Calendar Poems: Variances in Vernacular Versified Calendars as Expressions of Individual Perceptions of Time

Abstract

Cisiojanus is what we call a medieval mnemonic device designed to provide temporal orientation by transforming the sequence of immovable religious feast days into a short and memorable poem. Mapping the sacred calendar onto a textual surface enabled its user to determine dates by counting the poem’s syllables, words or lines. As an integral part of elementary education, the cisiojanus is believed to have been one of the most popular poems of the Middle Ages. It survived in hundreds of copies all over Europe and was translated into numerous languages. While the cisiojanus formed what could be one of the largest premodern, text-based temporal communities, it also adapted to the requirements of its users, leading to an astonishing amount of nearly identical, yet significally different poems. This article explores different cisiojani as individual perspectives on time. While some make adjustments for regional and local variants of the calendar, some even bear witness to personal interpretations of the calendar.