OF THE 
 
 nVERSlTY 
 
CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
C^xonoioc^m mt> 
 
 > > y 
 
 Cciftnbat0* 
 
 BY 
 
 JAMES C. MACDONALD, f.s.a. (Scot.). 
 
 LONDON: 
 WILLIAM ANDREWS & CO., 5, FARRIl^GDON AVENUE, 
 
 1897. 
 
C £'l 
 M3 
 
 cmpEmiB> 
 
Uable ot Contents. 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. Introduction . i 
 
 II. The Evolution of Eras 6 
 
 III. The Roman and Roman Gatholic Reckonings . 13 
 
 IV. The Eras of the Creation 23 
 
 V. Biblical Chronology 28 
 
 VI. Sundry Cycles and Chronological Details . 34 
 
 VII. The Chronology of England . . . . 49 
 
 VIII. The Chronology of Scotland .... 53 
 
 IX. Upon Great Britain's Calendar .... 59 
 
 X. Chronology in the Indian Empire ... 63 
 
 XL The French Chronologies 66 
 
 XII. Kindred Sciences. — Astronomy, History, and 
 
 Paleography 70 
 
 XIII. Concluding Summary 79 
 
 XIV. The Great Calendars ...... 84 
 
 The Roman Calendar ...... 86 
 
 The British Calendar 87 
 
 the Jewish Calendar , . . . . . 99 
 
 The O.S. or Russian Calendar .... 100 
 
 The Mohammedan Calendar . . . . ioi 
 
 The Samvat Calendar 102 
 
 The Bengali Calendar 103 
 
 The Chinese Lunar Reckoning .... 104 
 
 The Clog Calendar 105 
 
 References and Abbreviations 107 
 
 Index iii 
 
 823838 
 
CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. .,,;•, ; : :; 
 
 Jntrobuction. 
 
 IN writing a treatise upon chronology, it is my wish to 
 take the reader along with me at every turn of the 
 narrative and argument. And while endeavouring to 
 convey to him as quickly as possible the results of my own 
 study in this subject, I will strive, not less strongly, to do 
 so in the most readable way. Let no one be repelled by 
 the idea that a volume dealing with the chronology of 
 history and the calendars in use at the present time is solely 
 for the study-table of Mr. Dry-as-dust. The subject is one 
 which can claim adherents in many diverse fields : the 
 foreign correspondent of commerce must know something 
 of this science ; the international voyager cannot afford to 
 neglect its memoranda ; and even he who would peruse 
 with intelligent interest Reuter's telegrams from distant 
 lands will find a knowledge of chronology of considerable 
 service. 
 
 2. Now, to such a query as 'What's the date of it?' an 
 accurate answer, in the Western style, mentions the month, 
 the day thereof, and the year of the Christian era. If the 
 reply be a written one, the year is commonly shown in four 
 
 1 
 
2 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 Indo-Arabic numerals. But how very often are these 
 phrases used in conversation, or the digits preserved on 
 paper without the speaker or recorder troubHng himself 
 to enquire whether there are other methods of noting 
 the date? For instance, I can recall a sermon preached 
 about twenty years ago by an eminent , English Church 
 divine* {.npM deceased), in which he pictured the absurdity 
 of any" rationalist, remaining a rationalist who used the year 
 
 ♦ ■/.'Crf' g^stce to date his letters. The argument was all right on 
 
 * ' the surface. As soon, however, as one peruses the chrono- 
 
 logical authorities, one finds that the Christian era has a 
 limited application ; and that there are and were other races 
 — by no means blind to civiHsation — which possess more 
 ancient systems of reckoning years, months, and days. 
 
 3. To be particular. The year — say 1896 — conveys one 
 meaning to us Western Gentiles, another — a very sacred 
 purport — to Jewish minds, and a third and different idea (i) 
 to the Moslem nations. We are apt to forget that it is only 
 to the members of Christendom that these figures refer, in 
 a chronological connection, to present time. To the Jews 
 they memorise a year long ended and past ; to the 
 Moslems, (2) a year in a future which is still dim and 
 distant. But that is not all. Go to Asia, and millions of 
 educated persons are regulating their lives, their fasts, and 
 feasts according to an era which is older than our era by 
 fifty-seven years. (3) Which one is right, or is any one 
 epoch the correct chronologic basis, are questions to which 
 this volume will supply approximate answers. 
 
 4. Historians, it will be observed, seem to delight to 
 
 (i) See chap, iv., sec. 59, for particulars. 
 (2) See sections 59 and 145 m/ra. (3) See chap. x. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 superscribe B.C. and A.D. upon their pages, but they 
 neglect the origin and the principles of chronology. I 
 found that an historian would burden a paragraph with one 
 Gregory, (4) some now forgotten spy, but. about Gregory the 
 famous Pope and his Calendar (bringing in the New Style), 
 you will find scanty references in the usual histories. 
 ^Truly we may say that the golden number is a cipher, and 
 the dominical a dead, neglected letter — to the majority of 
 writers upon historical subjects.- And yet all these styles, 
 numbers, and letters are indispensably required in order to 
 obtain a proper and valid foundation for the sequence of 
 dates, which proves so essential to every page of history. 
 
 5. A quotation will emphasise this : — ' Suppose (5) that 
 some thousands of years hence, and in the absence of 
 authentic records, the invasion of England by William the 
 Conqueror were referred to the period in which h ugustus 
 swayed the sceptre at Rome : would it be possible for 
 posterity to understand the real import and connection of 
 that incident in the manner in which we now do ? 
 Assuredly not. But every anachronism is similar in its 
 bearing to this example ; and though perhaps by no means 
 so great in degree, would be found as fatal in the nature of 
 its tendency if prosecuted to its conclusions. It is with no 
 little justice, then, that chronology has been styled the 
 eye, and even the soul, of history ; or that without it the 
 subjects of this art could be considered no other than a 
 dark chaos, a wreck of fragments void of order and every 
 other indication of design. Unfortunately the discordances 
 of chronologers in cases of the highest consequence are as 
 enormous as the difference between the truth and the 
 (4) Vide Tytler, vol. iv. (5) Encycl. Edin., vide History, p 250. 
 
4 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 supposition above mentioned ; and hence the comparatively 
 little value as to any philosophical purpose of the generality 
 of histories respecting the earliest times.' 
 
 6. To dogmatise that any date is chronologically in- 
 fallible because it has been repeated and handed down for 
 hundreds, or even thousands, of years, is only begging 
 the question. Errors have often been perpetuated solely 
 on account of the magnitude of their fallacy. For 
 instance, five centuries ago belief in the powers of the 
 philosopher's stone was a universal tenet ; so, too, in aerial 
 apparitions and in witches. Nay, more, the thinkers of 
 that epoch — the men who were guiding the nations — 
 declared that the heavens revolved round this earth accord- 
 ing to the Ptolemaic Laws. To-day what do we find? 
 To-day all these fallacies are rejected. But chronological 
 progress has not kept step with advancement in ethical 
 matters. Fabulous dates still find a place in records, and 
 are handed down with zealous care. 
 
 7. ' History to be above evasion or dispute must stand 
 on documents, not on opinions.' (6) And in another 
 sentence the same great authority cogently observes that ' if 
 men were truly sincere and delivered judgment by no 
 canons but those of evident morality, then Julian would be 
 described in the same terms by Christian and Pagan, 
 Luther by Catholic and Protestant, Washington by Whig 
 and Tory, Napoleon by patriotic Frenchman and by 
 patriotic German.' Coming from such a source, these two 
 observations are of great consequence ; and mutatis 
 mutandis they apply to the principles of chronology. 
 Chronology should stand upon valid documents ; and the 
 
 (6) Lord Acton, pp. 45 and 46. 
 
mTRODtrCTlON. 5 
 
 researches and decisions of non-Christian or pre-Christian 
 chronologers should be impartially judged! The greatest 
 difficulty is to get people to remember that the origins of 
 the Anno Domini and the Moslem Reckonings — the former 
 at Rome and the latter in Arabia — are separated from 
 each other only by a few decades of time ; that the Advent 
 in the one case was fixed long ex post facto ^ while the Flight 
 in the other era was recorded chronologically almost con- 
 temporaneously with the Hegira- of the Prophet. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 Cbe ^Evolution of lEras. 
 
 CHRONOLOGY is defined (7) as 'the science which 
 treats of measuring time by regular divisions or 
 periods, and which assigns to events or transactions (8) 
 their proper dates.' In the first place, we may consider the 
 reckonings used by the Aborigines, which usually took their 
 origin in the need of some rotation for the rites of Pagan 
 worship. The new moon, full moon, and winter solstice 
 have been severally so used. Or the seasons were some- 
 times marked off by stellar appearances and disappearances. 
 The Zulus call the Pleiades the Digging Stars, as indicating 
 the season for cultivating the soil. The rising of the Nile 
 has likewise aided the fellahin in dividing the year. 'It 
 has risen to within a few hours of the same time, year after 
 year, for unknown ages. At Khartoum it begins to increase 
 early in April, but in lower Egypt the inundation usually 
 begins about the 25th of June, and attains its height in 
 three months ; it remains stationary for about twelve days, 
 and then subsides.' (9) The recurring migrations of birds 
 may also be mentioned in the same connection. A 
 missionary (10) tells of a rude reckoning in use among the 
 South Sea Islanders. They had made a deep cut in the 
 earth — as a reminder of some massacre — and year by year 
 
 (7) Webster, p. 254. (8) Business transactions as well. 
 
 (9) Encycl. Chambers, vide Nile. 
 
 (10) Dr. Paton's Biography, p. 327. 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF ERAS. 7 
 
 the cut was repeated, until this curious calendar had, when 
 the Doctor saw it, run up to eighty years. Aga.in, the North 
 American Indian spoke of coming ' over the trail of many 
 moons from the land of the setting sun,' to mean that he 
 had travelled from the west for many months, (ii) For 
 any period less than a lunar month, he would use the term 
 ' nights,' not weeks. a 
 
 9. The Asiatic Indian, long before the Christian era, 
 speaking of the moon, meant a month; he had one word 
 only for the two things, and that word carried the idea of 
 measuring, seeing that time was measured by moons, nights, 
 and winters long before it was reckoned by suns, days, and 
 years. (12) De Foe, in attributing the keeping of a calendar 
 to Crusoe, practically gives us a description of the Runic 
 calendars of Scandinavia and Britain eight hundred years 
 ago. (13) He says for his immortal hero that "upon the 
 sides of this square post I cut every day a notch with my 
 knife, and every seventh notch was as long again as the 
 rest, and every first day of the month as long again as that 
 one ; and thus I kept my calendar, or weekly, monthly, and 
 yearly reckoning of time.' 
 
 10, Such, then, were the quaint methods adopted by the 
 barbarians of keeping a tally of the years. We pass now to 
 the domain of civilization. The Savants of China, while 
 Norman and Saxon were fighting with each other in 
 England, and unrest, ignorance, and warfare were the sad 
 symbols of European progress, had begun to preserve 
 their opinion in printed characters. Their philosophy and 
 religion were old and established when Christianity was 
 
 (11) Young, p. 90. (12) Max Miiller, p. 6. 
 
 (13) De Foe, p. 117, Cassells' reprint. 
 
8 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 dawning in the West. Their first historic writings belong 
 to remotest times — perhaps as early as the twenty-second 
 century B.C. They seem to have divided their epochs into 
 dynasties, for the building of ' The Wall ' is placed in the 
 fourth Imperial Dynasty. (14) But there is evidence that 
 from 163 B.C. the methods of dates was to count the years 
 from each accession. Cycles of sixty lunar years were also ■ 
 in vogue, and the latest of such cycles ended in 1864 
 A. 0.(15) 1'^^ fi^'st of such epochs is now computed to 
 have commenced in Anno Mundi 2173, that is, 2636 B.C. 
 This is the first historic cycle. It is a pity that the Chinese 
 neglected the study of astronomy, for the interdependent 
 data and synchronisms would now be of great service. 
 Compared with this, their reputed discovery of the magnetic 
 pole, in pre-Advent ages, is a secondary consideration. 
 
 11. The vague Egyptian year was 'so called because it 
 consisted of 365 days, without any intercalculation. As 
 the length of the solar year is nearly 365^ days, the 
 Egyptian year was, astronomically speaking, too short. In 
 every 400 years it lost 97 days. Thus, in the period of 
 1504 equinoctial years, an entire solar year was gained by 
 the Egyptian reckoning ; and the first of the month of 
 Thoth occurred on each of the 365 days of the solar year 
 in turn.' (B. E., vol. iii., p. 332.) Unlike the Chinese, the 
 Egyptians were earnest students of the stars, and, indeed, 
 invented dances to represent the stellar motions. 
 
 12. As to Assyria, there are conjectures that they also 
 were fairly well advanced in astrology ; and that at times 
 they chose 360 as the diurnal basis for the year. Now, as 
 
 (14) It was began in 212 B.C. 
 (15) Encycl. Brit. For current calendar see section 147 infra 
 
THE EVOLUTION OF ERAS. 9 
 
 there are 360 degrees in a circle, an equality as to the year 
 possibly arose. Longer than the Chinese, but shorter than 
 the Egyptian year, it follows that neither of these nations 
 had copied their styles from this famous empire. The 
 empire had formerly no importance in chronology, for it 
 belonged to that period of the sciences which was held as 
 being empirical. Besides, many dates could not be 
 checked with the eras of other nations. For the reasons 
 already given, it was, therefore, all the more gratifying to 
 historians to find that Rawlinson had resci^red a whole 
 series of dates from oblivion ; and that by means of 
 recondite calculations in regard to a solar eclipse in the 
 eight century B.C. But particulars of this discovery will be \*U 
 more conveniently given in chapter xii., under ' Kindred y^ 
 Sciences.' \ 
 
 13. In Phoenician chronology, (16) 'the Phoenician 
 records, no longer extant, gave to their kingdom an an- 
 tiquity of 30,000 years. Sanchoniathon, who, it is said, 
 lived about 100 years before the Trojan War, has left a 
 chronological table (found in Eusebius) (17) of the antede- 
 luvian, and a few of the post-deluvian, heads of the 
 generations of man.' It only remains for me to add that 
 nothing more romantic or more mythical could be con- 
 ceived than the contents of these tables. They are simply 
 fables in excelsis. 
 
 14. 'The Hindoo Maba Yuga,' the same authority points 
 out, 'consisted of four lesser yugas or ages, corresponding 
 to the Golden, Silver, Brazen, and Iron Ages of the Greeks. 
 In the first age (Satya Yuga) all mankind was virtuous ; in 
 
 (16) Encycl. Metrop., vide chronology. 
 (17) He lived between 264 A.D. and 340 A.D. 
 
lO CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 the second (Treta Yuga), only three-fourths ; in the third 
 (Duapar Yuga), about half; and in the fourth only one part 
 was good.' And no one wonders after this that many of the 
 books of the Brahmins on astronomy are now condemned 
 as false. They have been proved to be antedated. (i8) 
 The famous Kalpa(i9) was claimed by them as being equal 
 to four and one-third billions of years. The Samvat era, 
 dating from 57 B.C., is not, however, affected by the refuta- 
 tion of the Brahmin's claims. (20). 
 
 15. In the Persian (ancient) Empire, Ewald(2i) holds 
 that 'a weekly circle of seven days' was kept. But the 
 subsequent discovery that the regions around Thibet have 
 possessed a week or circle of five days only, seems to 
 militate against the argument as to the universality of any 
 weekly circle east or west of ancient Persia. The ruling 
 reckoning is now the Moslem Calendar, in modern Persia. 
 
 16. Coming now to the eras of Greece, one finds that 
 there were several. The years were lunar, with seven inter- 
 calculated months extra during nineteen years, like the 
 Jewish style. The greatest and most enduring era is that 
 of the Olympiads. This was initiated as from the year 776 
 B.C., or twenty-three years before A.U.C. (22) It contains 
 four years, being the period which elapsed between the 
 national games. It was not in general use till the third 
 century B.C. There was also the Metonic Cycle (23) 
 and the Callippic Cycle, (24) which are explained in 
 later sections. Regarding the earlier chronology of 
 Greece, Clinton, in his Fasti Helkfiice, points out that 
 
 (18) Pouchet, p. 431. (19) One Brahmin day. (20) See chapter x. 
 
 (21) Antiquities of Israel. (22) See section 17 infra. 
 
 (23) See section 57 infra. (24) See section 51 infra. 
 
I 
 
 THE EVOLUTION OF ERAS. II 
 
 in all history, where our information is exact, we 
 direct our attention to some leading events, which 
 mark the beginning of a new order of things, and we 
 distribute our subject according to the character of affairs. 
 But in the early times of Greece we are obliged to have in 
 view the nature of our information in the distribution of the 
 subject. It is enough if we can conjecture the probable 
 date of a few principal facts, by comparing the scanty 
 memorials and uncertain traditions which descended to 
 posterity, and from which the learned of a later age com- 
 posed their chronology.' 
 
 We can thus observe how all nations and races have 
 worked from a simple to a complex chronology : — Beginning 
 by mentioning the year (of the dynasty, reign, or other 
 epoch), then adding the month, and finally the day of the 
 month. Hence as civilization spread over the earth, and 
 international communications grew more frequent, the 
 subject of chronology became a more exact science. No 
 longer content with scanty memorials, the custodiers of 
 national records endeavoured to rescue the history of their 
 own times from oblivion. But too often their efforts have 
 been futile : — 
 
 * Time passed and answered with a frown 
 Whoever raised it /will put it down.' 
 
