DOCSLIB.ORG

Why Change a Calendar? - Which Year Did Bede Think He Lived In?’

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Why Change a Calendar? - Which Year Did Bede Think He Lived In?’ Laurence Dixon ‘Why Change a Calendar? - Which year did Bede think he lived in?’ Article from Chronology & Catastrophism REVIEW 2010 (Production: Val Pearce) © Society for Interdisciplinary Studies, UK. NOTES Any errors found post-publication of the original article will have been noted in a subsequent issue of Chronology & Catastrophism REVIEW and as far as possible such errors (and any other errors found) will have been corrected in this PDF edition. Original formatting style and layout has been retained. Page numbers are those in the original article VJP - 25.6.2012 Why Change a Calendar? - Which year did Bede think he lived in? by Laurence Dixon One of the reasons that chronology is difficult and interesting, is that our forefathers frequently changed the dating system which they used to record their past and present activities. In this paper I will consider briefly those changes made in the last 1,400 years, when the changes were made, and provide the possible reason for each. I will work backwards to end with a consideration of the time of Bede. As we will see, changes to the calendar system have ‘Club Indenture Tripartite made the thirteenth day of occurred frequently. In AD 1800 most regions of the world April in the three and thirtieth year of the reign of our had their own calendar and the Gregorian system was only in sovereign Lord Charles the Second by the grant of use in Europe, America and their colonies. In contrast by god of England, Scotland, France and Ireland King, 2000 that calendar had been adopted in most countries Defender of the Faith, Anno Domini One Thousand throughout the world. Why? Because international trade was six hundred eighty and one’. by then global in nature and using a single calendar made trade accounts simpler. Even so many countries retained their Therefore, he claimed to have reigned more than the 23 traditional system for other purposes. In AD 1800 the years normally given him and if he had reigned in earlier Gregorian dates were quoted as Anno Domini (AD), centuries this would have posed a difficult chronological celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, but as the system is now problem, especially in those periods when only the year of used by non-Christians, too, by AD 2000 it was advocated the king’s reign was quoted. In Charles II’s case it is known that this be changed to Common Era (CE). However the AD he insisted that his reign started when his father was executed. symbol is retained in Britain. The Jews still use their Anno This is usually ignored because charters from his reign are Mundi system in which 2000 CE is AM 5761, and the not commonly on display. Moslems use their Anno Hegirae (AH) calendar in which AH 1 starts on July 16 th 622 CE. The Hindus use many different In the sixteenth century the Spanish conquered the Maya, calendar systems. Dershowitz and Reinbold [1] state that 30 Aztec and Inca empires in South America, destroyed the are in active use and that though an attempt has been made systems that maintained their calendars and imposed their recently to unify and revise them to be similar to the own calendar. Conquered countries often, but not always, Gregorian system, it has not been very successful. had to adopt the conquerors’ calendar. Dershowitz and Reinbold also give details of the Maya These three recent examples of changes introduced for and Aztec calendars of South America and the Persian, political reasons, illustrate that revolution, regal diktat and Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese calendars from conquest could lead to changes in the calendar. Let us now the Far East but these will not be discussed in this essay. consider the last major calendar change made partly for astronomical reasons. In this brief glance at the calendar systems in use today we have already identified one cause for a change in system, The Gregorian Calendar namely the needs of international trade. As we proceed we In AD 1582, Pope Gregory’s advisors decided that the will identify three more reasons why calendars have been Julian Calendar then in use was unsatisfactory [2], mainly changed, namely politics, religion and astronomy. due to the fact that the spring equinox was no longer taking st, Recent Changes Made for Political Reasons place on March 21 the date the experts at the Council of Nicaea in AD 325 had expected it to occur. The date of the In this section we will note three changes made for spring equinox was easily determined