Dating the Passion Time, Astronomy, and Calendars
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Dating the Passion Time, Astronomy, and Calendars Texts and Studies Editors Charles Burnett Sacha Stern VOLUME 1 The titles published in this series are listed at www.brill.nl/tac Dating the Passion The Life of Jesus and the Emergence of Scientific Chronology (200–1600) By C. Philipp E. Nothaft LEIDEN • BOSTON 2012 This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nothaft, C. Philipp E. Dating the Passion : the life of Jesus and the emergence of scientific chronology (200–1600) / by C. Philipp E. Nothaft. p. cm. — (Time, astronomy, and calendars, ISSN 2211-632X ; v. 1) Substantially the revised English version of the author’s German dissertation, entitled Das Leben Jesu und die Entstehung der wissenschaftlichen Chronologie: Eine problem- geschichtliche Studie (200–1600), which was submitted to the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in October 2010. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-90-04-21219-0 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Chronology—History. 2. History— Methodology. 3. Chronology—Historiography. 4. Calendar—History. I. Title. CE6.N68 2011 529—dc23 2011029856 ISSN 2211-632X ISBN 978 90 04 21219 0 Copyright 2012 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. CONTENTS Preface ................................................................................................. vii Abbreviations ..................................................................................... ix Introduction ........................................................................................ 1 Chapter One: From Astronomy to the Crucifixion and Back ... 19 Chapter Two: The Origins of Computistical Chronography ..... 35 1. The Beginnings ......................................................................... 35 2. Julius Africanus, Annianus, and the Alexandrian 19-year Cycle ............................................................................. 56 3. The Chronicon Paschale and the Byzantine World Era .... 65 Chapter Three: The Crisis of Computistical Chronography in the Early Middle Ages .................................................................. 69 1. The Passion Date in the Latin West and the Era of Dionysius Exiguus .................................................................... 69 2. The Venerable Bede ................................................................. 80 3. Carolingian Reactions: The ‘Seven-Book-Computus’ and the Chronicle of Claudius of Turin .............................. 88 Chapter Four: All Coherence Restored? The Age of the Critical Computists ....................................................................... 103 Chapter Five: New Foundations: Chronology and the Twelfth-Century Renaissance ...................................................... 113 1. The Roots of Reform: From the Computus‘ Naturalis’ to the Jewish Calendar ............................................................ 113 2. Reinher of Paderborn .............................................................. 128 3. The ‘Compotus Constabularii’ ................................................ 146 Chapter Six: A Science of Time: Roger Bacon and his Successors ................................................................................. 155 1. Bacon, the Calendar, and the Passion of Christ ................. 155 vi contents 2. Astronomy to the Rescue: Biblical Chronology and Ptolemy’s Eclipses .................................................................... 160 3. Past and Future Connected: Bacon and Abū Maʿshar ...... 171 4. Wrestling with Tradition: The Jewish Calendar and the Date of the Passion .................................................................. 178 5. Coda: Bacon’s Successors ........................................................ 196 Chapter Seven: Time for Controversy: Catholic Chronologers and the Date of the Passion in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries ....................................................................... 203 1. A “Presumptuous and Arrogant” Idea: The ‘Defensorium’ of Alfonso Tostado (1443) ...................................................... 203 2. Jesus and the Deḥiyyot: Paul of Burgos’s ‘Additio’ to Matthew 26 ........................................................................... 212 3. Night Visions: The Strange Case of Paul of Middelburg .... 222 4. ‘Clever Jean’ and his Successors: The Continuation of Debate in Sixteenth-Century Italy ........................................ 241 Chapter Eight: The Life of Jesus and the Emergence of Scientific Chronology ................................................................... 261 Appendix: Prominent Attempts to Date Christ’s Birth and Death (200–1600) ........................................................ 283 Bibliography ........................................................................................ 285 Index of Biblical References ............................................................. 315 Index of Names .................................................................................. 317 PREFACE The present book is the substantially revised English version of my German dissertation, entitled Das Leben Jesu und die Entstehung der wissenschaftlichen Chronologie: Eine problemgeschichtliche Studie (200–1600), which was submitted to the Ludwig Maximilian Univer- sity of Munich in October 2010. My Doktorvater Helmut Zedelmaier kindly agreed to supervise this somewhat unusual project and pro- vided much-needed help and encouragement along the way. Anthony Grafton was willing to join as a co-supervisor and supported me in crucial ways besides lending his unsurpassed expertise in the history of historical chronology. My deepest thanks are due to both of them. A doctoral stipend from the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes ensured that I could spend most of 2009 and the first half of 2010 with research and writing, profiting from Munich’s many excellent librar- ies. The Martin Buber Society of Fellows in the Humanities offered me a generous fellowship, thanks to which I could rework my dis- sertation into English whilst at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem during the academic year 2010/11. I would like to express my most heartfelt gratitude to everyone who made a contribution to my proj- ect during these years. Anthony Grafton, Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Sacha Stern, and Immo Warntjes have diligently read through earlier drafts of this book and improved it through many helpful suggestions. Sacha Stern and Charles Burnett have kindly agreed to make it the first volume of their new series on time, astronomy, and calendars. I also owe special thanks to the good people at the Martin Buber Society, in particular to David Shulman and his excellent staff, Yael Baron and Amitai Jacobsen, who have done their utmost to ensure a pleasant and productive stay in Jerusalem. Further thanks are due to Michael Allen, Ari Belenkiy, Jonathan Ben-Dov, Menso Folkerts, Yehoshua Granat, Eva Haverkamp, Magnus Quirin Löfflmann, Daniel McCarthy, Martin Mulsow, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, Gerhard Schmitz, Christof Schuler, Israel Yuval, and my parents. ABBREVIATIONS AASS Acta Sanctorum. 68 vols. Antwerp, 1643–1940. CCCM Corpus Christianorum continuatio medievalis. Turnhout, 1966–. CCSL Corpus Christianorum series Latina. Turnhout, 1953–. CSCO Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium. Louvain, 1903–. CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. Vienna, 1866–. DHEE Diccionario de Historia Eclesiástica de España. 5 vols. Madrid, 1972–87. GCS Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten [drei] Jahrhunderte. 60 vols. Leipzig, 1897–1989. GCS-NF Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten Jahrhunderte. Neue Folge. Berlin, 1995–. KGW Johannes Kepler. Gesammelte Werke. 21 vols. Munich, 1937–2009. Krusch, Studien (I) Bruno Krusch. Studien zur christlich-mittel- alterlichen Chronologie: Der 84-jährige Oster- zyklus und seine Quellen. Leipzig, 1880. Krusch, Studien (II) Bruno Krusch. Studien zur christlich-mittelalter- lichen Chronologie: Die Entstehung unserer heutigen Zeitrechnung. Abhandlungen der Preußischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Jg. 1937, phil.- hist. Kl., 8. Berlin, 1938. MGH Monumenta Germaniae Historica Oppolzer Theodor Oppolzer.Canon der Finsternisse. Denkschriften der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften, math.-naturw. Cl., 52. Vienna, 1887. PG Patrologiae cursus completus, series Graeca. 161 vols. Paris, 1857–66. PL Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina. 221 vols. Paris, 1844–65. PLS Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina. Sup- plementum. 5 vols. Paris, 1958–74. INTRODUCTION According to the Russian mathematician Anatoly T. Fomenko, the his- tory of Western historiography since the Renaissance has been char- acterized by a struggle of epic proportions between a brave gang of outlaws against an all-powerful syndicate. Among the members of the former group, Fomenko