 Aided by such calamities as the destruction of the Fasti at 
 Rome by the Gauls (B.C. 390), the burning of many 
 sterling muniments in the Alexandrian Library in 391 A.D., 
 and the sacking of Constantinople, with the MSS. lost 
 thereby in 1453 A.D., the ravages of time have obliterated 
 much which was valuable in the records of epochs and 
 
12 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 chronological bases. All systems of chronology have 
 suffered, more or less, from the obliterating tendency of 
 time, and the wilful, as well as the accidental, destruction of 
 documents. The most important chronology in the ancient 
 world, that of Rome, is a striking example of what has been 
 said. It is dealt with in the next chapter. Lord Acton's 
 dicta regarding opinions versus documents, receives, in the 
 history of the " City," a continuous current of high support 
 from those who have striven to obtain cosmos in classical 
 chronology. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 TTbe IRoman anb IRoman CatboUc 1RecJ?ontngs, 
 
 HE calendar by Julius Caesar, and the corrections 
 
 T 
 
 thereon by Pope Gregory three hundred and 
 fourteen years ago, are the two points of chronological 
 light which gleam through the darkness of the Middle 
 AgeS; to guide the historian of the nineteenth century. 
 'The history of Rome was for centuries the history 
 of the civilized world ; and even after it ceased to 
 be the capital of the empire, it was the centre of Christen- 
 dom, and the most interesting and influential city on the 
 planet.' (25) The city of Rome was, according to the usual 
 tradition, founded in the year 753 B.C. Original myths 
 and accruing inferences have supplied dates to 'presumed 
 historical events,' as Dr. Merivale remarks. (26) At another 
 place the same authority says that it was the writings of the 
 Greeks upon Rome which first aroused the emulation of 
 the Roman annalists, ' to begin in the 6th century of the city to 
 co7istruct^ but also in the Greek tongue^ a history of Rome.^ 
 Other authorities, appalled at the amount of fiction which 
 was beclouding the first centuries of the city, tried 'to 
 construct an entirely new theory of Roman history, which, 
 as Ortolan remarks, has the singular merit of having been 
 wholly unknown to the Romans themselves.' (27) Numa 
 
 (25) GazeUeer, p.. 597. (26) Merivale, p. 33. 
 
 (27) Mackenzie, p. 3. 
 
14 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 the Nonconformist — for so we call him, seeing he would 
 neither conform to Neolithic fashions nor Roman barbarites 
 — built the Temple of Janus, (28) and, with astrological 
 abitities which now cause wonder to some and doubt to 
 others, fixed, as regards linc^uistic forms, ten months, as we 
 presently use them. The period down to 510 B.C. is 
 known as the era of the kings in which Numa was second. 
 
 18. In or about the year 509 B.C., the Romans adopted 
 a novel mode of securing a visible tally to the twelve 
 months, and of counting the flight of time. Every year on 
 (what is our) thirteenth day of September, (29) a large nail 
 was publicly driven into the wall of the Temple of Minerva, 
 the Goddess of Wisdom and Science. This duty was first 
 performed by the praetor, and afterwards by one of the 
 consuls. These officials were appointed first in 244 A.U.C. 
 or 509 B.C., when the years were calculated as containing 
 354 days, with bi-annual additions of twenty-two days, 
 which made 1,460 days in four years. The Roman pontiffs, 
 in exchange for private bribes, began to corrupt and falsify 
 the Calendar Rolls. They at times, for instance, ordained 
 special intercalculations, so as to favour a moneyed friend, 
 who wished to retain an office, or they failed to announce 
 annual addition when justly needed, because some wealthy 
 legate wished to return to the Eternal City before his 
 regular recall. But, as the art of the pontiffs, which had 
 become an artifice, was not understood by the people, these 
 chronologic tricks passed unheeded for a long period./ 
 Finally the civil and the solar year fell months out of time. 
 Consuls, who were supposed to enter upon office in January, 
 
 (28) Images were introduced long afterwards. 
 (29) The Ides of that month. 
 
THE ROMAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC RECKONINGS. I 5 
 
 began their duties in the preceding October. Festivals 
 came to be held at unnatural seasons. (30) The feast for 
 Flora (the Goddess of Spring) was celebrated, for instance, 
 in the middle of July ; and a similar anomaly affected the 
 festival of Vertumnus, which was latterly held long after its 
 appointed day, 23rd August. 
 
 19. Julius Caesar unmade this" confusion. He decreed, 
 by his imperial mandate, that : — 
 
 (a). That the year 46 B.C., , then current, should 
 contain 445 days. This instantly brought the year 
 round to the solar year, and created a rational corres- 
 pondence between the two. 
 
 (b). The year's commencement should be ist of 
 January instead of on ist of March; that each of the 
 next three years of twelve calendar months should 
 contain 365 days. For a long time before 45 B.C., the 
 supreme magistrates had entered upon their ofifice on 
 the Kalends of January, or rather, they were presumed 
 to have done so. 
 
 (c). That the fourth, the 712th year of the city, 
 
 should contain 366 days. This was intended to be the 
 
 first leap year. The extra day came in February, for it 
 
 was simpler to have February 29th than January or 
 
 March 32nd, even assuming the verbal structure of the 
 
 Roman calendar could permit this. (31) 
 
 Before the first leap year came into practice, Caesar had 
 
 been assassinated, and an erroneous view was taken of his 
 
 instructions — every third instead of every fourth year, for 
 
 the next thirty-seven years, having been wrongly observed 
 
 (30) Mommsen, p. 518, and Merivale, p. 354. 
 (31) Compare the two calendars in sections 141 and 142, 
 
1 6 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 as a leap year. On discovery of these mistakes, a simple 
 remedy was found in the suppression of the four (Julian) 
 leap years then next ensuing. Nicholas specially notices 
 this fact. 
 
 20. The Romans had three signal days in every month, 
 and thes'e were Kalends, Nones, and Ides — name-days still 
 permissible to us in Britain under the forms of the Statutory 
 Calendar, as contained in the revised statutes. ^ The first of 
 the month was called the Kalends, and Varro says this 
 term originated in 'the practice of calling together or 
 assembling the people on the first day of the month, when 
 the pontifex informed them of the time of the new moon, 
 the day of the Nones, with the festivals and sacred days to 
 be observed.' In the 450th year of the city this custom 
 lapsed, for lists of the Fasti were then posted in public. 
 The Nones and Ides were in most months on the 5th and 
 13th days respectively, but in March, May, July, and 
 October, these two name-dates fell severally on the seventh 
 and fifteenth days. The other or intervening days were 
 reckoned as being so many days before the Kalends Nones 
 or Ides as the case might be. (32) 
 
 21. As for the annual date of any event, a Roman might 
 refer thereto either (i) by citations of the names of consuls 
 in office then — and the consuls' nominations have been 
 recorded from 366 B.C. to 23 B.C., only two years showing 
 none ; or (2) to A.U.C. or the year of Rome ; or (3) to a 
 regnal year as, and from, the 732nd year of the city ; but 
 the notaries, it can be proved, used to mention the consuls 
 in writings down to the third century A.D. Macaulay, it 
 
 (32) It should be remembered that the Greeks, unlike the Romans, 
 had no Kalends, 
 
THE ROMAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC RECKONINGS. 1 7 
 
 may be remarked, initiated all his well-known ' Lays of 
 Ancient Rome' by mentioning the respective year of the 
 city, seeing that these portrayed the older city customs. 
 Again, I found a quotation from a deed which bore the 
 seemingly scanty date that Gallus was emperor, but from the 
 regnal lists the date can be fixed as in spring, 252 A.D. 
 Further, the Latinist Eutropius, writing at the end of the 
 fourth century A.D., opens his second book of history as 
 the 393rd year of Rome. (33) We, however, come to one 
 important and positive fact bearing upon the present era, 
 namely, the general council held at Nice, in Asia Minor, in 
 what we call the 325th year after the Advent. This gave 
 rise to the Quarto-Decimans who contended that Easter 
 should be celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first lunar 
 month, near the vernal equinox, holding it as synchronous 
 to the Jewish Passover. 
 
 22 But this council was not claimed at the time as 
 being held in a certain year Anno Domini. Even Saint 
 Jerome, writing his Evangelistas, calls a first century date as 
 falling in the ' twenty-fifth year after the Passion,' while in 
 the time of the Nicene Council it was becoming the ecclesias- 
 tical custom to refer to any year as 'in Indictione Romae.' 
 The Indiction was a chronological period of much con- 
 sequence, and even in Scots' Burgh Records of the sixteenth 
 century I have discovered traces of this reckoning. Fifteen 
 years are allotted to an Indiction, and the Premier Indiction, 
 which was introduced by Constantine the Great in connec- 
 tion with tribute-money payments, covered the period from 
 312 A.D. to 327 A.D. The popes and cardinals of Rome 
 
 (33) That is 361 B.C., * Anno trecentesimo nonagesimo tertio post 
 urbem conditam,' is the phrase he uses. 
 
 9 
 
1 8 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 used this system ; but in the twelfth century the basis of 
 computation was changed, so that the Advent became the 
 starting point, and not 312 A.D. Accordingly in the past 
 nine centuries the true Indication / means the first fifteen 
 years of the Christian era. To convert the year of that era 
 into Indiction years it is necessary : — 
 
 (a). In pre-twelfth century dates to subtract 312, and 
 then divide by 15. The whole quotient is the Indiction, 
 and the fraction is the year thereof. Thus the Con- 
 quest 1066 would be Indiction 50, year the fourth. 
 
 (b). In post-twelfth century dates 3 is added, and then 
 
 a division by 15 is made. The answer means the same 
 
 as, and is read like the former. The present year 
 
 accordingly can appear as Indiction 126, year the 
 
 ninth. 
 
 23. However, before the expiry of the first (Constantine) 
 
 indiction, Dionysius Exiguus,\T,^) an Abbot of Rome, a 
 
 native of Bithynia, an ancient division of Asia Minor, was 
 
 considering a new system ; and then he issued suggestions for 
 
 and examples of the 'Anno Domini' reckoning. (35) The 
 
 change did not find immediate acceptance, for I observe a 
 
 Latin deed of sale now in the British Museum which bears 
 
 date the seventh year of the reign of Justin the younger, 
 
 instead of A.D. 572. In fact, it was afterwards discovered 
 
 that Dionysius had miscalculated the first date in his era, 
 
 and chronologers are agreed that the Advent should have 
 
 been fixed as falling on or about October, the fifth year B.C. 
 
 Notwithstanding this error, the suggestion of Dionysius as to 
 
 a new era gradually forced its way westward, especially after 
 
 {34) Dionysius the Little. 
 (35) In his Cyclus Faschalis, a MS. as to finding Easter. 
 
THE ROMAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC RECKONINGS. I9 
 
 the sixth century, when the general papal power began to 
 increase. The Benedictines had been securely founded, the 
 strongest order in the sacred college. The regal weaklings 
 who succeeded Justinian; the brilliancy of Gregory the Great; 
 the institution of the mass ; and the origin of Christian 
 architecture, all tended to extol the Church and extend her 
 power. Then came the six centuries of those ' dark ages,' 
 wherein the Church almost alone preserved the muniments 
 of the faith ; and the accessory reckoning of tfeeXhristianity. 
 
 24. The spread of that religion brought the need 
 of the Christian era more clearly before the rulers of the 
 different nations. Traces of the new reckoning are to be 
 found in Italy and France in the seventh century, in 
 Germany and possibly in Ireland in the ninth century, but 
 the difficulty is to be sure that one is getting original 
 writings of these times. 
 
 25. From the efforts of Abbot Dionysius in the first half 
 of the sixth century to the Gregorian correction of the 
 sixteenth century, there falls to be noticed only the papal 
 change in dating the indiction, already explained. On the 
 coins issued by the Vatican Minter's, the A.D. dates 
 were used. (36) 
 
 25. In the year 1582, Pope Gregory XIII, after much 
 consideration, ordered a fundamental amendment in the 
 calendar because the Romish Church authorities had found 
 that the leap years, being twenty-five in the century, had 
 causes the civil year to break with the solar year by ten 
 days. Had the excess of the solar year been six hours 
 exactly beyond the 365 days, then one leap year in every 
 
 (36) Coins, dated thus, must have helped to familiarise the different 
 nations with the year of grace. 
 
20 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 four years would readjust the balance. But this is not so, 
 and twenty-five leap years per century caused the fraction of 
 a day to increase so as to be really observable. In 1582, 
 the error amounted to ten days; in 1882, to twelve days — 
 in Russia for instance. The papal authorities therefore set 
 themselves to a two-fold task : — correction for the past, and 
 protection against the future were the remedies necessary. 
 The papal mandate accordingly directed : — 
 
 (a). The suppression of the record of ten days, there- 
 by correcting the past errors ; and 
 
 (b). The rejection of three leap years in every four 
 hundred years, so that while 1600, 2000, and 2400 are 
 now to be known as leap years, yet 1700, 1800, 1900, 
 and 2100 are not. In other words, every non-century 
 year is a leap one if it divides by four without 
 remainder, and every century year which divides by 
 400 evenly is also a leap year. 
 27. This Gregorian correction not only caused the 
 spring equinox of 1582 to fall on the same day of the month 
 as it did at the Nicene Council, twelve hundred and fifty- 
 seven years before then, but the corrected calendar will 
 prevent even an error of twenty-four hours from arising in 
 three thousand years. To be even more particular, the calcu- 
 lating party has gone to work and he finds that in about 
 700,000 years, the British Christmas will be in midsummer. 
 The outlook need not alarm us. Fittingly then is the 
 Gregorian correction spoken of as the ' new style,' (37) which a 
 spirit of conservatism has kept Russia, Servia, and Greece 
 from adopting for themselves. The spread of the English 
 language in Russia very recently renders the rejection of the 
 (37) The ' old style ' calendar will be found in sections 144 infra. 
 
THE ROMAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC RECKONINGS. 21 
 
 old Style more certain, and if it comes before the end of the 
 century, it will save the addition of yet another day of 
 chronological error to their present burden of twelve days. 
 But happily even when I write, the official international 
 press news indicates that 'although it is now generally 
 understood that the Russian government contemplate the 
 introduction of the Gregorian calendar at the close of the 
 century, it has not yet been decided whether the reform 
 shall be effected suddenly and' entirely, or by gradual 
 process. The latter scheme consists in omitting the first 
 twelve leap years after 1900, and the change from the old 
 style to the new would in this way cover a period of forty- 
 eight years. There are now twelve days difference, but in 
 1900 there will be thirteen days, and this unlucky or 
 fatalistic number has not a little weight with superstitious 
 Slavs who have hitherto been opposed to a reform of the 
 Julian calendar. If the graduated plan be adopted there 
 will be only nine days difference on the ist of March, 1908, 
 on the same date in 191 2 eight days, and so on during 
 every recurring fourth year until 1944, when the reform will 
 be accomplished. It is, however, by no means certain 
 whether this plan will be adopted or the more sudden and 
 radical change. The majority are in favour of the latter, 
 whibt the former scheme promises to receive less opposition 
 from the ecclesiastical authorities, and is not calculated to 
 shock the popular sentiment so violently as the sudden 
 reform.' See also section 64 itifra. 
 
 2^Keeping in mind that the Christian era, as a chrono- 
 logical basis, became current in Eastern Europe only in the 
 sixth century, it is interesting and important to recall that 
 Christianity, as a religion, had arisen in France and England 
 
22 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 in the fourth century ; in Ireland in the fifth ; and in Scotland 
 during the sixth centuries. Thereafter, that is after the 
 A.D. basis had been chronologically suggested, history 
 records that Flanders became Christianised in the seventh ; 
 Saxony the eighth ; Denmark in the ninth ; Russia, Hungary, 
 and Norway during the loth centuries. (38) 
 
 29. It will be convenient to mention at this point that the 
 Papal Bulls were dated by reference to the year ' ab incarna- 
 tione.' The Romish Brieves, on the other hand, bore to be 
 given 'in the year of the nativity.' The Encyclicals are 
 dated thus, 'Given at St. Peter's, Rome, the 29th day of 
 June, in the year 1896, and the nineteenth of ^?/r pontificate, 
 Leo XIII., Pope.' This is the latest example, being the 
 famous Encyclical Letter upon the Unity of the Church. 
 
 (38) Vide Haydn's Dictionary of Dates, under * Christianity.' 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 XTbe iBvas ot tbe Creation, 
 
 HAVING now got abreast of the practical chronology 
 of Christendom, it will be convenient to direct my 
 readers to the eras which have been assigned to the creation 
 of the worI di_-_The figures, as will be seen, exhibit nothing 
 but a series of disenchanting disparities. For instance we 
 have 
 
 I. 7388 B.C. according to the modern Grecians. (39) 
 
 II. 7382 
 
 III. 5829 
 
 IV. 5508 
 
 V. 5499 
 
 VI. 541 1 
 
 VII. 4968 
 
 VIII. 4905 
 
 IX. 4004 
 
 X. 3970 
 
 XL 3760 
 
 Josephus. 
 
 Scaliger. 
 
 the ancient Greeks. 
 
 Sextus Africanus. 
 
 Hales. 
 
 L'art de verifier les dates. 
 
 Nennius' Historia. 
 
 the Bible margins from Usher. 
 
 Sir John Skene. (40) 
 
 the present day Jews. 
 
 31. That the various eras could be more successfully 
 investigated were there one standard for the computations 
 is quite plain. Certainly if the age of the earth, as regards 
 the origin of species, could be agreed on, it would act as a 
 chronological trunk whence could branch the eras and 
 
 (39) See Brewer, p. 424. 
 