by the scientific political reasons. instruments then available and in AD 1582 it occurred on th In AD 1792 the French people overthrew their monarchy March 11 . This change in date was due to the fact that the and created a republic. As they did not wish to retain length of the year was not precisely the 365.25 days assumed anything that reminded them of their kings they completely by the leap year structure which formed part of the Julian changed the calendar. Each year contained twelve months of system. In this a leap year, with an extra day, occurred every 30 days, each divided into 3 periods of 10 days, together with four years, including each century year. Throughout history 5 or 6 extra days which were added to the end of each year. the number of days in a year has steadily declined. To correct The system was abandoned by Napoleon in AD 1806. It was this drift it was decreed that century years that were not unusual in that most calendars had weeks of seven days, and divisible by 400 would no longer be leap years. So, in 1,200 did not disturb the days of the week when making other years, there would be 300 leap years in the Julian calendar changes. and 300 - 12 + 3 in the Gregorian. This formula is still in use, but does not reflect the current number of days in a year In AD 1660 Charles II of England became king, he is exactly. You may wonder whether it is the length of the year known to have ruled until AD 1683, a reign of 23 years. My that is changing, or the length of the day. This was an attention was recently drawn to a Royal Charter from his unanswerable question until recently, when the second was reign, it started: redefined using the frequency of radiation from a Caesium Chronology & Catastrophism REVIEW 2010 35 atom, so that whether the number of such seconds in a day The Start of the Julian Calendar was constant could then be determined, although I am unaware that such experiments have been performed. Let us consider when the Julian calendar might have come into use. Presumably when it was introduced the vernal One reason that the date of the vernal equinox was equinox did occur on March 21 st . Assuming that the important to the Christian community was that it was used to Gregorian leap-year system would have been as accurate calculate the date of Easter. The Council of Nicaea in AD before AD 1582 as it has been since, we can apply the 325 agreed that Easter would be celebrated on the first correction in reverse (all datesAD). Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the vernal equinox [3]. In the tables of the date of Easter This gives: prepared by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 532, it was assumed March 22 (Gregorian) = March 11 (Julian) from 1500-1699 that the vernal equinox would always occur on March 21 st [4]. = March 12 1400-1499 When it varied this caused arguments about when Easter = March 13 1300-1399 should be celebrated between those Christians who assumed that the vernal equinox occurred on March 21 st and those = March 14 1100-1299 who used instruments to observe when it in fact occurred. = March 15 1000-1099 = March 16 900- 999 As the date of the vernal equinox had already changed in = March 17 700- 899 AD 1582, a second decree stated that Thursday October = March 18 600- 699 th 4 AD 1582 (Julian) would be followed by Friday October = March 19 500- 599 th 15 AD 1582 (Gregorian); a change of 11 days. = March 20 300- 499 A third change was also made at that time. The start of a = March 21 200- 299 th st New Year was changed from 25 March to 1 January. This Therefore, we would expect that the equinox was on restored a previous arrangement, made by the Council of March 21 st at some date between AD 200 and AD 299; two Tours in AD 567, when they changed the start of the New to three hundred years after the start of the Julian calendar. Year from 1 st January to the vernal equinox; intended at that th However, I have found two references to a calendar reform in time as 25 March [5]. this century, when the equinox was reset to March 21 st . If Because the political relationships between the Protestant days had to be omitted, as in AD 1582, we cannot retro- countries of Northern Europe and the Papacy were very calculate Julian dates before AD 285. strained at this time, the Protestants chose not to implement ‘[AD 285] Indiction 4 year 1, the second consulship the change and England continued to use the Julian system of Diocletian Augustus and that of Aristobulus. The until AD 1752. As a leap year had not occurred in AD 1700 regnal years of Diocletian in the Easter Tables are (Gregorian), a 12 day period then had to be omitted.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Calculation of Doomsday Based on Anno Domini
