Cutting the crop with a sickle (Chartres) or sharpening it before getting to work (Paris).  |
Leo the Lion. Often shown looking fierce. |
| August | Wheat threshing. The peasant is often stripped down to his underwear as he works in the heat. In Pisa, a man gathers fruit from a tree. |
Virgo the Virgin.
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| September | The grape harvest (vintage). The peasants are picking and treading grapes. Exceptions include Reims (threshing a month late) and Amiens (gathering fruit from a tree). |
Libra the Scales. Usually represented by a woman holding balance scales.
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| October | Storage of wine or sowing. Wine is transferred into casks at Semur and Reims; sowing is going on at Paris and Chartres. Down in Pisa a peasant is plowing. | Scorpio the Scorpion. A distinctively freaky creature that usually bears only slight resemblence to the real thing: a fat body, a human-like face on a round head and several curls in its tail.  |
| November | Preparing for winter. This usually involves fattening up the pigs by knocking acorns out of a tree for them (Paris, Chartres, Great Malvern) but might also be gathering firewood (Reims). In some places the pig is killed (instead of December), including Semur and Chartres. In Amiens, they are doing some late sowing.  |
Sagittarius the Archer. A centaur (upper body of a man; lower body of a horse) with bow and arrows.  |
| December | Killing the pig. Usually shown as an axe raised over a pig. Variations include baking bread or feasting at a table. In the Chartres Zodiac Window, the fattening and killing are combined into one scene for November: the pig munches on acorns while the peasant swings the axe overhead. |
Capricorn the Sea-Goat. This strange creature has the upper body of a goat and lower body of a fish.  |
Where to See Medieval Zodiac Signs and Labors of the Months
Now that you know what to look for, below are some of the best churches to enjoy the depictions of the zodiacs and labors. (* indicates external link.) There are many more than are listed here, and if you know of a mostly complete medieval set, feel free to drop me a line. Bonus points if you have pictures to share!
| Image | Site | Material; Form | Dates | Comments |
| England | ||||
| Font St Augustine's Church* Brookland, Kent |
Lead Font | 1100s | Double arcades wrap around the round font, with the Labors on the bottom and corresponding Zodiacs on the top. | |
| Font St Mary's Church* Burnham Deepdale, Norfolk |
Stone Font | The square font in the parish church of St. Mary has three panels of Labors on each side, including some rather unusual ones. | ||
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Floor of Trinity Chapel Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury, Kent |
Marble Pavement | c.1215 | Well-worn but complete set of inlaid marble roundels representing the Labors, the Zodiacs, and the Virtues and Vices. They were part of the embellishment around the Shrine of St Thomas Becket. |
| Choir Carlisle Cathedral* Carlisle |
Stone Capitals | Full set of Labors of the Months amidst abundant foliage on the choir capitals. Sadly a choir screen covers half of them. | ||
| Choir Malvern Priory Great Malvern |
Wood Misericords | Nearly complete set of Labors of the Months on the misericords in the choir, though mixed up over the years and not all together. | ||
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West portal Iffley Church Oxford, Oxfordshire |
Stone Sculpture | 1170 | Some zodiac signs (including Aquarius and Pisces) are recognizable among the outer archivolt, which is otherwise populated with the Four Evangelists, an angel, and various mythical beasts. |
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Gate Merton College Oxford, Oxfordshire |
Stone Roof Bosses | 1497 | Depictions of all 12 signs of the zodiac in excellent condition. |
| France | ||||
| Amiens Cathedral Amiens |
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West portal Autun Cathedral Autun (Burgundy) |
Stone Sculpture | 1130 | Complete set of roundels with alternating Labors and Zodiacs in the outer archivolt. Thanks to Gislebertus and a protective layer of plaster, these are some of the finest-quality and best-surviving examples anywhere. |
| West portal Eglise St-Lazare Avallon (Burgundy) |
Stone Sculpture | 1100s | Weathered and damaged but lively set of roundels with Zodiacs and Labors. | |
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West portal Chartres Cathedral Chartres |
Stone Sculpture | c.1150 | A beautiful set of Labors interspersed with Zodiacs decorate two archivolts of the portal. |
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Ambulatory Chartres Cathedral Chartres |
Stained Glass Window | early 1200s | The "Zodiac Window" is devoted entirely to the theme, with pairs of Labors (on the left) and Zodiacs (on the right). As throughout the cathedral, the quality is superb and the colors are rich jewel tones. Christ in Glory presides at the top. The window was donated by vintners and the Labors reflect it. |
| Exterior of apse Issoire, Auvergne |