 (40) Reg. Mag., p. i, ' Malcolmus 2, filius Kennethi, coepit regnare 
 Anno Mundi 4974, Christi 1004.' 
 
24 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 calendars of all nations. This would secure an exactness 
 for which chronlogers and historians have been searching. 
 The world's age is, however, only a subject for scientific 
 disagreements. To the masters in such quests the planet, 
 with feminine-like reluctance, refuses to reveal the secret, 
 and so end the wordy warfare. 
 
 32. When (to quote from Lord Salisbury's Presidential 
 address to the British Association in 1894) one scientist, 
 Lord Kelvin, has 'limited the period of organic life upon 
 the earth to one hundred million years, and Professor Tait, 
 in a still more penurious spirit, cut that hundred down to 
 ten,' (41) who then, we ask, can hope to strike the golden 
 mean between an seonian and the actuarial age of our 
 planet ? ' On the other side of the account,' the president 
 proceeded, perhaps sarcastically, 'stand the claims of the 
 geologists and biologists. They have revelled in the 
 prodigality of the ciphers which they put at the end of 
 the earth's hypothetical age. Long cribbed and cabined 
 within the narrow bounds of popular chronology, they have 
 exulted wantonly in their new freedom.' Thus we see that 
 certain figures are given by one scientist, only to be 
 questioned and subverted by a professional brother. The 
 birth-year of a whale and the age of the Californian giant 
 trees are computable to comparative exactitude, but it 
 seems practically impossible to link botanical facts, geo- 
 logical ideas, and astronomical figures into some united 
 chronology regarding the earth's age. We consequently 
 must deal with chronology measurable by some "ascertained 
 order or succession of events," which Argyle defines as 
 * Time-relative.' 
 
 (41) Brit. Assn., p. 12. 
 
THE ERAS OF THE CREATION. 2$ 
 
 ^^. Another authority scornfully says, ' Modern in- 
 genious theorisers in development, who would have men 
 recognise in the reptiles of their museums the remote an- 
 cestors of their race, consistently believe that they find in 
 the savage a type of the primeval state of man.' (42) And 
 half a century ago Hugh Miller wrote, 'The six thousand 
 years of human history forms but a portion of the geologic 
 day that is passing over us. They do not extend into the 
 yesterday of the globe, far less touch the myriads of ages 
 spread out beyond.' (43) And he added, prophetically one 
 may say, for it has come to pass, 'What I believe now all 
 theologians, even the weakest, will be content to believe 50 
 years hence.' In section 48 I deal with the term ' Age ' 
 in detail. 
 
 34. But the chronologist, dealing with historic facts, 
 must neglect those cipher-laden totals which represent the 
 evolutionist's anno mundi in the closing decade of the nine- 
 teenth century. Contrasting these later views with those at 
 the end of last century, a well-known authority, Mr. A. C. 
 White, says that ' until the beginning of the present century 
 theories of the earth were of the most fantastic and 
 speculative nature. Imaginary and supernatural agencies, 
 extraordinary and alarming catastrophies, were freely called 
 upon to explain phenomena which could not be rationally 
 elucidated without violating the fixed belief in the literal 
 interpretation of Scriptural accounts of the Creation and 
 the Flood. The pages of romance do not contain more 
 whimsical notions than do the writings of the pioneers of 
 geology. Glimmers of truth now and then appeared in 
 these early works, but not until Hutton published his 
 
 (42) Hamilton, p. 2. (43) Schools and Schoolmasters, p. 223. 
 
26 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 "Theory of the Earth" one hundred years ago, did these 
 feeble glows rise into a steady light. This admirable book, 
 aided by the publications of Playfair, the talented exponent 
 of Hutton's views, effectually combated the catastrophic 
 theories of its predecessors, and placed the study of 
 geological changes on a scientific basis. Observation took 
 the place of speculation, and the authority of fact that of 
 tradition^ but not without a long and severe struggle. 
 Philosophers, however much impressed by the value of 
 geological facts and deductions, were loath to give up old 
 and cherished ideas. They clung to their traditional faith 
 in spite of the eloquent illustrations of Playfair and the 
 philosophical reasoning of Lyell. The name of geologist 
 was, in the minds of many people fifty years ago, suggestive 
 of atheistical tendencies, and such a subject as the age of 
 the earth could not at that time be discussed without 
 suspicion of irreverence. At the present day, however, it is 
 one of the open questions of science, and has been freely 
 debated by philosophers of high standing in various branches 
 of study. The geologist, the physicist, and the astronomer 
 have all applied their knowledge and means of investigation 
 to the solution of this difficult problem, and their labours 
 have had considerable effect in advancing the state of 
 knowledge and thought in all their sciences.' And very 
 recently Dr. John Struthers said, ' If the mode of "crea- 
 tion" by descent applies to forms below man, as the 
 evidence goes, it applies no less to the origin of human 
 species. This disposes of the Adam and Eve tradition, 
 and all that hangs by it.' (44) 
 
 35. Before quitting this portion of the subject, it is 
 (44) Scotsman^ 4th Aug., 1896. 
 
THE ERAS OF THE CREATION. 
 
 27 
 
 interesting to find out how the date of the Flood is given 
 by various chronologers. According to Usher, the Deluge 
 occurred in B.C. 2348. But fourteen other authorities 
 place the cataclysm as follows : — (45) 
 
 One (the LXX.) puts it in the 32nd century B.C. 
 
 Five „ jj . 31st 
 
 One ,, ,) 29th 
 
 One ,, ,, 26th 
 
 Four „ „ 23rd 
 
 Two „ „ 22nd 
 
 On such chronologic evidence, I fear an impartial jury 
 would bring in a verdict of ' Not Proven,' as regards the 
 time, though a majority would admit the occurrence, of a 
 Deluge. (46) 
 
 (45) Encycl. Metrop., vide chronology. 
 
 (46) The sudden uprising (from volcanic causes) of the Andes is one 
 scientific explanation of a Flood. This is the opinion held by scientists 
 such as Pouchet. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Biblical CbronoloG^* 
 
 THE pages of the Revised Bible (47) show no dates, 
 while many editions of the Authorised Version 
 exhibit a chronological as well as a numerical pagination. 
 In this we see one essential difference between the two 
 versions. It is true that King James' version did not 
 contain any system of yearly dates, but at the beginning of 
 last century, B.C. and A.D. years were printed on the 
 authority of Archbishop Usher's chronology. (48) Their 
 minute precision cannot be regarded as a proof of accuracy ; 
 and at the present time the pretended years are not 
 acknowledged, even by many divines. This is specially so 
 regarding the B.C. dates, in which there is an ominous 
 divergence between the figures derived from different 
 textual sources. The Hebrew text reveals one, the Septua- 
 gent (or LXX.) another, and the Samart^n Codex a third, 
 and often vastly different period for a Scriptural event. 
 Josephus fares no better at the hands of the critics, (49) 
 and the chronological statemenj^ of that author are now 
 looked upon as being to a great extent worthless for the 
 purposes of historic reference. 
 
 37. The very conservative Professor Sayce remarks that 
 
 (47) The recent publication of a Revised Apocrypha has re-awakened 
 interest in the revisers' works. 
 
 (48) In his Annates Testamenti. 
 
 (49) His ' Antiquities' were published by him in the 13th year of the 
 Emperor Domitian, i.e. 93 A.D. 
 
BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY. 29 
 
 Assyrian inscriptions have shown that the chronology of the 
 Book of Kings is hopelessly wrong. (50) Writing in 1893, 
 Canon Driver says: "The Biblical chronology of the 
 Kings of Judah and Israel is in perplexing disagreement 
 with that fixed by the contemporary Assyrian inscriptions. 
 It is allowed by modern commentators and historians that 
 in cases of divergence, the latter is to be preferred.' (51) 
 That the Usher system of dates should not be ' regarded as 
 more than the sequence of the events ' is therefore now a 
 very general request by Biblical scholars. 
 
 38. This attitude toward the chronology of the Hebrews 
 is quite logical when facts come to be faced, for (i) the 
 copious citations of genealogies prove that the rough and 
 unreliable mode of reckoning by generations — the word 
 itself is Biblically very common — was too often the chrono- 
 logical basis; (2) the regnal years were counted by tens of 
 years ; but (3) otherwise septennates or weeks of years 
 (being periods of seven years each) were also in use. In 
 some centuries the Jordon acted as a chronological divider 
 in the kingdoms, separate systems being used. 
 
 39. Though the sacred years of the Hebrews were held 
 to begin with the new moon in the month Nisan, yet 
 Cruden conjectures (52) that in remote times (?) they 
 reckoned their months by the sun, and then thirty days 
 equalled a month ; and this he holds to be proved by the 
 tradition that the Flood lasted 150 days, or five months. 
 It is thought that their lunar basis was adopted from Egypt. 
 In any event, the conjecture by Cruden has not been 
 generally accredited. 
 
 (50) Quoted in Gain or Loss^ p. 118. (51) Driver, p. 13. 
 
 (52) Concordance, vide month. 
 
3© CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 40. Writing upon the minor prophets, Farrar says 'the 
 Bible would be far better understood in its historical aspect 
 if it were arranged with greater reference to chronology. 
 As it is, the Books of the Prophets, like the epistles of the 
 New Testament, are heterogeneously flung together with 
 reference only to their length and size. This is, of course, 
 a purely accidental principle of arrangement.' (53) And in 
 another place the same authority calls 'attention to the 
 certainty that the Biblical chronology of the Kings is merely 
 given in round numbers. It consists mainly of multiples 
 of twenty.' This opinion is homologated in the very recent 
 volume by Henry Hill on the ' Kings of Israel and Judah,' 
 when he says ' the difficulties under the head of chronology 
 seemed almost insuperable.' 
 
 41. P'or the purposes of cross-references between the old 
 Hebrew Calendar and the Greek and the Roman reckon- 
 ings, I append (54) a table showing the months which 
 corresponded in each style. The first column or Hebrew 
 is in the order of the ancient sacred year, and the Roman 
 names are in the progression usual prior to the Julian 
 correction of 45 B.C., that is the year's commencement 
 being in March- April. 
 
 Hebrew. 
 
 Syro-Macedonian. 
 
 
 Roman. 
 
 Nisan i.e. 
 
 Xanthicus 
 
 i.e. 
 
 Mar. and April. 
 
 Jyar 
 
 Artemisius 
 
 5J 
 
 April and May. 
 
 Sivan „ 
 
 Daesius 
 
 )J 
 
 May and June. 
 
 Tamuz „ 
 
 Panemus 
 
 J> 
 
 June and July. 
 
 Ab i.e. 
 
 Loiis 
 
 iu. 
 
 July and Aug. 
 
 Elul 
 
 Gorpiaeus 
 
 >J 
 
 Aug. and Sept. 
 
 Tisri 
 
 Hyberberetaeus 
 
 )J 
 
 Sept. and Oct. 
 
 (S3) Farrar, 
 
 P« 23. (54) From Whiston, p. 856. 
 
Hebrew. 
 
 Syro- Macedonian. 
 
 
 Roman. 
 
 Marchesvan 
 
 „ Dius 
 
 ^;f 
 
 Oct. and Nov. 
 
 Casleu 
 
 „ Apellaeus 
 
 )5 
 
 Nov. and Dec. 
 
 Tebeth 
 
 , Audynaeus 
 
 )> 
 
 Dec. and Jan. 
 
 Shebat 
 
 , Peritius 
 
 J) 
 
 Jan. and Feb. 
 
 Adar 
 
 , Dystrus 
 
 )) 
 
 Feb. and Mar. 
 
 BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY. 3 1 
 
 method of intercalculating the second Adar (55) or be-Adar. 
 42. There are several evidences that after B.C. 306, the 
 era of Seleucides became current for purposes other than 
 the religous calendar. That era counts from the first year 
 of the dynasty of Seleucus, or B.C. 312. In less than two 
 centuries its influence expired in Palestine, the Jews 
 continuing the Jubilee year, i.e., the fiftieth year. 
 
 43. The Hebrew day was reckoned from sundown to 
 sundown, but of the seven days in a week, only the Sabbath 
 had a special name, the others being merely the first day, 
 the second, and so on, of a week. Until the Romans 
 came, the Jewish night had three watches — ten and two 
 o'clock being the division points. Thereafter the 
 
 I St watch was from dark to 9 (no twilight in Palastine). 
 2nd ,, ,, 9 to midnight (middle watch). 
 3rd „ „ midnight to 3 (cock crow) 
 4^^^h „ „ 3 to morning (morning watch) 
 
 44. Coming now to the chronology specially connected 
 with the events mentioned in the New Testament, it is 
 surprising to find that twenty years ago Dr. Conder (56) 
 said, ' with regard to the chronology of the New Testament, 
 the only part which, notwithstanding long discussion, can as 
 
 (55) See section 58 infra. (56) Bible Educator, vol. iv., p. 27. 
 
32 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 yet be said to have been brought within the province of 
 reasonable certitude, is the narrative of the Acts of the 
 Apostles, together with the dates of such epistle as may be 
 referred to in the history therein contained. The pious 
 student will fondly seek to attach a distinct date to each 
 of the events recorded in the Gospels, but it is not a help 
 but a hindrance to intelligent study to hold out the idea 
 that this has yet been done.' 
 
 45. But coming down to the most recent trend of 
 chronological and theological opinion, there is one point 
 which should be mentioned. It is the date of the Quirinus 
 Taxation. Wycliffe(57) reads thus: 'And it was don 
 in the daies a maundement went out fro the Emperor 
 August that al the world schulde be discryued. This 
 firste discryuing was maad of Cyryn, iustice of 
 Sirie.'(58) 
 
 46. This statement, which is perplexing (seeing Cyrenius 
 or Quirinus was not appointed 'Justice' or Governor of 
 Syria till a decade after the Advent), has been made even 
 more perplexing by the wording of the R.T., which is, 
 ' This was the first enrolment made when Quirinus was 
 Governor of Syria.' Now, it only remains to note that this 
 sentence leaves the date in question still beclouded. But it 
 can hardly be a matter for wonder to find the revisers 
 fighting shy of a praetorian dictum when one of the deepest 
 thinkers upon Biblical enquiries has affixed to the verses 
 the opinion that they revealed only 'chronological incon- 
 
 (57) 1388 A.D., Wycliffe and Purvey, p. 144. 
 
 (58) Modernised thus : 'And it was done in those days, a command 
 went out from the Emperor Augustus that all the world should be 
 described. This first describing was made by Quirinus, Justice of 
 Syria.' A census was the practical outcome. 
 
BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGIES. 33 
 
 gruities.' (58a) And incongruities they remain on the eve of 
 the twentieth century of the era which they were intended 
 to herald. If the theologians, pictured by Hugh Miller 
 and the ' pious student ' of Conder, are disconcerted to find 
 that Biblical Chronology is an unsubstantial fabric, it is 
 well, as Dr. Marcus Dods said, in another connection, that 
 they 'should be disconcerted.' . ' 
 
 (58a) Strauss (sec. 32). 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sunbrp Cycles anb Cbronoloatcal Details* 
 
 Now that the reader has become familiar with the 
 greater epochs and eras, it will be suitable to 
 introduce to his notice a series of lesser cycles ; and for 
 more convenient reference these are arranged in alphabetical 
 order. 
 
 AcTiUM. — This era (deriving its title from the great sea- 
 fight) dates from 31 B.C. Octavian thereafter became 
 Emperor of the then known word as the result of that 
 battle. After the epoch of Augustus (otherwise Octavian) 
 that is from 27 B.C., there were thirty-three imperial reigns 
 till the partition of the Empire in 364 A.D. It will suffice 
 to give these in order of time so far as Constantine the 
 Great, (59) when Rome became nominally a Christian 
 empire. The successor of Augustus was 
 
 Tiberius. He began to reign 14 A.D., succeeded by 
 
 Cladius „ 
 
 5) 3^ 
 40 
 
 
 Nero „ 
 
 54 
 
 
 Vespasian (60) „ 
 
 68 
 
 
 Titus 
 
 78 
 
 
 Domician „ 
 
 81 
 
 
 (59) Who decreed that dies soils should thereafter be the Christian 
 Sunday. 
 
 (60) Who, when unsatisfied with any day's labour, wrote in the 
 album ' diem perdidi^ (' I have lost a day '). 
 
SUNDRY CYCLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL DETAILS. 
 
 35 
 
 Nerva He 
 
 began 
 
 to reigr 
 
 1 96 A.D., 
 
 succeeded by 
 
 Trajan 
 
 j> 
 
 )5 
 
 97 
 
 
 Adrian 
 
 )> 
 
 J5 
 
 116 
 
 
 Antonms Pius 
 Marcus^ Aurelius 
 
 J) 
 
 J) 
 
 137 
 
 
 ?) 
 