    SCIENTIFIC CULTURE, Vol. 1, No. 2, (2015), pp. 22-32 Copyright © 2015 SC Open Access. Printed in Greece. All Rights Reserved. The calculation of doomsday based on Anno Domini Sepp Rothwangl Waldwirtschaft Hubertushof Scheibsgraben 49, A-8661 Wartberg, Astria (CALENdeRsign.com;[email protected]) Received: 10/01/2015 Accepted: 15/02/2015 ABSTRACT Anno Domini, or the year Christ’s birth, was an invention made some 1400 years ago by Dionysius Exiguus, who adjusted a new Easter Computus in order to avert end time fever with the pretext to solve a dispute upon the correct date of Easter. Right at the beginning of Christianity, early Christians expected in the near future the return of Christ, which was associated with the end of the world, together with the Seventh Day of the Lord. Such a scenario ocurred already in the cosmic year Anno Mundi (AM) 6,000 based upon a teleological concept by interpreting the Bible. AM produced a calendrical end time with its year 6000 due to equating the Six Days of Genesis with the verse of the Bible saying one Day of the Lord was the same as 1000 years of mankind. To combat the end of the world fever caused by this time concept at the beginning of the 6th century Dionysius Exiguus created a new temporal hinge point for counting the years: Anno Domini. Obviously this chronology is not in harmony with ancient historical works, as even former Pope Benedict XVI recognized, but is an end time prophecy by interpreting the Gospel, the Apocalypse, the scientific cosmology of antiquity, and astronomical values.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 5 – Date
    Chapter 5 – Date Luckily, most of the problems involving time have mostly been solved and packed away in software and hardware where we, and our customers overseas, do not have to deal with it. Thanks to standardization, if a vender in Peking wants to call a customer in Rome, he checks the Internet for the local time. As far as international business goes, it’s generally 24/7 anyway. Calendars on the other hand, are another matter. You may know what time it is in Khövsgöl, Mongolia, but are you sure what day it is, if it is a holiday, or even what year it is? The purpose of this chapter is to make you aware of just how many active calendars there are out there in current use and of the short comings of our Gregorian system as we try to apply it to the rest of the world. There just isn’t room to review them all so think of this as a kind of around the world in 80 days. There are so many different living calendars, and since the Internet is becoming our greatest library yet, a great many ancient ones that must be accounted for as well. We must consider them all in our collations. As I write this in 2010 by the Gregorian calendar, it is 2960 in Northwest Africa, 1727 in Ethopia, and 4710 by the Chinese calendar. A calendar is a symbol of identity. They fix important festivals and dates and help us share a common pacing in our lives. They are the most common framework a civilization or group of people can have.
    [Show full text]
  • IMPORTANT DATES of the YEAR Date-Time of The
    IMPORTANT DATES OF THE YEAR Date-Time of the Spring Equinox of the current year Date-Time of the Summer Solstice of the current year Date-Time of the Fall Equinox of the current year Date-Time of the Winter Solstice of the current year Orthodox Easter Catholic Easter THE CURRENT DATE (TODAY) Julian Day Number (JDN): Number of days that have passed since the start of the current Julian period with day 0 the 1st of Jan. 4713 BC (in proletic Julian Calendar). This counting has been introduced by Scaliger in 1583. It gives only the ordinal number of any date independently of following Julian Calendar (before 5/10/1582) or Gregorian Calendar (introduced on 5/10/1582 transformed to 15/10/1582). Ancient Attic (Athenian Calendar): Year numbering from the start of Olympics (776 BC) Roman Calendar based on Nones, Ides, Kalends. Year numbering from the year of creation or Rome: Ab Urbe Condita (AUC) = 753 BC Byzantine Annus Mundi: Year numbering from the creation of the world (1st of Sept.5509 BC) according to Byzantines. Used by the Orthodox Church during the Byzantine Era. Byzantine years start on 1st of Sept. Indiction: The order of a year in a repeated 15-year cycle started in 297-298 AD in Roman Egypt and continues in Byzantines Hebrew Calendar (Anno Mundi): Year numbering from the date of the creation of the world for Jews: proleptic Julian 7th of Oct. 3761 BC. Hijri (Islamic) Calendar: Year numbering from 622 AD (1 AH – year of Hegira). Coptic Calendar (Anno Martyri/ Diocletiani).
