Why did I choose calendars?
My entire journey started with this manuscript. When I realized I was looking at a calendar, I knew I wanted to learn how to read it. I immediately began theorizing how I might read it. I assumed the numbers must be dates, but was confused about why they were not in order. If they were not dates what could they be? What did the “KL” on the top of the page mean? Why were the A’s illuminated? What did that column of letters running down the page mean? These questions became the goals of my research as I started attempting to understand these manuscripts. As each question became answered it opened up more, and as I researched a topic it would reveal more than I expected about how these calendars functioned and what they revealed about the culture they were apart of.
Why should you choose calendars?
As you begin to unravel how to read and understand medieval calendars they reveal so much about the culture they were a part of. Anything from, what saints were seen as important or higher up on the hierarchy based upon their rubrication within the calendar, the importance of reusability with each calendar (See But What Day of the Week is it?) because of the necessity to preserve resources, and the eminence of the moon within their everyday culture. Hacking the medieval calendar gives us not just another skill up our sleeves, but allows us some insight into the worlds they are from.