 55 
 
 161 
 
 
 Commodus 
 
 )> 
 
 55 
 
 180 
 
 
 Pertinax 
 
 >j 
 
 55 : 
 
 193 
 
 
 Septemus Severus 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 194 
 
 
 Caracella 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 211 , 
 
 
 Opilius Macrinus 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 217 
 
 
 Heliogabalus 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 2t8 
 
 
 Alexander Severus 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 222 , 
 
 
 Two Gordians 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 235 
 
 
 Gordian Juniors 
 
 5) 
 
 >5 
 
 238 
 
 
 Philip the Arabian 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 243 
 
 
 Decius 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 249 
 
 
 Gallus Hostilius 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 251 
 
 
 Valerian Gallienus 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 253 
 
 
 Claudius 
 
 J) 
 
 55 
 
 268 
 
 
 Aurelian 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 270 
 
 
 Tacitus and Florian 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 275 
 
 
 Probus 
 
 J> 
 
 55 
 
 276 , 
 
 
 Carus 
 
 »> 
 
 55 
 
 282 
 
 
 Diocletian 
 
 J> 
 
 55 
 
 283 
 
 
 Constantius Chlorus 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 305 
 
 
 Constantius the Great „ 
 
 55 
 
 306 
 
 
 'Annalists invariably number the place of each sovereign 
 from Augustus downwards. Francis II., the last emperor, 
 was 120 from Augustus,' (61) namely, to 1806. 
 
 (61) II. R. Empire, p. 259. 
 
36 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 48. Ages. — The term ' Age,' as referring to some par- 
 ticular period or track of time in history, is of importance. 
 For instance there are (a) the Augustan Age ; this is a 
 variable expression, and it arose from the fact that later 
 writers recognised in the Hterature of the reign of Augustus 
 Caesar the highest state of purity, Thus, again, the reign of 
 Louis XIV. was an Augustan Age in the literature of 
 France, and possibly (pace Queen Anne) the present reign 
 of Victoria will be known as the Augustan Age of Britain. 
 (If) Archeological Ages are divided into three sections : — 
 The Stone, the Bronze, and the Iron Ages. (c) The 
 Geologic Ages are as follows : — The Archaean, (62) the 
 Silurian, (6;^) the Devonian, (64) the Carboniferous, (65) the 
 Mesozoic (66), the Tertiary (67), and the Quaternary. (68) 
 (d) The Middle Ages — the period of time intervening 
 between the decline of the Roman Empire and the revival 
 of letters. Haldane regards it as beginning with the sixth 
 and ending with the fifteenth century. (69) Of course this 
 specification can apply to Europe only. 
 
 49 Annus Magnus. — The Chaldaic astronomers ob- 
 served that the stars shift their places at about the rate of a 
 degree in seventy-two years ; according to which calculation 
 these stars will perform one revolution in 25,920 years, at 
 the end whereof they stand as they where when the period 
 began. (70) But I may add that the expression 'Great 
 Year,' when used by Josephus, meant a period of 
 
 (62) The times of no life and simplest ^orms of life. 
 
 (63) The invertebraetes era. (64) Fishes predominant, 
 
 (65) The coal plants' period. 
 
 (66) Or reptiles' epoch. (67) When mammalise appeared. 
 
 (68) Or aera hominis. 
 
 (69) Webster, p. 31. (70) Brewer, p, 1317. 
 
IP 
 
 SUNDRY CYCLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL DETAILS. 37 
 
 600 years, and referred to the reputed longevity of the 
 Arid^luvians. 
 
 • 50. Black Days meant all those days on which it 
 was unlucky to commence any undertaking. Such days 
 are regularly indicated in the old abbey calendars of 
 Scotland, in the famous Codex Membranaceus of Worms 
 (a Runic calendar dated 1328),- and in the calendar 
 attributed to Bede. (71). A specimen of a runic calendar is 
 given on a later page. 
 
 51. Callippic Cycles contain periods of seventy-six 
 years, beginning in the third year of the 112 Olympiad, or 
 A.U.C. 424 or B.C. 330. It was proposed by Callippus, 
 the Greek astronomer, as an improvement on the Metonic 
 Cycle after mentioned. 
 
 52. Corea. — Proclamations in this country, when signed 
 only by the prime minister, are dated by reference to the 
 month and the regnal years thus : ' Eleventh second moon : 
 first year of Kon Yang.' But where the edict is by the 
 sovereign, it runs : ' Sixth moon of the 503rd year of 
 dynasty,' i.e.^ July, 1894.(72) 
 
 53. Christmas. — Yuletide has been held as a sacred 
 festival by numberless nations. Christians hold December 
 25th as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus. China on 
 the same day celebrates the birth of Buddah, son of 
 Maya. (73) The Druids held during the winter solstice the 
 festival of Nolagh. (74) Egypt held that Horus, son of 
 
 ^Isis, was born towards the close of December. Greece 
 celebrated on the winter solstice the birth of ^rjfii^rrjp 
 
 (71) Proceedings S.A., vol. xxix., p. 236. 
 
 (72) Corea was unknown in Europe till about 250 years ago. 
 
 (73) Bunsen. (74) Higgins. 
 
38 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 (Ceres), BaK^os (Bacchus), and ^RpaKXrjs (Hercules). 
 
 Jndia. Numerous Indian tribes keep Yuletide as a religious 
 
 festival. (75) Mexico holds in the winter solstice the 
 
 festival of Capaerame. (76). Persia at the same period 
 
 honours the birth of Mithras. (77) Rome celebrated on 
 
 (jDecember 25th the festival 'Natalis Solis Invicta.' Scandi- 
 
 / navia held at Yuletide the festival called Jul, in honour of 
 
 [ Freya, son of Odin. (78). 
 
 54. Epact. — This word appears in our calendars, and 
 indicates that there are an excess in days of the solar year 
 over the lunar year. As the former has 365 days, and the 
 latter only 354, this would make a maximum difference of 
 eleven days. But the epact for any one year is the 
 number of days from the last new moon of the 
 preceding year to the first day of January immediately 
 following. (79) 
 
 55. Julian Period. — This is 'a chronological period of 
 7,980 years, combining the solar, lunar, and indiction cycles 
 (28 X 19 X 15 = 7,980), being reckoned from the year 4,713, 
 B.C., when the first year of these several cycles would 
 coincide, so that if any year of the period be divided by 28, 
 19, or 15, the remainder would be the year of the 
 compounding cycle. The Julian period was proposed by 
 Scaliger, to remove or avoid ambiguities in chronological 
 dates, and was so named because composed of Julian 
 years.' (80) It was handy for fixing years in a common 
 basis between 4,713 B.C., and 1582 A.D., or later, according 
 to the adoption of the Gregorian correction on the Julian 
 
 (75) Monier Williams. {"jG) ' History of the Indies,' vol. ii., p. 354. 
 
 [77) Gross. (78) See as to foregoing Brewer, p. 1321. 
 
 (79) For 1896 it was 15. 
 
SUNDRY CVCLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL DETAILS. 39 
 
 leap years. Historians hardly ever refer to, and never cite, 
 the Julian period, but on the other hand they very frequent- 
 ly count the years — no matter in what period or country — 
 as opening with ist January. Hence as regards dates 
 falling between ist January and 25 th March, there is often 
 a year of difference in the historical dates. (81) 
 
 56. LouisiAN Epoch was the invention of an Amierrs 
 friar in 1683. Its factors were : — a solar cycle {28 years) x 
 a lunar cycle (19) x 30, and thus its duration was meant to 
 be 15,960 years, but it never had more than ong academic 
 interest even in France. 
 
 57. The Metonic, or Cycle of the Moon, was first j 
 heard of in the first year of the seventy-fifth Olympiad. (82) i 
 
 ■ Its author, the celebrated Athenian astrologer, Meton, 
 found that nineteen years made a period at the end where- 
 of the moon was to the sun in the same position as the 
 lesser was to the greater light at the start of the period."^ 
 It was such a valued chronological check that it was cited in 
 the Greek Fasti in letters of gold, hence the "golden 
 number" of our calendar. To find this cycle add one to 
 the A.D. year, and divide by nineteen. The remainder is 
 the golden number. Thus 1895 plus i = 1896 -M9 = 99x1 • 1 
 therefore fifteen is the golden number for 1895. {Z-^ -J 
 
 ||«. 58. Modern Jew's Reckoning. — Through a curious and 
 
 'accidental typographical concurrence, which some time ago 
 appeared in a Scottish newspaper, the great chronological 
 gulf which exists between the Jews and Christendom is 
 
 (80) Webster, p. 805. (81) See also chapter vii. , section 79 infra. 
 
 (82) Now known as 432 B.C. 
 
 (83) The fixing of Easter in the Romish and Anglican communions 
 throughout Christendom is founded annually on this cycle. 
 
40 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 clearly set out. I give the portion of the paragraph : — 
 'September 20th, 1895. Edinburgh Jews and the New 
 Year celebrations. The Jews are at present celebrating 
 their New Year, 5656.' (84) But not' only in Scotland. 
 Over all the world the same chronological celebration was 
 being observed with religious zeal. In fact, so careful are 
 the Jews on this and other fasts, that they — though 
 numerically small — practically stop all business in the 
 exchanges and the bourses on their fast days. It is a thing 
 for wonder how a few millions of Jews can control the 
 commerce and the monetary interests of the Gentile world. 
 The cardinal points of the Jewish way of counting time are 
 as follows : — Era, anno mundi: years, lunar: correction, 384 
 days triennially, or ve-adar, comes in seven times every 
 nineteen years. The civil year begins in our September- 
 October ; the sacred year in March-April. Thus : — 
 
 A.M. 5651 began on 15th Sept., 1890, A.D. 
 ,, 5652 ,, 3rd Oct., 1 89 1, ,, intercalculated 
 
 month, ve-adar in previous spring. 
 A.M. 5653 began on 22nd Sept., 1892, A.D. 
 „ 5654 „ nth Sept., 1893, „ 
 „ 565s „ ist Oct., 1894, „ intercalculation 
 
 as above. (85) 
 
 The Jewish day, like their month, touches two days of the 
 A.D. calender, so with this peculiarity, and the intercalcula- 
 tions, the two calend_ers are practically synchronous. In 
 longer periods the New Years recur on the same days — 
 1835, 1881, and 1927 for instance, the 24th September 
 
 (84) The juxta-position of the types was such that 5656 was on the 
 next line immediately below 1895. 
 
 (85) See also section 41 supra. 
 
SUNDRY CYCLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL DETAILS. 4I 
 
 beginning these years. The current almanac is in 
 section 149. 
 
 59. Mohammed's Era. — The New Year's day of this, the 
 era of Hegira or Mohammed's flight from Mecca to Medina, 
 is reckoned as corresponding to. a date afterwards named 
 1 6th July, Anno Domini, 622. That day was chosen as the 
 starting point because it was the New Year's day of the then 
 commencing lunar or Arabic year. Hedjrah, or Hegira, is 
 simply the Arabic word for a ' going away ' \ and it was first 
 used in this chronological connection by the Calif Omar in 
 the first year, now known to us as 640, A.D. This A.D. 
 style was first suggested by Dionysius, (86) thirteen years 
 previously, as already mentioned ; and it cannot be doubtful 
 that the Calif Omar never heard of the A.D. calendar. It is 
 interesting to compare the dates in the year of these two 
 styles, and to observe the retrogression which always goes 
 on in the Moslem periods, whereof the basis is lunar, not 
 solar. Thus : — 
 
 A.D., began 1308, A.H. 
 ji . » 13095 M 
 j> J) i3io> » 
 
 n It I3^^> »5 
 
 n „ I312, „ 
 
 Elaborate formulae have been invented for turning Moslem 
 into Anno Domini years, but the following ready, though 
 sufficiently accurate, method is useful : — (87) 
 
 Deduct^ 3 per cent from the Moslem year. 
 Add to the answer 622. 
 
 (86) See section 23, supra. 
 (S7) In Chamber's Encycl., under Hegira, or Hedjrah 
 
 17th Aug., 
 
 1890, 
 
 7th „ 
 
 1891, 
 
 26th July, 
 
 1892, 
 
 15th „ 
 
 1893, 
 
 5th „ 
 
 1894, 
 
 24th June, 
 
 1895, 
 
42 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 /" 
 
 i Thus taking 1313 : 3 per cent to be deducted gives 40 : 
 ^o from 1313 = 1272 : then add 622, and that makes 1895. 
 The other month I was reading a well-known Moslem 
 journal, and on reciting a certain edict, the journal stated 
 that it has been signed at the Mosque 'the loth day of 
 Shawall, 13 13, which the Christians, in their ignorance, call 
 the 24th March, 1896.' (88) In all my researches I have 
 not met with any data so strikingly egotistical as this 
 chronological memoranda. It calls for no comment. 
 
 60. Months. — The names of the months (so far as used 
 in Christendom) call for some notice in this chapter : — 
 January : this month was sacred to Janus, the god of the 
 sun and the year. February : the Roman festival of 
 Purification was held on the 15th of February. March, 
 Mars' month : — 
 
 ' * The stormy March has come at last 
 With wind, and cloud, and changing skies." (89) 
 
 April : there was no god attached to this month. May : the 
 name of a goddess christened this month. June : some 
 have accorded to Juno (the goddess) and others to Junius 
 (the tribe name), the honour of giving a name to this month. 
 July : this month was called Quintilis (the fifth month 
 according to the pre-Ceasarian Calendar), but in honour to 
 Julius Caesar it was named after him, more especially as he 
 was born in this month. (90) August : in like manner, this 
 word was adopted in honour of Augustus Caesar, {a) on 
 account of his victories and {b) because he had entered upon 
 
 (88) The Christians, even by the Mussulman's criterion, cannot be 
 more ignorant chronologically than Jewish, Buddhists, or Chinese. 
 
 (89) William Cullen Bryant ; he died in 1878. 
 
 {90) The exact year A.U.C. and B.C. of Caesar's birth is still in 
 dispute 100 B.C. is usually given. 
 
SUNDRY CYCLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL DETAILS. 
 
 43 
 
 his first consulate in this month. Till then it was known as 
 Sextilis. September was formerly, till B.C. 54, the seventh 
 month. For nineteen and one half centuries it has been the 
 ninth of the historical jq^lt, which has been held to commence 
 as from January, notwithstanding international divergences 
 otherwise. October, November, and December were 
 respectively the eighth, ninth, and" tenth months of the old 
 Roman Calendar. In December (in the northern hemi- 
 spfiere) occurred the winter solstice. It was a period of 
 time when (under Paganism as under Christianity) special 
 festivals were held. See these detailed in section 53 supra. 
 61. Old Style; (91) New Style. — I have prepared this 
 table as the best explanation of the currency in the two 
 styles : — 
 
 i: 
 
 Style 
 
 Empire 
 
 Months 
 
 Divided 
 
 Da> 
 
 com. 
 year 
 
 TS in 
 leap 
 year 
 
 Leap 
 
 year 
 currency 
 
 Dates 
 
 O.S. 
 
 Roman 
 
 Western 
 Roman 
 
 Saxon 
 
 12 solar 
 
 Kal: Ides: Nones. 
 
 365 
 
 366 
 
 I in 4 
 
 Under the 
 Caesars 
 
 650 A.D. 
 
 9th cent. 
 
 N.S. 
 
 Papal 
 British 
 
 
 Also Saxon week-days 
 Saxon week-days 
 
 " 
 
 " 
 
 97 in 400 
 
 1582 
 1752 
 
 O.S. 
 
 Russian 
 
 
 week-days 
 
 " 
 
 
 1 in 4 
 
 1896 
 
 62. Nabonassar. — Ancient history can recite how the 
 monarch of this name acceded to the Babylonion throne, 
 but it has been left to the indefatigible Ptolemy to give us a 
 clue to the year of the accession, which he has done by 
 leaving on record certain astronomical phenomena; and 
 
 (91) See also section 89 infra as to the persistence of O.S. 
 
44 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 calculations founded thereon point to the year 747, B.C. 
 (February 24th) as the year and month in which Nabonassar 
 ascended the throne. It was the style adopted by the 
 Alexandrian Greeks and also by some other peoples. It 
 was a great public fact, and hence became a convenient 
 terminus from which to start computations for events. 
 
 63. Palmyra. A recent traveller has mentioned facts 
 regarding inscriptions in this famous ruined city which, in 
 my opinion, indicate that the era of Seleucidae was current 
 to the latter part of the third century A.D. (92) He dis. 
 covered a statue, erected by certain generals, that bore the 
 inscription, which he translates as follows : ' To their 
 sovereign, in the month of Ab, the year 582.' This, in the 
 anno domini reckoning, is August, 271. Half a decade 
 later the Romans conquered the district. 
 
 64. Russian Style. This era (the era of Constanti- 
 nople) was, Nicolas states, adopted in Constantinople 
 ' before the middle of the seventh century.' It begins as 
 from the year 5508 B.C. This year is the date of the 
 creation according to the Greek Church, whence the 
 Russians adopted the reckoning, and followed the same 
 till the reign of Peter the Great. Writing in 1727, Voltaire 
 has some delicate raillery about the Russians' inability to 
 give reasons for their Mundane era. Pointing out that they 
 (believing that the creation occurred in autumn had begun 
 their year then) he ridicules the idea for 'autumn in 
 Russia,' he says, 'was spring in countries at the An- 
 tipodes.' (93) But Peter the Great, as Brockmann points 
 out, 'ordained that the year should begin with ist January.' 
 
 (92) Palmyra is distant from Jerusalem 315 miles, according to the 
 caravan route. 
 