    [Show full text]
  • Return of Organization Exempt from Income
    l efile GRAPHIC p rint - DO NOT PROCESS As Filed Data - DLN: 93490135008019 Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax OMB No 1545-0047 Form 990 Under section 501 (c), 527, or 4947( a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code ( except black lung benefit trust or private foundation) 2 00 7_ Department of the Open -The organization may have to use a copy of this return to satisfy state reporting requirements Treasury Inspection Internal Revenue Service A For the 2007 calendar year, or tax year beginning 07 -01-2007 and ending 06 -30-2008 C Name of organization D Employer identification number B Check if applicable Please UPMC GROUP 1 Address change use IRS 20-8295721 label or Number and street (or P 0 box if mail is not delivered to street address ) Room/ suite E Telephone number F Name change print or type . See 600 GRANT STREET 58TH FLOOR (412) 647-8762 1 Initial return Specific C /O CORPORATE TAX DEPARTMENT Instruc - City or town, state or country , and ZIP + 4 FAccounting method fl Cash F Accrual F_ Final return tions . PITTSBURGH, PA 15219 (- Other ( specify) 0- (- Amended return (Application pending * Section 501(c)(3) organizations and 4947(a)(1) nonexempt charitable H and I are not applicable to section 527 organizations trusts must attach a completed Schedule A (Form 990 or 990-EZ). H(a) Is this a group return for affiliates? F Yes F No H(b) If "Yes" enter number of affiliates - 36 G Website:1- wwwUPMC COM H(c) Are all affiliates included? F Yes F No (If "No," attach a list See instructions ) I Organization type (check only one) 1- F9!!+
    [Show full text]
  • BIBLE CHRONOLOGY STATED As B.C. and A.M. the Arrangement of Chronology in Our Common Version English Bibles Was Made by Bishop Usher
    BIBLE CHRONOLOGY STATED as B.C. and A.M. THE arrangement of Chronology in our Common Version English Bibles was made by Bishop Usher. It begins with the era known as Anno Domini (the year of our Lord--although Usher believed, with many scholars, that our Lord was born 4 years earlier than that era,—and we claim 1-¼ years earlier.) Usher reckons backward from A.D., calling the years B.C. The table below lists the Biblical years according to the common era (B.C.). Since some might prefer to see the counting beginning from Adam’s creation as a zero point, a second column is included known as A.M. (Anno Mundi) or the year of the world. Each Biblical period is advanced from the corresponding B.C. or A.M. points. Dates are noted in customary whole years beginning in January. However, a precise accounting may be reckoned 3 months earlier according to the Hebrew secular calendar, making Adam’s creation in the Autumn of 4129 and 6000 ending in the Autumn of 1872. Page two picks up the fixed point in chronology marked as the covenant with Abraham, and proceeding with the Biblical bridge supplied in Exodus and Galatians extending to the Exodus. Otherwise, we would not know the years between the death of Jacob and the Exodus from Egypt. God created Adam BC 4128 AM 0 Gen.2:7; 5:1 had a son at 130 Gen. 5:3 Seth born BC 3998 AM 130 had a son at 105 Gen. 5:6 Enos born BC 3893 AM 235 had a son at 90 Gen.
    [Show full text]
  • Calendar -Where Are We Now.Pdf
    History of the Calendar WHERE ARE WE NOW? WHAT YEAR IS IT REALLY? OUR WESTERN CALENDAR The calendar as we know it has evolved from a Roman calendar established by Romulus, consisting of a year of 304 days divided into 10 months, commencing with March. modified by Numa, added two extra months, January and February, making a year consist of 12 months of 30 and 29 days alternately plus one extra day and thus a year of 355 days. required an Intercalary month of 22 or 23 days in alternate years. In the year 46 B.C. Julius Caesar asked for the help of the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes, had found that the calendar had fallen into some confusion. led to the adoption of the Julian calendar in 45 B.C. 46 B.C. was made to consist of 445 days to adjust for earlier faults known as the "Year of Confusion". In the Christian system, years are distinguished by numbers before or after the Incarnation denoted by the letters B.C. (Before Christ) and A.D. (Anno Domini). The starting point is the Jewish calendar year 3761 A.M. (Anno Mundi) and the 754th year from the foundation of Rome. said to have been introduced into England by St. Augustine about 596 A.D. not in general use until ordered by the bishops at council of Chelsea 816 A.D. The Julian calendar all centennial years were leap years (ie the years A.D. 1200, 1300, 1400 etc.) end of the 16th century difference of 10 days between the Tropical and calendar years.
