2-713-352 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

October - feeding pigs on acorns, 15th century, (1939). A peasant couple practice pannage - the releasing of domestic pigs into woodland to feed on acorns or beechnuts. The man, armed with a long stick, knocks nuts out of the trees for the pigs to forage, while his wife seems to stroke a pig lying on the ground. Pannage was very important for rural areas in the Middle Ages as the quickly-fattened pigs could get through the winter, or they could be slaughtered earlier than usual. The rooting around also turned the ground over, releasing nutrients for plant growth. Detail of a page from the "Heures de Charles d'Angoulême", a book of hours commissioned by Charles of Orléans (1459-1496), with miniatures mostly painted by Robinet Testard, and now in the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris. Published in "Verve - No. 8, Vol. II". [Verve, France, 1939]