SUNDRY CYCLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL DETAILS. 45 
 
 In that unique decree he gave a reason for this in the 
 words, ' Because not only in many maratime regions of 
 Christian Europe, but also with the Slavs (which on all 
 things agree with the ^rthodox Church), in Wallachia (now 
 Roumania), Moldavia (now North Roumania), Servia, 
 Dalmatia, Bulgaria, and Greece, the year begins to be 
 counted from ist January.' This imperial ukase, having 
 been issued on 20th December, 1699, the then ensuing 
 first day of January began the 17 00th. year A.D. Of course 
 this was still the old style so far as regards the leap years ; 
 and accordingly, as they observed not only 1700 but also 
 1800 erroneously as leap terms, it follows that to-day their 
 and our reckonings are out of touch by twelve days — two 
 days more than the ten corrected by Pope Gregory at 1582. 
 Further, this necessitates the affixing of two dates in inter- 
 national letters, instruments, or declarations ; and this is 
 done either January ^^, 1895, or ist January (13th January) 
 — the former date (ist) being the old, and the latter (13th) 
 the new style. This is not only cumbrous, but costly. A 
 very good object-lesson on the international inconvenience 
 arising from the forced use of two styles will frequently be 
 found in the advertising columns of (say) T/ie Times. 
 There, for instance, on the i6th September, 1895, ^^ a 
 notice pertaining to the Russian Loar), A drawing had 
 taken place 'on 20th August (ist September), 1895, rei>fn- 
 bursable from the 19th November (ist December), 1895, at 
 Saint Petersburg.' Indeed, in this single official notice of 
 
 (93) Histoire de Charles XII., p. 17. ' L'ere des Moscovites 
 commencait a la creation du monde ; ils comptaient 7,207 ans au 
 commencement du siecle passe, sans pouvoir rendre raison de cette 
 date: le premier jour de leur annee venait au 13 de notre mois de 
 Septembre.' 
 
46 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 130 lines, one hundred dates in duplicate have to be 
 inserted ; and seeing that a double number of brackets are 
 necessarily used, the extra expenses of printing must be 
 considerable. And to think that one touch of the new 
 style, imperially allowed, could soon make the whole of 
 Christendom chronologically akin ! See section 27 supra 
 on Russia's intention of adopting the N.S. 
 
 65. Solar Cycle. (94) — The first year of the first cycle 
 hereof corresponds with 9 B.C. on the JuHan Calendar; it 
 means a period of twenty-eight years, at the expiry whereof 
 the days of a month fit once again into the same calends, 
 nones, and ides, or week-days, according to the century in 
 question, as at the first day of the cycle. Thus the new 
 years of 1866 and 1894 (being twenty-eight years apart) fell 
 both on a Monday. 
 
 66. Sunday or Dominical Letter, is one of seven 
 letters — A to G inclusive — used in almanacs to denote the 
 Sunday ; dies dominica, the Lord's day of later Latinists. In 
 leap years, January and February have one letter, and 
 March to December a new one ; otherwise one letter runs 
 for one twelvemonth, and the succession of the letters is in 
 backward order. Thus, 1894 had G, and 1895 ^^^ ^• 
 The moveable feasts of the Church are found (not fixed) 
 by referring to the Sunday letter and relative tables, includ- 
 the golden number which shows the year of the Metonic or 
 lunar cycle. (95) 
 
 67. U.S.A. Reckoning. — Before the ist of January, 
 1752, the colonies in America having been British posses- 
 sions, the calendar of the old country was circulated ; and, 
 after the date in question, the New 'Style' prevailed in 
 
 (94) Or the cycle of the sun. (95) See section 57 supra. 
 
SUNDRY CYCLES AND CHRONOLOGICAL DETAILS. 47 
 
 terms of the imperial statute. Indeed, so far as the 
 essentials are concerned, it is current at the present time. 
 Having thrown off the British yoke they became the United 
 States (virtually as from 4th July, 1776), and it was con- 
 sidered necessary to speak not only of Independence Day, 
 but also of the year thereof. . Accordingly for a long time 
 the presidential proclamations have run as having been 
 signed at the city of Washington, the day, month, and year 
 A.D., and the Independence of the United States, such and 
 such a year. The religious festivals of the Anglican and 
 Roman Communions do not differ from the diets observed 
 elsewhere in Christendom. (96) The Dog Days, as indica- 
 tive of torrid periods, are reckoned as between 25 th July 
 and 5th September. The so-called New World, many think, 
 should be styled the Older World, as there are traces of pre- 
 historic man ; and very recently calculations have been 
 furnished to the Niagara commissioners to the effect that 
 the Falls are 31,000 years old. The basis of calculation 
 having been the real rate of recession in the Falls during the 
 last half century, the figures may not be far amiss. 
 
 68. Year of our Lord. — It is highly probable that 
 Charles III. of Germany was the first monarch to use the 
 phrase in Western Europe^ which he did in an edict during 
 the year 879. 
 
 69. Year of Light is a Masonic term. The craft claims 
 to have had a uniform community from the building of the 
 temple of temples, which Ideler, the Prussian astronomer, 
 contended really began an era in ancient chronology, viz., 
 May (/.^., about Mid-spring), B.C. 1015. But the Masons 
 
 (96) See also section 140 infra, wherein a new calendar which has 
 been suggested is explained. 
 
4^ CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 nowadays go back much further, and in diplomas (bi-Hngual 
 documents, Latin and EngHsh,) two dates are stated, ' The 
 year of our Lord ' and ' of Light,' the latter being dated from 
 4004 B.C. But it must be remembered that (a) the Jewish 
 Free Masons u^the Amto Mwidi date instead of the A.D. ; 
 {b) Moslems, the era of Mohammed; {c) the Hindoo Free 
 Masons, the Samvat and {d) the Chinese Free Masons, the 
 regnal year and lunar month. 
 
 70. Yes-degerd, Era of — This term is sometimes found 
 in histories *of Hindustan ; and is commonly reckoned to 
 run from the year 632 A.D. But it has only local interest 
 when compared with the imperial importance of the principal 
 Hindoo eras. (97) 
 
 (97) See also sections 145 et seq. mfra. And here it may be con- 
 venient to say that (among minor eras) the year 1897 harmonises, in 
 some quarters of its currency, with (i) 2022 of the era of Tyre, (2) 
 1072 of the CoUamic era, and (3) 1306 of the Telingaic Fusli epoch. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Xlbe Cbronoloap of Bnolanb. 
 
 ORMING their opinion from what they took to be 
 original charters, some authorites have held that the 
 Christian era was used in England about the close of the 
 eighth century. Even admitting that there may be contem- 
 porary copy charters bear A. D. dates, I prefer, after in- 
 specting the deed in the British Museum, to consider the 
 charter or grant by King Eadred (dated A.D. 948 in Roman 
 numerals) as the earliest original writing which contains the 
 Christian style of years. (98) 
 
 72. While wondering whether such an iconoclastic de- 
 cision did not border on chronological vandalism, I was 
 somewhat pleased to find that Mr. Rounds attacks many 
 traditions which were considered historic, and English dates 
 which had been viewed as fixed for all time. For instance, 
 he proves inter alia that Richard the Lion changed his 
 olBcial seal not 'in 11 94, but in 11 98, and between January 
 and May that year.' But Mr. Rounds goes further. He 
 considers the English 'consecutive political history only 
 begins at the Norman Conquest,' and he riddles the prior 
 narrative in the scathing words, ' Our jejune native chronicle.' 
 Another authority proceeds, ' The charter of Edward the 
 Confessor to Westminster Abbey is generally thought to be 
 
 (98) The charter is in the British Museum. The time of legal memory 
 (it may be mentioned) dates from and after the reign of Richard I. 
 (1189-1199). 
 
 4 
 
50 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 the oldest sealed charter of any authenticity in Eng- 
 land.' (99) And a third has declared that 'there was no 
 written Anglo-Saxon literature until the conversion of the 
 people to Christianity' (/.<?., at the opening of the seventh 
 century). (100) 
 
 73. Again, most people would say that the Great Charter 
 was first signed in 12 15 Anno Domini, but the deed only sets 
 forth that it was executed — the king set his seal thereto, for 
 regal autographs came into use only in Richard II. 's 
 reign ( 1 01) — by John on the 13th of June, in the seven- 
 teenth year of his reign. Twenty years later, the date of 
 an Act of Parliament reads, ' Wednesday, the morrow after 
 the feast of St. Vincent, the 20th year of the reign of King 
 Henry, the son of King John.' This mode of dating Acts 
 was also in vogue in Scotland. (102) 
 
 74. Probably one of the earliest printed statutes is the 
 one known as 'Anno 24 Henrici VIII.,' made 'in the 
 session of this present Parliament holden upon prorogation 
 at Westmynstere, the 4 daye of Februarye in the 24 yere of 
 the reign of our most dradde soveraigne Lorde Kinge Henry 
 the VIII.' 
 
 75. The revisers of the English statutes, whose labours 
 were begun in the present generation, have had a deal of 
 bother with doubts and questions upon the true dates of the 
 earlier statutes. They give a list of fifty ' statutes of uncertain 
 date,' as they term these acts, but from internal evidences 
 they are able to fix these enactments in some of the 
 Parliamentary Sessions during the period from 1267 to 1325 
 
 (99) Blackstone, vol. II., p. 401. 
 (100) Webster's Introduction, p. 
 (loi) He reigned from 1377 to 1399. (102) Compare section 86 infra. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF ENGLAND. 51 
 
 respectively. They explain in footnotes the variances in 
 former translations — how, for instance, the 'statute of 
 breaking prisons ' had long been attributed to the first year 
 of Edward II., i.e.^ ^307, whereas its true date is 23 Edward 
 I., being 1295. (103) Again, one act is wrongly dated by a 
 whole reign, viz : — Statutu sup' aportam'to armor ( = a 
 statute forbidding bearing armour). It was, until thirty 
 years ago, placed as seventh year of Edward I., instead of 
 7 Edward II. To crown the chronological confusion, the 
 revisers had actually to unravel two lists of acts of different 
 Parliaments which had got intermingled. All this proves 
 the chaos which had been so long handed down from 
 generation to generation. 
 
 76. John Gower, Chaucer's friend and fellow-poet lived 
 between 1327 and 1408. In his prologue he says : — 
 
 » 
 
 " I thenke make 
 A boke for Englonde's sake 
 The yere sixtenthe of King Richard." (104) 
 
 And in the oldest diary of English travel (Torkington 
 Pilgrimage) the inductive clause reads the ' ffyrst the 
 ffryday afor mydlent, (105) that was Seynt Cuthberdy's Day, 
 and the XX day of Marche, in the VII yer of Kyng 
 Herri the Vlllth, and the yer of ower Lorde God 
 MCCCCCXVII.'(io6) 
 
 77. Resorting to numismatics, I find that Edward VI. 
 was the first English king who issued year-dated coins. 
 
 (103) Revised Statutes, vol. i, p. 63. 
 
 (104) This is important, for poets usually reflect the popular way of 
 doing things : and we may conclude that the regnal year was mostly in 
 use at the date in question, 1392. 
 
 (105) On the Friday before mid-lent, being the 20th March. 
 
 (106) Or in the historical date, 1516. 
 
52 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 These were the testoons — copies of a French silver coin, 
 valued in England at eighteenpence. They are dated 
 (1549) MDXLIX. Thus it is under three hundred and 
 fifty years since the English currency began to bear a year 
 of issue on the legend. 
 
 78. As mentioned in a former chapter, (107) the new 
 style or Gregorian correction was issued in Italy in the 
 year 1582 ; and it would appear that the English Parliament, 
 in the 27th session of Queen Elizabeth (1585), considered a 
 bill to introduce the new style into England, but the 
 measure reached a second reading only. The wonder is 
 that such a Papal principle got so much support then. 
 
 79. But even in 1585, sovereigns had a fondness for 
 inserting the regnal year as well as the year of the Christian 
 era. But as regards dates after Charles I., it is very 
 important to observe that though his son did not ascend the 
 throne de facto till Tuesday 29th May, 1660, yet the regnal 
 year then beginning was, and is, reckoned as the twelfth 
 year of his reign up to 29th January, 1661. From 30th 
 January, 1661 to 29th January, 1662 was, and is, the 
 thirteenth regnal year of the second Charles, and so on 
 thereafter. Of course 30th January was the day of the 
 execution of Charles L, and by a legal fiction (which was 
 evolved from an excess of loyalty) of his son's hypothetical 
 accession to the vacant throne. This is a most important 
 chronological fact, but is often neglected by historians. (108) 
 
 (107) See section 26, supra. 
 
 (108) The Cromwellian period may be called the era of the usurper, 
 according to the phraseology used by the Parliaments of the second 
 Charles — the word "usurper" occurring very often in the enactments. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 TLbc Cbronoloop of Scotlant)* 
 
 NOTWITHSTANDING the discovery every now and 
 again of Scottish genealogical tables, dating, it is 
 claimed by their discoverers, to the very first ages of time, 
 it must be confessed there is ho accurate year to year 
 history until the tenth century of the Christian era. No 
 such thing as systematic chronology appears till the twelfth 
 century. To talk of restoring, as from the eighth century 
 backwards, an anno regni reckoning by calling Kenneth II. 
 the 69th King of the Scots, is simply to enter the domain 
 of the ^iest fable and conjecture. (109) 
 
 81. On the other hand, it is quite logical to take Caesar 
 as our guide, and go back into the era of the Druids ; to 
 watch them holding 'a great many discourses about the 
 stars,' as he mentions they did ; to observe these Western 
 astrologers fixing the date of the winter solstice, for 
 instance, (no) Now, although the date tallies practically 
 with our Christmas, it is anachronism to say that the 
 Druids knew anything of that Christian commemoration 
 day. Truly in this, as in other moot points, 'historians 
 add to the difficulty by applying the language of their own 
 times to events or public transactions of a different state of 
 society,' as the restorers of the Scots Acts of Parliament 
 
 (109) Columba's Life, p. 26, 'In 563 A.D., years had not begun to 
 be counted from the birth of Christ.' 
 
 (no) Robertson's Lectures, p. 5: and compare section ... as 
 to Yule-tide celebrations. 
 
54 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 have remarked regarding historic questions of Scottish 
 origin, (iii) 
 
 82. Coming now to the epoch of the Romans, which 
 may be computed to extend from the end of the first to the 
 beginning of the third century, we find that the customs of 
 these invaders never took root in Caledonia. Doubtless 
 the Caledonians received then the elements of civilisa- 
 tion (112); but if the Romans implanted the rudiments of 
 writing and arithmetic, it must be confessed that these 
 seeds never sprang up till many a century afterwards. In 
 the sixth century, how^ever, amidst the gradual exit of 
 Paganism in favour of Christianity, the use of numbers 
 became needful. Historic associations assumed a changed 
 retrospect. The earliest missionaries would speak of events 
 as taking place so many tens and hundreds of years after the 
 Passion, (113) and references to the years of Rome would 
 be discarded. Some few heathen ceremonial dates seem to 
 have continued; for instance, at the beginning of summer, 
 the Feast of Beltane. (114) This was afterwards fixed for 
 the kalends of May month, (115) and it formed, along with 
 Hallowmas, (116) Candlemas, and Lammas, (117) the oldest 
 Scottish quarter days. 
 
 83. Returning now to the epoch of primary records of 
 Scotland, namely, the reign of Malcolm Canmore, who died 
 in 1093, I find that the earliest authentic writings are the 
 
 (hi) Thomson's Acts, introduction. 
 
 (112) At the point of the sword. 
 
 (113) And e converse they would count back to that event by a 
 similar notation. 
 
 (114) Gaelic: Bealteine, Bel's (the sun's) fire. 
 
 (115) In Ireland its date was the summer solstice. 
 
 (116) Now 1st November, N.S. 
 
 (117) Loaf Mass ; first fruits of harvest offered by the pious. 
 
THE CHRONOLOGY OF SCOTLAND. 55 
 
 charters of Edgar (i 098-11 06). These venerable writs are 
 now amongst the Coldingham charters in Durham Cathe- 
 dral, and are in Latin. The earliest specimen of continous 
 writing in the Scots vernacular language is believed to be 
 the decreet-arbitral of 1385, by Andrew Mercer, Lord 
 Meiklour. (118) 
 
 84. But in dealing with those far-off times, it is well to 
 remember Doctor Johnson's observation as to the immense 
 difficulty of getting at 2, fact. In the same connection one 
 may recall -fetett Sir Walter Scott's remark (speaking of Sir 
 William Wallace), ' It is a great pity we do not know exactly 
 the history of this brave man; for at the time when he 
 lived, every one was so busy fighting, that there was no 
 person to write down the history of what took place, and 
 afterwards, when there was more leisure for composition, the 
 truths that were collected were greatly mingled with false- 
 hood.' This is a pregnant sentence, and explains the origin 
 of many a myth, 
 
 85. In the reign of Alexander I., who died in 11 24, some 
 signs of cosmos in chronology appear. There are then Latin 
 charters giving the year of grace, though not the month or 
 day thereof. As we go forward, the month with the year 
 becomes commoner ; and often the annual terms are given 
 as so many years '' ab incarnatione. \ii()) About the year 
 1250, the A.D. reckoning is officially disregarded. For a 
 long time thereafter recourse is had to a rougher chronology, 
 namely, the mentioning of a feast day, or the day of a month 
 plus the regnal year. 
 
 (118) See Thomson's Acts, Introduction. 
 
 (119) This modus numerandi was borrowed by the sects from 
 the date-style of the Papal Bulls. See section 29 supra. 
 
56 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 86. It is interesting to observe that the agreement regard- 
 ing the surrender of StirHng castle was, that failing its being 
 relieved by the ' Festival of Saint John the Baptist ' then 
 next to come, the castle would be surrendered. The 
 insertion of 24th of June, 13 14, as the day of surrender is 
 ex post facto. 
 