    [Show full text]
  • Jewish Calendar in the Roman Period: in Search of a Viable Calendar System
    JEWISH CALENDAR IN THE ROMAN PERIOD: IN SEARCH OF A VIABLE CALENDAR SYSTEM Ari Belenkiy Mathematics Department, Bar-Ilan University, Israel Introduction The calendar system which Jews use now was known to Babylonians at least at the end of the 4th cent. BCE. This allows Jewish apologetes to claim that this was the ancient Jewish system copied by the Chaldeans after the conquest of Judea in the 6th century BCE. Even so, after the second national catastrophe in 70 CE, we see a remarkable break with this tradition - Jewish leaders rely on immediate observations of the new moon to fix the first day of the month and the ripeness of fruit to intercalate an additional month in the lunar calendar rather than mathematics. There are no signs that the astronomical achievements of ancient Greece and Babylon were used by Jews in the first five centuries of the Christian Era. Meanwhile, defeats in the two great wars against Rome in 70 and 135 CE caused a flow of refugees to the neighboring countries, mainly to Babylonia. At first the notes about all the decisions rendered by the calendar council were passed by fire signals or by messengers, but soon both systems were inadequate. This caused Jews to look for a fixed calendar system. We discuss here two such systems. They are simple and can be called "arithmetical.c This period is fairly well recorded in the Talmud, albeit with significant omissions, and we have to reconstruct some missing parts of those systems. For this purpose the evidence of Christian authors, contemporaries of these events, are most important.
    [Show full text]
  • Jonathan Webber
    Webber / Jewish Systems of Chronology, page 1 Jonathan Webber THE MEMORABLE, THE MEASURABLE, AND A GOOD SENSE OF TIMING: JEWISH SYSTEMS OF CHRONOLOGY AND PERIODISATION When Professor Sato invited me to write a paper on native Jewish approaches to the subject of time and chronology, I decided to entitle it "The Memorable, The Measurable, and a Good Sense of Timing". As an anthropologist, rather than a professional historian, I feel that any contribution I might be able to make in Kofu is to stress how it is that a culture that treats time very seriously in fact possesses a variety of models for conceptualising time, including an absolute chronology (a subject which Professor Sato discusses in detail in his own position paper)__but that one cannot assume in advance just how these different models are operationalized in cultural practice. The purpose of this paper, then, is briefly to outline some of these models so as to provide at least a schematic ethnographic account of what is in fact a somewhat complex picture. I think the Jewish case could therefore be of more general interest, if only to show the limitations of relying on an absolute chronological system for the universal representation of the passage of time. I The text of the Bible, which has historically provided Jews with a literary specification of their cultural identity, gives considerable prominence to the subject of time, introducing it at two key points in the narrative of the Five Books of Moses. Time thereafter became a major (cont'd) Webber / Jewish Systems of Chronology, page 2 preoccupation of Jewish culture, and it is not especially difficult to argue that the whole cultural system fundamentally hinges on a proper sense of timing.
    [Show full text]
  • Revised Ancient Biblical Timeline
    PREFACE When I decided to write this book, I found I had two things to consider. One was what the book would say; and the other was what motivated me to write it. A brief account of why I chose to write this book can help make the nature of the work more understandable. For this reason, I will tackle the second consideration first. Like most Christians, I grew up with bible stories. I came to believe in the truth of what the Bible said. As my education in science developed, I also came to believe in the truth of the scientific model of the universe and the development of the human species. However, I was troubled. There did not seem to be much physical evidence to show that the descriptive picture presented in the Bible actually matched the scientific model. For instance, Noah's flood is a well-known story, and pivotal event in biblical history; but the physical evidence is lacking. People have been looking for Noah's ark without success for over 200 years; and, there seems to be no evidence of flood debris in the Middle East around the time when the Bible says it should be, ~2300 BC. This is just one example of a lack of scientific evidence available to support the biblical account. After much study I discovered, what I believe, shows how both the scientific picture and the biblical picture are telling the same true story. Only the audience is different. I discovered that there really is physical evidence to support biblical events.
