It has been suggested that the beautiful engagement scene in the April miniature should show Duke Jean of Berry’s nephew Charles of Orléans being betrothed in 1410 to Bonne of Armagnac, guessing that the building in the background would be Jean of Berry’s Château de Dourdan. The man’s dress is, however, decorated in a way reminding of the supposed Philip of Burgundy’s in the January painting, indicating that also he may be a member of this dynasty. He is then probably Philip’s uncle of the same name, mostly known as Count of Nevers, who on 20 June 1413 married Jean of Berry’s grand-daughter Bonne of Artois and Eu.

Bonne’s mother Marie of Berry, already widowed twice, had in 1400 married Duke Jean I of Bourbon. Probably it is this extremely exquisitely dressed couple that we see looking with grace at the two young. Captured at the battle of Agincourt in 1415 Jean died in London in 1434. The woman in rose-coloured dress gathering flowers behind the supposed Bonne of Berry, wearing the same headgear as the lady thought to be Marie of Berry, might then be Jean of Bourbon’s mother Anne of Auvergne, the widow since 1410 of Duke Louis II of Bourbon. The other flower-gathering lady has the same golden ornament on her headgear as the supposed Duke Jean of Bourbon and may be his never married sister Isabelle.

The wonderfully painted Calendar miniatures of courtly scenes have during the years inspired so many interpreters to try to identify the portrayed noble persons that E Pognon has made a humorous point of the fact, that none has dared to suggest a name for the unsympathetic-looking, about 10-year-old boy to the left in the April miniature. I will fill in this gap and suggest that this is the first preserved portrait of the later Duke Jean of Brabant, the nephew of Philip of Nevers. The young Philip was one of the many French nobles who fell at the battle of Agincourt. Philip the Good of Burgundy, who in 1424 married the widow Bonne, remembered well his uncle’s heroic death when often saying that he repented not to have taken active part in the unlucky battle against the English.

In the miniature representing the beautiful month of May a group of highly distinguished courtiers celebrate the arrival of spring against the background of what is interpreted to be Palais de la Cité in Paris. The very prominent man seen from the back riding on a roan in the foreground may be King Charles VI. The also extremely richly dressed man next to him is most likely Dauphin Louis, looking back at the nearest of the three ladies, all wearing dresses in the vert gai colour that is a characteristic of the livrée de mai. This married lady has a dress decorated with the hop leaves we know as one of John the Fearless’s emblems, so she is probably John’s sister Margaret of Burgundy, married to Dauphin Louis already as a child and, as already mentioned, probably living together with him since 31 August 1412.

The man behind the supposed Dauphin Louis we probably met already in the January miniature. I suggested then that he might be Duke Charles of Orléans. The second of the girls in vert gai coloured dresses has quite as the supposed Dauphin Louis a broad golden band over her left shoulder, maybe indicating that she is meant to be the young Princess Catherine of France, who in 1420 was to marry King Henry V of England. The third of the ladies wearing vert gai coloured dresses is only seen from the back. She has an extremely richly decorated dress with one broad golden band over her shoulders and four other bands hanging down from this, in a way reminding of the dress of the supposed King Charles. This girl is talking to a young man in a blue headgear and a very golden dress, maybe the young Prince Charles, the later Charles VII. There is the possibility that she is meant to be Duchess Marie of Anjou, who on 18 December 1413 was engaged to Prince Charles in a well-planned arrangement by Marie’s mother Yoland, a hard political stroke against the power-seeking Duke John the Fearless. Perhaps the artist was not yet familiar with Marie’s face, or maybe he chooses to show her from behind because she is told to have been ´not just a beauty´.

The man in a red turban and a red dress riding on a black horse behind the supposed Duke Charles of Orléans might be Charles’s younger brother Philip of Vertus, who died unmarried in 1420 but once was planned to marry Philip of Burgundy’s sister Catherine. The third of the French princes, Jean of Touraine, is probably not taking part in this May festival. He was in 1406 chosen to marry Jacoba of Bavaria and to be raised at the court of Hainault. This couple lived most of the time at the court of Bavaria-Holland, until Jean became dauphin at the death of the elder brother in 1415 and also he arrived at the centre of the power struggle.

There is a fourth young lady at the end of the row. Unlike the three girls dressed in vert gai she is wearing a blue dress, which is decorated with the golden crowns that I have earlier guessed might be Burgundian. There is the possibility that she is meant to be Philip the Good’s already mentioned sister Catherine, who in 1410 had been engaged to Louis III of Anjou and sent to be raised at the court of Anjou. She was, however, returned to her Burgundian family after the Caboche uprising in Paris in 1413.

Not a single one of all these richly dressed courtiers taking part in a supposed gay May festivity shows even a glimpse of a smile. Rather they seem to be bored or at least very serious. The supposed Dauphin Louis turns himself to the rest of the group as if asking them to excuse that they have been forced to take part in this yearly courtly ceremony, understating that it is an arrangement ordered by his from time to time insane father. Five musicians seem to blow for full lungs to deaf ears. It is of course an unreasonable guess that this scene from the French royal court should have been painted as a warning, to be compared to the free and lucky life at other courts, because also the other three scenes of courtly festivities show serious actors. More likely would be that the commissioned artist was obliged to show courtly festivities as rituals of an almost divine character, totally different from the life of the common people.

The last of the Calendar miniatures with scenes of courtly festivities, that for August, depicts in the background some peasants, men and women, who are bathing together totally nude and shameless. The nobles ignore them as if common people were of a different human breed. The artist who painted these scenes is solidarizing with the nobles, although of course not unaware of how sad and difficult life often was also in the highest circles, that not only the poor working-class people were weighted down by burdens and grief, that even the richest did not always have very much joy of life at a time tormented by nearly constant wars.

This August festival seems to be an arrangement by Queen Isabeau, who probably is the richly dressed lady riding on a white horse. The young man on the leading roan may then be Dauphin Louis of Guyenne and the married lady on the same horse Margaret of Burgundy, the already mentioned couple. This supposed Duchess Margaret is wearing a black dress, maybe in mourning for her on 18 September 1412 deceased sister Isabelle. Next to the supposed Queen Isabeau we see a further married couple riding on the same horse. Thanks to the fact that the man is wearing the same typical headgear as in the January miniature we may here see again Charles of Orléans, a supposition strengthened by the identification of the castle in the background as that of Etampes. Of the many castles once owned by Jean of Berry this one had been put at the disposal of Charles, who as mentioned was married to Jean of Berry’s grand-daughter Bonne of Armagnac.

This August miniature may be based on sketches made in near connection with the festivities at the time when Dauphin Louis and Margaret of Burgundy - married already as children - seem to have started to live together in 1412. One detail of the supposed Margaret’s dress is remarkable, the red part of her dress that covers her right forearm, hardly believable if her otherwise black dress should be in mourning for her deceased sister Isabelle. One is reminded of the fact that Dauphin Louis died in 1415, suspected to have been poisoned. On a painting in Versailles, in the literature discussed as a Hawking Party or a Jardin d’amours, dealing with marriage speculations (about this more in the article Duchesses of Cleves and Books of Hours), two of the ladies have bright red gloves on their right hands, probably indicating that they are suspected murderers. One of the ladies is Jacoba of Bavaria, the other may be meant to be Margaret of Burgundy. Both these paintings are probably created by the same artist. It seems to strengthen the supposition that the four courtly scenes in the Calendar are not quite contemporary with the shown events but composed later on the basis of preserved sketches or paintings.

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