 87. The famous Treaty of Northampton revealed nothing 
 about 1328, but only that it was executed the first day of 
 March, and in the second year of Edward's reign. How- 
 ever in the year 1424, the Scottish Parliament reverted to 
 the Christian era dates, but the years were nearly always 
 called in each case the year of God. The first of a month 
 sometimes appeared as the kalends, and the second last day 
 as ^ penultimo die,^ or the penult day. The earliest MS. 
 calendar is that found among the Ayr MSS., dated 1428. 
 Notable events are chronicled, e.g., saints' days, dedication 
 of a church, a great storm. It is in Latin. In perusing the 
 records of an ancient corporation of Scotland of this same 
 century — the fifteenth, — I found that the clerk of that body 
 had used the Indiction terms in Latin to date his minutes. 
 Verily Latin seems to have been then in Scotland what it 
 was in Eastern Europe a millennium before the vulgar or 
 common tongue, so far as regards the small section of the 
 people who could read and write. 
 
 88. By proclamation dated on 17th December, 1599, (120) 
 James VI. and his council ordained, 'That in all time 
 coming the first day of the year shall begin yearly upon the 
 first day of January.' Nevertheless, England still held to 
 the former Scottish and English custom of beginning the 
 year on 25th March. Let us, therefore, observe an 
 
 (120) See section 64 supra for Peter the Great's chronological ukases. 
 
^ 
 
 THE CHRONOLOGY OF SCOTLAND. 57 
 
 international traveller's calendar of these times. Let us. 
 suppose he left Dumfries on ist January, 1700. He 
 reached Carlisle that evening. The date would be ist 
 January, 1699. He proceeds through England, and he 
 sails from Dover to Calais on 31st January, 1699 (English 
 date). He arrives on French soil that same evening to find 
 it is loth February, 1700. All this is explained when one 
 recalls the fact that the old style prevailed in England till 
 1 75 1, but that France had adopted the' new styte in 1582. 
 
 89. In the seventeenth century, owing to civil uproar, 
 there are many chronological inaccuracies. Even the 
 erudite Samuel Rutherford, author of the famous Lex Rex^ 
 and the more famous epistles, was not always in the habit 
 of dating his ' Letters,' and some of these bearing mention 
 of years, are wrongly dated, as is provable by internal 
 evidences. In view of this vague custom, it is singular that 
 Viscount Stair, in 1681, should state that the date of a 
 writing was an essential, but this opinion was judicially 
 overturned in 1706. Notwithstanding the British statute, 
 on the new style as from 1752, it is surprising to find 
 that in this present year the publishers of the oldest Scottish 
 almanac still ' call attention to the great inconvenience oc- 
 casioned by reckoning fair or market days according to the 
 old style.' They also point out that the confusion is all the 
 greater because, ' in some places the old style is believed to 
 be II, and in others — and that correctly — 12 days later than 
 the new.' 
 
 90. In closing, I may add that, having inspected the 
 numismatic collection in the Museum of Antiquaries at 
 Edinburgh, I gleaned some points of chronological 
 importance. The Scottish coinage begins in the reign 
 
58 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 of David I. On his death, in 1153, there is a gap of seven 
 years, but from 1296 the issues are continuous and un- 
 broken. Reign by reign the superscriptions become finer, 
 and the ducat piece is the first coin to show an A.D. year, 
 1537.(121) 
 
 {121) Scotland was thus seven years before England in this matter. 
 See section 77 supra. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 mpon (Breat BritatiVs Calendar. 
 
 COMPLETING the futile Elizabethan effort in chron- 
 ology, the British Parliament' of. 1751 discussed 
 reforms in the calendar, Lord Chesterfield initiating the 
 proposal. (122) His motion for adopting the new style was 
 carried into force by the statute 23 George II., chapter 50. 
 The preamble of that act sets forth, ' The legal supputation 
 (reckoning) of the year of our Lord in that part of Great 
 Britain called England, according to which the year begin- 
 neth on the 25th of March, hath been found by experience 
 to be attended with obvious inconvenience, as it differs from 
 the usage of neighbouring nations, and also from the legal 
 method of computation ' in Scotland. (123) Then having 
 admitted that the Julian calendar was at the time eleven 
 days wrong or beyond the solar year, the preamble proceeds 
 to refer, in a roundabout way, to the Gregorian or new 
 style. (124) 
 
 92. Thereafter the needful enactments follow. Briefly 
 these were : — 
 
 {a), The year 1751 as such was never finished. It 
 began, of course, on 25th March, and ended as on 31st 
 December, both 1751, a year of 281 days. 
 
 (122) Bright, p. 1014. 
 
 (123) Revise^ Statutes, vol. II., p. 246, et seq. 
 
 (124) The title of this act is, 'An act for regulating the commence- 
 ment of the year, and for correcting the calendar now in use.' 
 
6o CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 {b). The record of {12^) 11 days of September, 1751, 
 was held as non-existent, so that the 3rd to 13th days 
 of September (both days inclusive) were written off. 
 
 {c) The Gregorian method, (126) already explained 
 of, calculating leap years, was also adopted, so that 
 errors in the future cannot occur. At least the error 
 will be only of consequence after many thousands of 
 years. 
 
 93. The calendar annexed to the statute is interesting, as 
 showing the vitaHty of the Roman reckoning, and is impor- 
 tant, being still, in the strict letter, the Statute Law Calendar 
 of Great Britain, and as such is repeated in the Second 
 Revised Statutes issued in 1889. (127) 
 
 94. In 1859, it is proper to remark, three anniversaries 
 were abrogated in the statutory calendar, both 30th January, 
 King Charles' martyrdom ; 29th May, Charles II. 's nativity 
 and return; 5th November, 'Papists' conspiracy. This is 
 the statutory designation, and is used now for the purpose of 
 identification only — it being in my opinion that it always 
 was a misnomer. 
 
 95. The statement of the regnal years on recent British 
 coins seems to cause difficulty to some people, for while I 
 was revising the MS. of this volume, there appeared in the 
 correspondent's column of an important Scottish newspaper 
 a letter which read, ' It would be interesting to know who is 
 responsible for the error on one of the dates on the crown 
 pieces of 1893 or 1894. On the crown piece of 1893 the 
 legend runs, "Anno regni Ivi.," and on the crown piece for 
 
 (125) The rabble, as depicted by Hogarth, believed they were being 
 defrauded of 1 1 days. 
 
 (126) See section 26 supra. (127) It is given at section 142 infra. 
 
UPON GREAT BRITAIN'S CALENDAR. 6l 
 
 1894 it runs, "Anno regni Iviii." Which coin bears the 
 correct legend ?' To this query I thought it best to send an 
 immediate reply, which was as follows, 'Your correspondent, 
 although he is mistaken in thinking there are errors in the 
 dates of the recent crown pieces, has raised an interesting 
 point in chronology. The regnal year, he says, on the 1893 
 coin is 56 ; while on that of the next year (1894) 58 is given 
 as the regnal year. The explanation is as follows : — The 
 date of Her Majesty's accession or era (128) having been 
 20th June, 1837, it follows that 55 years thereafter expired 
 on 19th of June, 1892. Therefore 
 
 (a). From 20 June, 1892, to 19 June, 1893 = Anno Regni 56 
 W- ,^ „ 1893 „ „ 1894 „ „ 57 
 
 W- » „ 1894 „ „ 1895 »» » 58 
 
 Thus we see that the 1893 coin, being issued between ist 
 January and 19th June, 1893, is properly dated A.R. 56; 
 and the 1894 piece, issued between 20th June and 31st 
 December, 1894, consequently shows A.R. 58. If your 
 correspondent will refer to the proclamation for dissolving 
 the last Parliament, he will find that it was superscribed, 
 "This 8th day of July, in the year of our Lord 1895, ^^^ 
 in the 59th year of our reign ;" further proving no error 
 exists as regards the regnal year on the coin in question.' 
 I may also add to the foregoing a specimen of a very rare 
 proclamation, viz., the first proclamation of the new Warden 
 the Cinque Ports. Its terms are as follows : — ' Dated at 
 Hatfield, in the County of Herts, under the seal of my 
 office, the thirtieth day of June, in the sixtieth year of the 
 reign of our Sovereign Lady Victoria, by grace of God of 
 (128) The era of Victoria is an allowable expression. 
 
62 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, 
 and of India Empress, Anno Domini, 1896. — Salisbury.' 
 
 96. Although the ' anno regni ' is placed on certain coins, 
 and is inserted in proclamations, it does not nowadays find 
 a place in the Acts of Parliament ; and these bear simply 
 the day, month, and year (A.D.) in which the royal assent 
 is given. 'Anno regni' is evidently only a dutiful surplusage. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CbtonoloGP in tbe 5n^tan Bmptre. 
 
 AT this point it will be convenient to consider the 
 various chronologies which prevail in Hindustan, 
 Ceylon, Burmah, and Further India. The ruling calendars 
 to-day are the Bengali, Fusli, Moslem, Samvat, and 
 Christian. Of the last, it will suffice to say that it is 
 usually used in the postal, telegraph, and Government 
 services. In regard to the Moslem, it is only necessary to 
 refer the reader to section 59, and to add that there are 
 fifty-seven miUions of Mohammedans in India alone. (129) 
 Of the other reckonings, a little history will help our 
 enquiries. 
 
 98. In the district of Bhopal-Ujjain are the ruins of 
 Vikramaditya. It marks in nomenculture a most important 
 Hindoo era, the Samvat. The first year thereof corres- 
 ponds to B.C. 57, and as the basis of this calendar was Hke 
 the Julian year, one can always find the Samvat year by 
 adding fifty-seven to the year of grace. Accordingly, 1896 
 A.D. = Samvat 1953. Now, in Samvat 161 2 {i.e,^ 1555 
 A.D.), the Emperor Abkar signalized his reign by inventing 
 the Fusli era, deriving the term from the Indian word ' fas,' 
 which meant crops, so that a year in this era is sometimes 
 also called the Harvest Year. Abkar resolved to make the 
 
 (129) 'In looi A.D. came the first wave of Mohammedanism, and 
 soon all India fell under the Moslem domination, though the bulk of 
 the people clung to the Hindoo religion.' Gazetteer, p. 356. 
 
64 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 then current Samvat year agree numerically with the Moslem 
 year, which was then 963, and to accomplish this he 
 deducted 649 from the Samvat year (that was from 161 2), 
 thus leaving 963. (130) 
 
 99. The Samvat having, however, still held the field along 
 with the other two, the Indian chronology of that period 
 stood as follows : — 
 
 Samvat. Moslem. Fusli. A.D. 
 
 1612 963 963 Not then introduced. (131) 
 
 100. But as the Moslem year only averages 354 days 
 against 365 days in each of the two others, its months 
 gradually ceased to correspond to their months, so that in 
 this (1896) year's calendars the chronological progression 
 stands thus : — 
 
 Samvat. {12,2) Moslem. Fusli. A.D. 
 
 1953 1313 1313 1896 
 
 10 1. The Bengali year (133) in use in Bengal is practically 
 the same as the Fusli year, excepting some verbal differ- 
 ences. It is one year in arrear, however. 
 
 102. The Fiscal year in terms of statute (134) ends half- 
 yearly at 31st March or 30th September. This applies 
 specially to the budget which is submitted to Parliament. 
 
 103. A traveller who recently visited India, and who 
 recorded his observations in a series of Letters, remarks, 
 
 (130) Indian Diary, p. 37. 
 
 (131) It was abovit a century later before the Dutch, French, and 
 other European nations got any footing in Hindustan. 
 
 (132) See detailed dates in section 146 i7ifra. 
 
 (133) See detailed dates in section 147 infra. 
 
 (134) 42 and 43 Vict., Cap. 60. 
 
CHRONOLOGY IN THE INDIAN EMPIRE. 65 
 
 ' They (the Calcutta natives) had their own hoHdays, but 
 they appreciated the EngUsh Sunday as a day of rest, and 
 they also made it thei^ market ^^j-'(i35) This incidental 
 observation clearly proves how very marked is the difference 
 between the oriental and occidental in every domain of 
 work, thought, and daily routine. 
 
 (135) Leng, p. 36. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Ubc ffrencb (IbronolOGte6»(i36) 
 
 ONWARD from or about the year 50 B.C., the Gauls 
 adopted the manners, customs, and calendars of the 
 Romans, who had then subjugated the country now known 
 as France. In the fourth and fifth centuries of the Christian 
 era, the Teutonic barbarians gradually got a footing on the 
 land ; and on the formal withdrawal of the Romans, these 
 hordes overran the Gallic territories. History certainly 
 seemed to be thereby doomed. But no. By 800 A.D., 
 chronological order had recommenced, although it was 
 their custom to begin the year as on Christmas Day, festum 
 Nativitatione Christi — a usage which, according to Nicolas, 
 'prevailed almost universally during the ninth century,' 
 Thereafter the Feast of the Annunciation was held by 
 Ecclesiastics to open their year. Then Easter became New 
 Year Day ; and, to quote from the same authority, " from 
 the end of the eleventh century to the year 1563, the usage 
 has been nearly universal for the monarchs in their public 
 instruments to begin the year at Easter.' The papal indic- 
 tions(i37) were also used in some proclamations. But this 
 was to be expected. To imitate Rome in these days was 
 a cardinal virtue, except among Protestants. 
 
 105. In virtue of letters patent by Henry III. (of 
 
 (136) The fact that the extraordinary chronology invented by the 
 Revolutionists held sway in France at the end of last century and the 
 beginning of the present one, renders this chapter necessary. 
 
 (137) See section 22 supra. 
 
THE FRENCH CHRONOLOGIES. 67 
 
 France), the Gregorian correction was adopted, so that the 
 day after the 9th December, 1582, became 20th December^ 
 and I St January, 1583, was the next New Year's Day, 
 although this second part of the change had been in vogue 
 since 1563. This (the new style) continued till 1792. 
 
 106. Chief amongst the audacities of the French Revolu- 
 tion a century ago, its mendacious words and novel 
 remedies, must be placed the repudiation of the Christian 
 and adoption of a new era in chronology. '(138) In terms 
 of the Terrorists' style of reckoning, it was enacted that : — 
 (a). The first day of the first year of liberty corres- 
 ponded to 22nd September, 1792. Nofe. — Though 
 this is the initiation date, yet the new calendar was 
 actually introduced only on 22nd November, 1793. 
 
 (d). Their years contained twelve newly-named 
 months of thirty days each. 
 
 (c). The five days remaining of the 365 were public 
 festivals, representing our 17th — 21st September, 1793, 
 and so on, and were dedicated to Virtue, Genius, etc. 
 
 (d). On the fourth years, there was a sixth 'extra 
 day ' — -Jour de la Revolution. 
 
 (e). They had to recognise four seasons in their year 
 from 22nd September, autumn being the first, and 
 containing, like the others, three months. Here they 
 
 are :— 
 
 Autumn. 
 
 I. Vintage month. (139) 2. Foggy month. 
 3. Hoar-frost month. 
 
 (138) French Revolution, p. 227. 
 
 (139) This month covered the period 22nd Sept. to 21st Oct. in the 
 Julian months, the other eleven being spread over the rest of the months 
 of the Gregorian year. 
 
68 chronologies and calendars. 
 
 Winter. 
 
 4. Snowy month. 5. Rainy month. 6. Windy 
 month. 
 
 Spring. 
 
 7. Budding month. 8. Flowery month. 9. Pas- 
 ture month. 
 
 Summer. 
 
 10. Harvest month. 11. Hot month. 12. Fruit 
 month. (140) 
 
 (/). Weeks were abolished, a tripartite division of 
 the month being ordered instead, viz. : — 
 
 ist day of month = Decadi. 
 loth ,, „ Decadi I. 
 20th ,, „ Decadi II. 
 
 and the other days were so many after a decadi, e.g.^ 
 1 9th = ninth day after Decadi I. 
 
 This Revolutionists' calendar never saw its sixteenth 
 anniversary, for Napoleon ordered the re-adoption of the 
 Julian-Gregorian style, as from and after ist January, 
 1806.(141) During its epoch it appeared, for instance, 
 {a) on the title pages of publications, and {d) in legal deeds, 
 the Bank of France being incorporated T3th Pluviose, the 
 year VIII., i.e.^ 13th February, 1800. I also observed 
 some time ago that the French Press, in suggesting that the 
 
 (140) The French for these months is as follows : — -(beginning with 
 the first autumnal month), Vendemaire, Brumaire, Fimaire, Nivose, 
 Pluviose, Ventose, Germinal, Floreal. Prairial, Messidor, Ther-midor, 
 Fructidor. 
 
 (141) This was one of the few beneficent acts of the Emperor. 
 
THE FRENCH CHRONOLOGIES. 69 
 
 Great Exhibition of 1900 should contain a Restoration in 
 miniature of the first French Exhibition, refers thereto as 
 that 'of the year VL (1798).' The years in the Revolu- 
 tionist's calendar were represented by Roman, no Arabic, 
 numerals, I., II., III., IV., V., and so on. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 IktnDre^ Sciences,— Hstronom^, Ibtstor^, 
 anb ipaleograpbig* 
 
 HAVING now reviewed the principal chronologies 
 which have originated in the process of time, it will 
 be well, before giving a summary of the volume in the 
 following chapter, to devote several sections to the important 
 subject of those kindred arts and sciences which have been, 
 and are, most closely allied to chronology. 
 