    [Show full text]
  • Which Is the Correct Calendar: the Pagan One the Western World Uses
    WHICH IS THE CORRECT CALENDAR: THE PAGAN ONE THE WESTERN WORLD USES OR THE BIBLICAL ONE? IS IT TRUE THAT OUR DAY & MONTH NAMES ORIGINATE FROM GODS THE PAGANS DEARLY WORSHIPPED? WE INFORM – YOU CHOOSE PROFESSOR WA LIEBENBERG 0 WHICH IS THE CORRECT CALENDAR: THE PAGAN ONE THE WESTERN WORLD USES OR THE BIBLICAL ONE? By WA Liebenberg Proofread by: Lynette Schaefer All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced or copied. Distributed by: Hebraic Roots Teaching Institute Pretoria – South Africa Email: [email protected] Mobile: +27 (0)83 273 1144 Facebook Page: “The Hebraic Roots Teaching Institute” Website: www.hrti.co.za 1 Preface YHWH “God” has called us to do two things. First, we are to never give up studying and seeking the correct interpretation of any given Bible passage. Second, such opportunities are golden moments for us to learn to show grace and love to others whose understanding of a given passage may differ from ours. Throughout the HRTI’s teachings we use a slightly different vocabulary to that which some might be accustomed. We have chosen to use what many refer to as a Messianic vocabulary. The reasons being: Firstly, using Hebraic-sounding words is another way to help you associate with the Hebraic Roots of your faith. Secondly, these words are not merely an outward show for us, they are truly an expression of who we are as Messianic Jews and Gentiles who have "taken hold" of our inheritance with Israel. Instead of saying "Jesus," we call our Saviour "Y’shua," the way His parents would have addressed Him in Hebrew.
    [Show full text]
  • The Essenes Calendar and the Last Days
    The Essenes Calendar and The Last Days The Greeks controlled Palestine/Israel from 323BC to 164BE when Judas Maccabees and his brethren revolted against the Greeks and defeated them. The Greeks had imposed their culture on Israel which caused many to leave the customs and traditions but worse than that they also imposed their Calendar upon the people. The Maccabees turned things around, but they did not return to God’s Calendar which had been used since the times of Adam and Eve. Then one of the Maccabean High Priests, John Hyrcanus I took the title of High Priest and King. That was forbidden and caused a deep split in the people. Those who felt that they needed to follow the High Priest no matter what he did or said were known as the Sadducees. These were the “ruling class” and they rejected certain doctrines as “resurrection, judgement for life, existence of angels”. The Jews who refused to follow John Hyrcanus I as High Priest were known as the Pharisees or “the Separated Ones”. They followed a strict, legalistic interpretation of the Law of Moses and the Teachings of the Rabbis. The Sadducees and Pharisees actually fought a War between them that lasted for 8 years from 96- 88BC. Everyone claimed to be the rightful rulers and kept trying to assassinate the leaders of the opposing party. Rome defeated the Jews in 135 and ruled from then on until they placed John Hyrcanus II into power. Civil order was still not restored so the Romans put Herod, an Idumean, as King in 37BC.
    [Show full text]
  • Emblem Glyphs in Classic Maya Inscriptions: from Single to Double Ones As a Means of Place of Origin, Memory and Diaspora
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Institutional Repository of the Ibero-American Institute, Berlin Emblem Glyphs in Classic Maya Inscriptions: From Single to Double Ones as a Means of Place of Origin, Memory and Diaspora Péter Bíró Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn, Germany [email protected] Abstract: e use of more than one emblem glyph as royal title is one of the least explained features of Classic Maya politics. Epigraphers suggest that double or triple emblem glyphs indicate dynastic mergers, although in several cases it could point to the move of a dynasty from one place to another. Women played an important part in connecting royal houses but in many instances their role is not well spelled out in the inscriptions. ere is no overall pattern, however examination of several examples from dierent regions allows to propose plausible explanations on why certain rulers had double emblem glyphs. Keywords: epigraphy; emblem glyphs; politics; toponyms; Classic Maya. Resumen: El uso de más de un glifo emblema como título real es una de las características menos explicadas e la política del Clásico Maya. Los epigrastas sugieren que glifos emblema dobles o triples indican fusiones dinásticas, aunque en varios casos podrían señalar el movi- miento de una dinastía de un lugar a otro. Las mujeres jugaron un papel importante en las relaciones entre las casas reales, pero en muchos casos su rol no es descrito en detalle en las inscripciones. No hay un patrón general, sin embargo el examen de varios ejemplos de dife- rentes regiones permite proponer explicaciones plausibles sobre por qué algunos gobernantes tenían glifos emblema dobles.
    [Show full text]