Stone Sculpture | Sculpted medallions of the signs of the zodiac adorn the beautifully decorated apse of Issoire's church. An unusual position for the zodiacs. | ||
| Right west portal Basilique St-Denis Paris |
Stone Sculpture | 1140 | Labors of the Months inside vine medallions that are joined by cat's masks. February has women gossiping instead of a man warming his feet by a fire. No zodiacs. | |
| Left west portal Notre Dame Cathedral Paris |
Stone Sculpture | 1210 | A light and cheery set in freshly cleaned stone. The Labors and Zodiacs are set side-by-side along the vertical length of a square pillar. Here Scorpio looks a lot like a lobster. | |
| Central west portal Reims Cathedral Reims |
Stone Sculpture | Delicately and beautifully carved set of Labors, but badly damaged (most figures are headless). Rather than being inside a square panel or medallion the figures stand freely against the wall supported only by a small ledge beneath. | ||
| Ambulatory Abbaye St-Philibert Tournus |
Mosaic Pavement | Recent excavations revealed a set of Romanesque zodiacs and labors of the months on the pavement of the ambulatory. All that survives intact are Courting in May; Gemini; and Cancer. | ||
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Central west portal Basilique Ste-Madeleine Vezelay (Burgundy) |
Stone Sculpture | Complete set of Labors and Zodiacs on the outer archivolt. | |
| Germany | ||||
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Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn |
Stone Sculpture | c.1140 | Carved relief panels of seven zodiac signs from a church in Cologne. |
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Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn |
Copper Engraved Bowl | 1100s | Personification of the year (Annus) surrounded by representations of the four seasons, including Autumn holding a vine knife and Winter warming his feet by the fire. |
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Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn |
Mosaic Pavement | 200s | This ancient Roman floor mosaic makes for an interesting comparison to medieval art. The sun god (Sol Invictus) is shown with his chariot and surrounded by the twelve signs of the zodiac, which differ in some respects from medieval representations. |
| Westfälisches Landesmuseum Münster |
Wood Sculpture | c.1350 | A wonderful set of zodiac signs coupled with labors of the months, accompanied by Latin inscriptions. Their history is unclear; possibly they are from the convent at Freckenhorst. | |
| Italy | ||||
| West portal Lucca Duomo Lucca, Tuscany |
Large bas-relief panels of the Labors with small zodiac symbols. | |||
| Interior floor Otranto Cathedral* Otranto |
Mosaic Pavement | Mid 1100s | Entire original 12th-century mosaic pavement survives, including 12 large roundels with the Labors and Zodiacs (who share space in a single medallion) in the transept crossing. | |
| East door Pisa Baptistery Pisa |
Marble Sculpture | Marble panels of the Labors in low and high relief, with strong influence of classical art. Background scenery is minimal. Each is labeled with a two-letter abbreviation. No zodiacs. | ||
| West door Basilica di San Marco Venice, Veneto |
Stone Sculpture | c.1200 | Magnificent sculptures of the Labors of the Months, full of life and elaborate background detail. The zodiac signs lurk at the top of the scenes, along with a banner inscribed with the name of the month. May is depicted by a coronation. Cancer the Crab is very realistic, which makes sense for a maritime city. | |
| Main door lintel San Zeno Verona |
Stone Sculpture | 1138 | Complete and undamaged set of an early date and high quality. The Labors of the Months occur horizontally under arcades, with columns and towers between them. No zodiacs. | |
Zodiac Signs in European Languages
To help in reading museum labels and church guides, below are the months and zodiac signs in French, German, Italian and Spanish.
| English | French | German | Italian | Spanish |
| January / Aquarius (Water-Carrier) | Verseau | Wasserman | Acquario | Acuario |
| February / Pisces (Fish) | Poissons | Fische | Pesci | Piscis |
| March / Aries (Ram) | Bélier | Widder | Ariete | Aries |
| April / Taurus (Bull) | Taureau | Stier | Toro | Tauro |
| May / Gemini (Twins) | Gémeaux | Zwillinge | Gemelli | Géminis |
| June / Cancer (Crab) | Cancer | Krebs | Cancro | Cáncer |
| July / Leo (Lion) | Lion | Löwe | Leone | Leo |
| August / Virgo (Virgin) | Vierge | Jungfrau | Vergine | Virgo |
| September / Libra (Scales) | Balance | Waage | Bilancia | Libra |
| October / Scorpio (Scorpion) | Scorpion | Skorpion | Scorpione | Escorpión |
| November / Sagittarius (Archer) | Sagittaire | Schütze | Sagittario | Sagitario |
| December / Capricorn (Sea-Goat) | Capricorne | Steinbock | Capricorno | Capricornio |
Sources
- The Labours of the Months - Podtours
- Medieval Illustrations of Labours of the Month, Zodiac Signs, Cardinal Virtues and Sins - Paradoxplace
- Labours of the Months - Wikipedia
More Information
- J. C. Webster, The Labors of the Months in Antique and Mediaeval Art to the End of the Twelfth Century (Princeton, 1938).
- Bridget Ann Henisch, The Medieval Calendar Year (Pennsylvania State Univ. Press, 1999).