 1 08. Taking them in their natural order, astronomy may 
 claim attention in the first place. It is worthy of notice 
 that, to 'the ancients, Saturn was the outermost planet of 
 the system, nothing beyond it being known. Nor, indeed, 
 was it to be assumed that any more could possibly exist, 
 because Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and 
 Saturn, with the Sun, made seven celestial bodies of prime 
 importance; and seven was the number of perfection.' (142) 
 
 109. It is also an impressive fact, which Sir Robert Ball 
 mentions, that ' the stars have been studied, and some great 
 astronomical discoveries have been made, untold ages before 
 those to which our earliest historical records extend.' In 
 those practically pre-historic times, the motion of the moon 
 was the primary, and the apparent progression of the sun, 
 the secondary part of the enquiry. Thereafter, observations 
 more complete were attempted, whereby planetary conjunc- 
 
 (142) Solar System, p. 148. 
 
KINDRED SCIENCES. 7 1 
 
 tions, solar eclipses, and the visibility of comets came to 
 have special reference to B.C. and A.D. events. Even now. 
 another authority assures us 'the Royal Observatory, at 
 Greenwich, is beseiged, whenever Venus happens to shine 
 brightly in the morning sky, by enquiries as to whether this 
 is not the star of Bethlehem come once more.' 
 
 no. Quite recently, however, astronomers made intricate 
 calculations in regard to the eve of the Advent conjunction 
 of Venus with the planet Jupiter^the two brightest stars in 
 the visible heavens. These two stars, astronomers averred, 
 formed the compound temporary star which marked the 
 Incarnation ; and these two were actually in conjunction, 
 the computations showed, on what we now call the 8th of 
 May, B.C. 6. (143) This abnormal conjunction, being to 
 the west of the sun, would be therefore visible as one con- 
 stellation in the east shortly before sunrise on the day in 
 question. The logical conclusions therefore are, (a) that 
 the star was not one star, (d) that the phenomenon was non- 
 supernatural, and (c) that its being accessory before the fact 
 of the nativity, was accidental. The coming of the Logos is 
 not to create human chronology, but to re-create humanity. 
 
 III. The eclipse (144) recorded as synchronous with the 
 night of some of Herod's major atrocities, has been 
 astronomically calculated (being a lunar eclipse) to have 
 taken place on the 13th of our March, in the 4th year before 
 the Christian era. But, as has been previously remarked, 
 the whole chronology of Josephus is in a condition of 
 suspended animation. There have been interpolations in 
 
 (143) Compare section 114 ififra as to difference in astronomical and 
 chronological calculations of B. C. years. 
 
 (144) Mentioned by Josephus, p. 469, Whiston. The precise date is 
 claimed to be March 13th, 4710, of the Julian era. 
 
72 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 his MSS. Even the adherents of the Jerusalem Talmud 
 cannot gainsay the fact. How much more, then, must those 
 who hold the Talmud as pro non scrip to doubt the con- 
 clusions of both works. 
 
 112, But events much older than these have been fixed in 
 a similar manner. Thus Sir Henry Rawlinson was able, 
 from the occurrence of an eclipse of the sun, B.C. 763, to 
 fix the order of the Assyrian dates indicated in, or arising 
 from, the translation of ancient terra-cotta tablets. Again, 
 the battle between the Median and Lydian kings long 
 remained in history without any exact date, until Bailly, in 
 the last century, calculated the solar eclipse which indirectly 
 put an end to the battle ; and he found that the date 
 corresponded with our 30th September, 610 B.C. 
 
 113. Coming nearer modern times, the Norse invasion 
 under Haco is mentioned in the Norwegian Chronicle as 
 having taken place in one summer when ' a great darkness 
 drew over the sun, so that only a small ring was bright round 
 the orb.' (145) Thus unconsciously, as Tytler points out, 
 there is afforded to modern science the date for dating 
 Haco's great expedition, and the needful calculations show 
 that the time was 5th Aug., 1263. 
 
 114.' Of course these and the former figures, it should be 
 stated, are given on the chronological, not the astronomical, 
 basis, for astronomers look upon the solar year next im- 
 mediately preceding our era as o, and the year before that as 
 I, so that B.C. I to chronologers is equal to B.C. o among 
 astronomers. This peculiarity will often meet difficulties 
 as to dates, at least such dates as are commonly received by 
 historians in connecting /r^ a.nd post Advent events. 
 
 (i4'5) Tytler, vol. i, p. 11. 
 
KINDRED SCIENCES. 73 
 
 115. Passing from stars to comets, it must be admitted 
 that the want of precise regularity renders them of less 
 account. Still the years in which they have been specially 
 prevalent, or in which a notable one has recurred, 
 are known as the ' Comet Years,' and it is not uncommon 
 to hear observant folk refer to some event — its years 
 having escaped them — as having- taken place in the 
 year, say Rally's comet, or of Donati's comet. ' It may be 
 taken as a fact (though in no proper sense a rule) that a 
 bright and conspicuous comet comes about once in ten 
 years, and a very remarkable comet every thirty years. 
 Thus we have had during the present century bright comets 
 in 1811, 1825, 1835, 1843, 1S58) 1S61, 1874, and 1882, 
 whereof these of 181 1, 1843, ^^^ ^^5^ were specially 
 celebrated. Tested then by either standard of words, 
 " bright and conspicuous," or " specially celebrated," it may 
 be affirmed that a good comet is now due.' (146) 'It is 
 fortunate,' Sir John Herschell remarked, ' for astronomy that 
 the confusion of dates and the irreconcilable contradictions 
 which historical statements too often exhibit when con- 
 fronted with the best knowledge we possess of the ancient 
 reckonings of time, affect recorded observations but little. 
 An astronomical observation of any striking and well- 
 marked phenomenon carries with it, in most cases, 
 abundant means of recovering its exact date.' 
 
 116. The true place of astronomy in chronology is neither 
 so high as that which Herschell claims for it, nor so insigni- 
 ficant as to be neglected with safety ; but midway between 
 these two points. Chronology, without the aid of astronomy, 
 is only an abstract science ; and astronomy, severed from 
 
 (146) Solar System, p. 163. 
 
74 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 history or from chronology, reveals records of phenomena 
 which are cabilistic and useless. On the ground therefore, 
 of utility alone, the two sciences are well and appropriately 
 yoked together, as the examples mentioned prove. 
 
 117. The position of chronology as at the Middle Ages 
 has been tersely put by the learned compilers of Le Grand 
 Dictionnaire Universe l. 'Chronology,' (147) they declare, 
 'as a science was till then (Scaliger's time, i6th century,) 
 unknown. People wrote ancient history without any 
 criterion, copying the dates, as everything else, from the 
 authorities immediately under their notice, without so much 
 as troubling themselves to reconcile the differences in these 
 records, or indicating principles upon which the counting of 
 years should be placed.' And who can tell what erroneous 
 conclusions, founded upon errors in dates, have arisen and 
 flourished ? 
 
 118. It is noteworthy that the 'Father of History' as a 
 title arose from the researches of Herodotus, who flourished 
 in the fifth century B.C. In other words, his having existed 
 would be as substantial to Julius Caesar as the historic verity 
 of the Julian calendar was to Dionysius the Little, when he 
 invented the Christian era. Herodotus (148) opens his 
 treatise in a manner worthy of all commendation. ' This is 
 the publication,' the rubric runs, 'of the researches of 
 Herodotus of Halicarnassus^ in order that the actions of 
 men may not be effaced by time.' But when he slips into 
 chronology, one is amazed to find that he approves of the 
 data of Solon, who had ' put the terms of man's life at 70 
 years; these 70 years then gave 25,200 days, without 
 
 {147) Grand Dictionnaire, under chronologic. 
 (148) Gary's Translation. 
 
KINDRED SCIENCES. 75 
 
 including the intercalary month, and if we add that 
 month (149) to every other year in order that the seasons 
 arriving at the proper time may agree, the intercalary months 
 will be 35 more in the 70 years, and the days of these 
 months will be 1,050.' 
 
 119. This method of calculating time is just another 
 instance of how wayward would be all history without 
 chronology. And yet what do We find ? Chroniclers in 
 every country in its infancy have devoted themselves to the 
 task of spinning out fables, and passing these to posterity as 
 immaculate records. I do not say that history, and accurate 
 history, cannot be written without a chronological basis, but 
 I do affirm that the neglect of chronology has plunged many 
 histories otherwise meritorious into much confusion as to 
 the origin, potency, and extinction of epochs. 
 
 120. Scaliger(i5o) is known as the father of chronology. 
 He lived and died before the science of paleography was 
 thought of. Paleography is likewise of assistance in 
 Chronology, and is the science of deciphering, writings, 
 especially those of ancient times, and of deciding 
 upon their age, their authenticity, and present value. It 
 is sometimes known as diplomatics. These three sentences 
 will suffice to show that the great Scaliger must have 
 wrought under serious disadvantages. (151) 
 
 12 1. In this science — so helpful towards accuracy in 
 chronology — France led the way, in 1681, with Mabillon's 
 
 (149) If the first number 25,200 was correct, it follows that the year 
 was 360 days ; if the number of intercalary days 1050 in seventy years, 
 there will be altogether 26,259, which will give 375 days to the year, so 
 that in spite of the precaution the seasons will become confused. 
 
 (150) He lived between 1540 and 1609. 
 
 (151) He invented the Julian cycle. See section 55 supra. 
 
76 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 de re Diploinatica ; and in Scotland a treatise appeared in 
 1739- Thereafter Greece, Italy, and Germany were 
 severally the objects of paleographic research; and in 1803 
 a similar service was performed for England. It was not, 
 however, till 1873 that a Paleographical Society was formed 
 in London. 
 
 122. Nowadays writings are placed under one or two 
 classes, viz., genuine or spurious. Thus, a writing is 
 spurious if it is not the production of the person whose 
 name it claimed as author, or, when anonymous, it is held 
 to be spurious if it has not sprang from the time and place 
 of pretended origin. Again, any writing is genuine which 
 is really the work of the author thereof, or whose name 
 belongs to the period and place alleged for the first 
 appearance of the MS. 
 
 123. Paleography is not specially concerned with the 
 ethics revealed, but tells us the genuine from the spurious 
 in writings on sun-dried bricks, oyster shells, slabs, tiles, 
 papyri, parchment, medals, bones, coins, metals, paper, 
 ivory, bark, leather, lead, wood, or other substance used for 
 recording the thoughts of mankind. The necessity at the 
 moment, or the ingenuity of man, has often shown itself by 
 the strangest methods of chronicling events. (152) 
 
 124. Chronology, when founded on paleography, becomes 
 a more exact science ; and, consequently, the elaborate 
 tables of dates which in the last century were looked upon 
 as perfectly accurate, have been relegated to the limbo of 
 the effete. A copy — perhaps a copy of a tenth copy — of a 
 writing was too often regarded as the original, and dateless 
 
 (152) Specimens of writings on all the substances mentioned are in 
 the British Museum. 
 
KINDRED SCIENCES. 
 
 77 
 
 'documents were accorded a startling antiquity. (153) The 
 paleographist, perusing, (154) observe, however, that the 
 
 WRITINGS IN 
 
 Hieroglyphics 
 
 Cuneiform 
 Sanskrit 
 Uncials 
 Cursive 
 
 KNOWS THEY ARE 
 
 Egyptian . 
 
 Assryrian or Persian 
 Ancient Indian . 
 Hebrew, Latin, Grecian 
 The same, or Saxon 
 
 IX. to XXI. dynasties : 
 the best about 3000 B.C. 
 
 200 to 230 B.C. 
 
 To about 300 B.C. 
 
 I to 800 A. D. 
 
 From 900 A.D. 
 
 earliest uncial of precise date is found in the record of sale 
 by Didymus and his wife to Miccalus of a date in the 
 first century, now specified 3rd June, 88 A.D. (British 
 Museum MSS., Case A, No. 6), the A.R. (7th) of Domition 
 being given. 
 
 125. In regard to printing, it is important to bear in 
 mind that in 593 A.D. the Chinese Emperor VVan-ti ordered 
 a collection of the syllabic texts with the view to their being 
 officially printed ; but there was no great use of printing in 
 China until the tenth century of the Christian era. 
 
 126. Printing in Europe was, however, much later; and 
 the following table shows the Western progress of the art : — 
 
 At Mentz (Mayence) a printing press was set up in 1454 
 
 „ Rome „ „ 1467 
 
 „ Paris „ „ 1470 
 
 (153) A writing was once foisted upon the pubHc as being of the 
 tenth century. Externally it seemed to be valid, but the little pronoun 
 'its' occurred on the text, and modern paleography rightly held the 
 document to be spurious, for this pronoun is a post — Restoration one. 
 (154) This list, compiled by myself, does not pretend to be exhaustive. 
 
78 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 „ Westminster a printing press was set up in 1477 
 „ Edinburgh „ „ 1507 
 
 „ Wilna (Russia) „ „ 1525 
 
 „ Dublin „ „ 1551(155) 
 
 There is no doubt that the invention of printing was 
 opportune, and was most favourable to progress in chro- 
 nology. It stood ready at the behest of such masters as 
 Scaliger and Gregory, and their efforts in this connection 
 acquired a speedy publicity which, under a merely manu- 
 script mode of promulgation, would have been slow, partial, 
 and not so accurately done. But it was when printing gave 
 us the daily press that it did the chief service to chronology. 
 Every newspaper is headed with the day, month, and year, 
 according to the different eras in vogue in different nations. 
 127. The water-marks in paper — naming the mill and 
 giving the year — are further modern means of preventing 
 the spurious from being palmed off as genuine. And the 
 stamp laws (requiring embossed stamps for deeds) have 
 been of special service in detecting fabricated dates. 
 
 (155) The dates are as given by the British Museum authorities. 
 
H 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ConclubinG Summary?. 
 
 AVING now surveyed in detail .the practical and 
 historical eras, it will be convenient to sum up the 
 principal points already considered. The reader will have 
 noticed that there is a considerable variation in value as 
 regards chronological terms — a 'year' meaning one thing to 
 Jews, another to Christians, and having a different meaning 
 for non-Christian nations. Even in our own country, there 
 are several sorts of years — the civil, fiscal, leap, and common 
 years. For instance, the civil year in Britain and her 
 possessions begins ist January at twelve o'clock midnight. 
 The fiscal year may begin from any day, as the 
 opening of a business, but our imperial fiscal year opens on 
 5th April, because the old style, plus the eleven omitted 
 days, prevails in the British Exchequer. (156) 
 
 129. Again, the British, in common with the French, 
 Germans, and the Americans, count a new day as beginning 
 so soon as midnight of the previous one has struck. The 
 modern astronomers in all countries take twelve o'clock 
 noon (local time) as the starting point of the day. 
 
 130. In the course of a transatlantic voyage, the word 
 * day ' presents some curious meanings : — the ' average 
 length of the day on a twenty-knot Atlantic liner, going 
 
 (156) See the imperial tax notices and vouchers. 
 
8o CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 easttvard, is twenty-three hours, ten minutes ; going westward- 
 it is twenty-four hours, fifty minutes.' (157) And the same 
 authority points out how the 'time is changed daily; on the 
 eastward trip the clocks are set forward four minutes for 
 each degree of longitude, while in going to the westward, 
 they are set backward four minutes for the same interval.' 
 But now to return. 
 
 131. The beginning of a new day to each of the Jews, 
 Austrians, and Chinese is sunset ; and sunrise among the 
 modern Greeks and the Persians. (158) The expression, 
 working day, is used as meaning either the employee's day 
 of labour, or in contra-distinction to days of rest. The 
 term Halcyon days, sometimes met with in ancient histories, 
 refers to the seven days of both sides of the shortest day. 
 
 132. In Jerusalem there are at present three ' sabbaths ' 
 each week — Moslem, Jewish, and Christian. This is a 
 startling fact. (159) 
 
 133. Some calendars, such as the famous Almanach de 
 Gotha, brinoj down annually to date, the best known of the 
 ancient and purely historical chronologies, giving its readers 
 the eras of the Olympiads and Nabonassur, also to the year 
 of Rome, the Jewish ancient era, and the Julian period. It 
 may be urged in favour of the continuations that they 
 arrest attention in these days of high pressure. Anything 
 which tends to make people think should be encouraged. 
 When a person, on opening the almanac, finds the current 
 year of grace and historic cycles side by side, his mind is 
 
 (157) Over the Ocean, p. 15. (158) Brewer, p. 334. 
 
 (159) But be it remembered that the phase Holy Day varies with race 
 and place ; in Christendom it is Sunday, in Persia Tuesday, by the Nile 
 Thursday, among the Turks Friday, and to the Hebrews it is Saturday, 
 beginning at sundown on the Friday. 
 
I 
 
 CONCLUDING SUMMARY. 8 1 
 
 directed to the chronological transitions which have taken 
 place. Or observing that not one of the ancient cycles 
 starts from the same year, he may marvel at the uncertainty 
 revealed regarding the beginning of mundane things, (i 60) 
 He will be compelled to abandon the belief — which until 
 recently was common property — that the world was made in 
 a certain year, and within six specified days therein of 
 twenty-four hours each, and when he reads the foregoing 
 chapters he will see how futile was the belief in question, 
 how absurd and futile for any human being, however 
 eminent, to select some archaic date as Anno Mundi I. 
 But on such emperical selections, chronology has too long 
 been placed. The more arbitrary the date, the more abject 
 the adulation of the thoughtless. No greater fallacy can be 
 imagined than that of fixing the creation era in any week, 
 month, or year. It is impossible and unnecessary. 
 Impossible — from the unique diversity of opinions ; 
 unnecessary — because practical people see a creation 
 evolving from day to day, and year to year. 
 
 134. Neither do other historical cycles — those which are 
 not brought down to date in modern almanacs — alter the 
 views which stern facts compel one to take. But these eras 
 may be repeated in passing, namely: — the Metonic, (161) 
 Callippic, (162) China's eras, (163) and the era of the French 
 Revolution. (164) 
 
 135. The practical chronologies * are those which hold 
 sway over the histories, customs, religions, and laws of the 
 nations at present. These are as follows : — 
 
 (160) Chapter iv., supra. (161) See section 57, supra. 
 
 (162) See section 51, supra. (163) See section 10, supra. 
 
 (164) In chapter 106, supra. 
 
 6 
 
82 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 1. The Christian era. 
 
 2. Era of Hegira. 
 
 3. China's Anno Regni. 
 
 4. Jewish calendar. 
 
 5. Russian or old style. 
 
 6. Samvat era. 
 
 7. Bengali calendar. 
 
 8. Fusli calendar. 
 
 9. The indication cycles. 
 
 136. A table such as the foregoing will show how utterly 
 insular it is — a proof also of narrow-mindedness — to claim 
 the quality of universality for any one chronology. (165) 
 Even in Europe, the continent of ' light and leading,' there 
 are four calendars in daily use, New Style, Old Style, Jewish, 
 and Hegira. In the two Americas the Christian era is the 
 rule, though the Jewish is an important exception. In Asia, 
 legion is the appropiate chronological adjective for : — 
 
 A.H. and A.D. are predominant 
 
 in Turkey in Asia 
 
 A.H. 
 
 )) 
 
 55 
 
 Arabia 
 
 A.D., A.M., and A.H. 
 
 )) 
 
 55 
 
 Palestine 
 
 A.H. 
 
 >j 
 
 55 
 
 Persia 
 
 Nos. 6, 7, 8 (supra), also A.H. 
 
 
 
 
 and A.D. 
 
 j> 
 
 55 
 
 India 
 
 Regnal year, lunar mon^h, no 
 
 
 
 
 week, cycles of 60 in 
 
 
 
 
 histories, and A.H. 
 
 »j 
 
 55 
 
 China 
 
 Regnal years and lunar months 
 
 5> 
 
 55 
 
 Japan 
 
 A.D. (old style) 
 
 )J 
 
 55 
 
 Asiatic Russia 
 
 (165) The charge of insularity in the analogous domain of weights and 
 measures has been levelled very recently at British commerce. 
 
CONCLUDING SUMMARY. 
 
 83 
 
 137. In taking a concise' survey, the population basis is 
 the best for summing up the chronological principles, as it 
 practically includes a geographical criterion, (166) which 
 alone would be too arbitrary, and obviates interjected 
 references to purely provincial calendars. Adopting the 
 most recent statistics, (167) a table containing the following 
 essential calculations can be constructed : — 
 
 Continents. 
 
 Pron. of 
 
 world's 
 
 pop- 
 
 Predominant 
 chronology. 
 
 Other styles current 
 therein. 
 
 Europe 
 
 3/i4th 
 
 Christian 
 
 Jewish and Moslem 
 
 Asia 
 
 8/i4th 
 
 Regnal bases, 
 fusli, etc., eras 
 
 Christian and Moslem 
 
 Africa 
 
 i/i4th 
 
 Aboriginal recks: 
 
 Moslem and Christian 
 
 Australia \ 
 
 Tasmania y 
 
 Oceanic Islands J 
 
 l/28th 
 
 Christian 
 
 Aboriginal recks: 
 
 Polar Regions 
 
 I /28th 
 
 Aboriginal recks. 
 
 Christian 
 
 America, S. & N. 
 
 i/i4th 
 
 Christian 
 
 Jewish and Moslem 
 
 (166) What a vast advance there has been in geographical knowledge 
 cannot be better proved than by quoting the opening sentence of the 
 Geooraphia, written by Pomponius Mela about 40 A.D., which reads, 
 ' Universus terrarum orbis in tres partes dividitur, Europam, Asiam, 
 Africam. ' 
 
 (167) According to Wagner and Supar, quoted in Gazetteer, p. 766. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 U\)c (Breat Calendars, 
 
 DOUBTLESS nowadays, with the help of almanacs, 
 diaries, and the daily press, any incident can be 
 dated to its particular day in any week and month as well 
 as to the year in the century. Yet two-thirds of nineteen 
 hundred years had run before almanacs were in vogue at all. 
 Now they have become so very numerous as to need (for 
 classified nomenclature) one bulky foolscap volume in the 
 British Museum Library for themselves. A century ago 
 their circulation was limited and intermittent ; (i68) it is 
 just six decades since the stamp impost of fifteen-pence 
 was abolished. (169) 
 
 139. Almanac is the Arabic a/ nianac (the diary). 
 Verstegen says it is the Saxon al mon aght (all moon heed), 
 and that it refers to the tallies of the full and new moons 
 kept by our Saxon ancestors-^one of these tallies may still 
 be seen at St. John's College, Cambridge. (170) 
 
 140. Very recently, certain American authorities suggested 
 a new calendar. In this system, the year would be divided 
 
 (168) In order to fix a certain date, the parish minister depored as to 
 the accuracy of a marriage certificate, as ' in remote districts little 
 attention is paid to the calendar, people measuring time as so many 
 days or weeks before or after some well-known event.' See report of 
 Chacheod's trial for murder ; Inverness, 31st Sep., 1831. 
 
 (169) By the statute 4 and 5 Will IV. cap: 57. Six years before these 
 Nautical Almanacs were exempted from duty. 
 
 (170) Brewer, p. 36. 
 
THE GREAT CALENDARS. 85 
 
 into thirteen months. The first twelve months to contain 
 twenty-eight days each, whilst the thirteenth would have 
 twenty-nine days, except in leap year, when there would be 
 thirty days. It is claimed for this calendar that it would be 
 exceedingly practical and of undoubted value in the great 
 commercial world. For instance, each month being com- 
 posed of four weeks, the days of each week would always 
 fall on the same dates of the months. Thus, if the ist of 
 January was a Monday, it would follow that the ist, the 8th, 
 the 15th, and 22nd of February, and the following months, 
 would also be a Monday. And so on with Tuesday, which 
 would fall on the 2nd, the 9th, the i6th, and 23rd through- 
 out the year. (171) 
 
 (171) The American originators of this scheme intend to submit same 
 to an International Congress at the Paris Exhibition in 1900. Doubtless 
 these gentlemen were aware of the S.I, Report of 1888, which mentions 
 the difficulties of the earliest chronology how ' uncertainty grows from 
 years into decades, and from decades into centuries, until, in the earliest 
 existing traditions it becomes supreme. " 
 
86 
 
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THE GREAT CALENDARS. 
 
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94 
 
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THE GREAT CALENDARS. 
 
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98 
 
 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
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THE GREAT CALENDARS. 
 
 99 
 
 143. Jewish Calendar, (a.d. 1896, a.m. 5656-57.) 
 The Year ^6j6 commenced September igtk, i8g^. 
 
 Jan. 
 
 16 
 
 New Moon - - 
 
 Sebat 
 
 I 
 
 Feb. 
 
 15 
 
 New Moon - - - 
 
 Adar 
 
 I 
 
 )5 
 
 27 
 
 Fast of Esther 
 
 ?) 
 
 13 
 
 J) 
 
 28 
 
 Purim - - - - - 
 
 )j 
 
 14 
 
 J5 
 
 29 
 
 Shusan Purim - - - 
 
 ?) 
 
 15 
 
 Mar. 
 
 15 
 
 New Moon - - - - 
 
 NisaA 
 
 I 
 
 55 
 
 29 
 
 Festival of Passover 
 
 >? 
 
 15 
 
 55 
 
 30 
 
 „ ,, 2nd day - 
 
 n 
 
 16 
 
 April 
 
 4 
 
 7th day - 
 
 35 
 
 21 
 
 5? 
 
 5 
 
 „ „ ends 
 
 53 
 
 22 
 
 n 
 
 14 
 
 New Moon - - - - 
 
 Yiar 
 
 I 
 
 May 
 
 I 
 
 Festival, 33rd day of Omer - 
 
 33 
 
 18 
 
 55 
 
 13 
 
 New Moon - - - . 
 
 Sivan 
 
 I 
 
 )) 
 
 18 
 
 Festival of Weeks - 
 
 33 
 
 6 
 
 )) 
 
 19 
 
 „ 2nd day - 
 
 33 
 
 7 
 
 June 
 
 12 
 
 New Moon - - - - 
 
 Tamuz 
 
 I 
 
 55 
 
 28 
 
 Fast of Tamuz 
 
 3> 
 
 17 
 
 July 
 
 II 
 
 New Moon - - - - 
 
 Ab 
 
 I 
 
 ?? 
 
 19 
 
 Fast, Destruction of Temple - 
 
 33 
 
 9 
 
 Aug. 
 Sept. 
 
 10 
 8 
 
 New Moon - - - - 
 
 Elul 
 Tishri 
 
 I 
 I 
 
 First day of New Year, 5657 - 
 
 „ 
 
 10 
 
 Fast of Guedaliah 
 
 35 
 
 3 
 
 53 
 
 17 
 
 Fast of Expiation - 
 
 >) 
 
 10 
 
 55 
 
 22 
 
 Feast of Tabernacles 
 
 53 
 
 15 
 
 )) 
 
 28 
 
 Hosana Raba 
 
 53 
 
 21 
 
 55 
 
 29 
 
 Feast of the 8th day 
 
 55 
 
 22 
 
 n 
 
 30 
 
 Rejoicing of the Law - 
 
 53 
 
 23 
 
 Oct. 
 
 8 
 
 New Moon - - - - 
 
 Hesvan 
 
 I 
 
 Nov. 
 
 6 
 
 New Moon - - - - 
 
 Kisley 
 
 I 
 
 55 
 
 30 
 
 Dedication of the Temple 
 
 53 
 
 25 
 
 Dec. 
 
 6 
 
 New Moon - - - - 
 
 Tebet 
 
 I 
 
 55 
 
 15 
 
 Fast, Siege of Jerusalem 
 
 33 
 
 10 
 
 Note. — All the Jewish Sabbaths, Festivals, and Fasts commence the 
 previous Evening at Sunset. 
 
loo chronologies and calendars. 
 
 144. The Old Style or Russian Calendar. 
 
 Russian and 
 
 Greek 
 Dates or O.S. 
 
 
 New Style 
 Dates used by 
 
 rest of 
 Christendom. 
 
 1896. 
 
 
 1897. 
 
 Dec. 25 
 
 Nativity 
 
 Jan. 6 
 
 1897. 
 
 
 
 Jan. 2 
 
 Circumcision 
 
 V 14 
 
 7 
 
 Theophany (Epiphany) 
 
 » 19 
 
 Feb. 3 
 
 Hypapante (Purification) 
 
 Feb. 15 
 
 5 
 
 Carnival Sunday 
 
 » 17 
 
 „ 12 
 
 First Sunday in Lent 
 
 ,, 24 
 
 Mar. 10 
 
 Forty Martyrs 
 
 Mar. 22 
 
 „ 18 
 
 Palm Sunday 
 
 n 30 
 
 „ 23 
 
 Great P>iday (Good Friday) 
 
 April 4 
 
 ». 25 
 
 Holy Pasch (Easter Day) 
 
 „ 6 
 
 „ , 26 
 
 Annunciation of Theotokos 
 
 » 7 
 
 April 24 
 
 S. George 
 
 May 6 
 
 May 3 
 
 Ascension 
 
 » 15 
 
 „ 10 
 
 S. Nicolas 
 
 „ 22 
 
 » 13 
 
 Pentecost (Whit Sunday) 
 
 „ 25 
 
 n 14 
 
 Holy Ghost 
 
 „ 26 
 
 June 30 
 
 Peter and Paul, Chief Apostles 
 
 July 12 
 
 Aug. 2 
 
 First Day of Fast of Theotokos 
 
 „ 14 
 
 7 
 
 Transfiguration 
 
 n 19 
 
 „ 16 
 
 Repose of Theotokos (Assump- 
 
 Aug. 28 
 
 » 31 
 
 S. Alexander Nevsky [tion) 
 
 Sep. 12 
 
 Sep. 9 
 
 Nativity of Theotokos 
 
 „ 26 
 
 » 15 
 
 Exaltation of the Cross 
 
 „ 27 
 
 Oct. 2 
 
 Patronage of Theotokos 
 
 Oct. 14 
 
 „ 22 
 
 Accession of the Emperor (178) 
 
 Nov. 3 
 
 „ 16 
 
 First Day Fast of the Nativity 
 
 „ 28 
 
 „ 22 
 
 Entrance of Theotokos 
 
 Dec. 4 
 
 Dec. 7 
 
 S. Nicolas 
 
 „ 19 
 
 „ 10 
 
 Conception of Theotokos 
 
 „ 22 
 
 (178) This date in 1896 (the coronation) is in contradistinction to the 
 accession of the present Czar. 
 
THE GREAT CALENDARS. 
 
 lOl 
 
 145. 
 
 The 
 
 Mohammedan 
 
 Calendar. 
 
 I3I3. 
 
 
 
 
 1896. 
 
 I Shaaban 
 
 - 
 
 corresponds to 
 
 - 
 
 January 1 7 
 
 I Ramadin 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 February 1 5 
 
 I Shawall 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 March 16 
 
 I Dulkaada 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 April 14 
 
 I Dulheggia 
 
 - 
 
 i 
 
 - 
 
 May 14 
 
 1314. 
 
 
 
 
 1896. 
 
 I Muharran 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 June 12 
 
 I Saphar 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 July 1 2 
 
 I Rabia I. 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 August 10 
 
 I Rabia II. 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 September 9 
 
 I Jornada I. 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 October 8 
 
 I Jornada II. 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 November 7 
 
 I Rajab 
 
 - 
 
 
 - 
 
 December 6 
 
chronologies and 
 146. The Samvat 
 
 CALENDARS. 
 
 Calendar. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1896. 
 
 
 
 
 1953- 
 
 March 
 
 15 
 
 i.e. 
 
 Chyt 
 
 Sudee i 
 
 )) 
 
 30 
 
 55 
 
 Bysack 
 
 Budee i 
 
 April 
 
 14 
 
 ?5 
 
 55 
 
 Sudee i 
 
 5) 
 
 28 
 
 5> 
 
 Jhyt 
 
 Budee ist i 
 
 May 
 
 13 
 
 5) 
 
 55 
 
 Sudee ist i 
 
 55 
 
 27 
 
 JJ 
 
 5) 
 
 Budee 2nd i 
 
 June 
 
 12 
 
 5) 
 
 55 
 
 Sudee 2nd i 
 
 J5 
 
 26 
 
 5) 
 
 Assar 
 
 Budee i 
 
 July 
 
 II 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 Sudee i 
 
 }) 
 
 25 
 
 55 
 
 Sawun 
 
 Budee i 
 
 August 
 
 lO 
 
 5? 
 
 55 
 
 Sudee i 
 
 J) 
 
 24 
 
 55 
 
 Bhadoon 
 
 Budee i 
 
 September 
 
 8 
 
 5) 
 
 55 
 
 Sudee i 
 
 5) 
 
 22 
 
 5) 
 
 Kuar 
 
 Budee i 
 
 October 
 
 7 
 
 55 
 
 )5 
 
 Sudee i 
 
 )) 
 
 22 
 
 55 
 
 Kartick 
 
 Budee i 
 
 November 
 
 6 
 
 55 
 
 )) 
 
 Sudee i 
 
 >j 
 
 21 
 
 55 
 
 Aghan 
 
 Budee i 
 
 December 
 
 5 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 Sudee i 
 
 J) 
 
 21 
 
 35 
 
 Poos 
 
 Budee i 
 
 » 
 
 31 
 
 55 
 
 5) 
 
 55 12 
 
the great calendars. 
 147. The Bengali Calendar. 
 
 103 
 
 1302. 
 Pous 
 ■-, ■ Magh 
 r Falgoon 
 
 Choitro 
 Boysack 
 Joisto 
 Assar 
 Srabun 
 Bhadro 
 Assin 
 Kartick 
 Aughraun 
 Pous 
 
 »■ 17 
 
 Note. — The Christian Calendar is the same as in 
 Britain, only the customary holidays are : — 
 
 New Year's Day - - i day 
 
 Good Friday - - - 2 days 
 
 Empress's Birthday - - i day 
 
 Christmastide - - - 4 days 
 
 Also certain holy days of the other religions are also 
 added to the foregoing by yearly proclamations. 
 
 January 
 
 I 
 
 55 
 
 14 
 
 February 
 
 12 
 
 March 
 
 13 
 
 April 
 
 12 
 
 May 
 
 13 
 
 June 
 
 14 
 
 July 
 
 15 
 
 August 
 
 16 
 
 September 
 
 16 
 
 October 
 
 16 
 
 November 
 
 15 
 
 December 
 
 15 
 
 J) 
 
 31 
 
i04 chronologies and calendars. 
 
 148. The Chinese Lunar Reckoning. (179) 
 
 1895. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 July 
 
 22 - 
 
 6th 
 
 month 
 
 ist 
 
 day 
 
 2 1 St year (180) 
 
 August 
 
 20 - 
 
 7th 
 
 jj 
 
 I St 
 
 )' 
 
 2 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 September 
 
 18 - 
 
 8th 
 
 )> 
 
 I St 
 
 J5 
 
 2 1 St 
 
 55 
 
 October 
 
 18 - 
 
 9th 
 
 )) 
 
 ISt 
 
 15 
 
 2ISt 
 
 55 
 
 November 
 
 16 - 
 
 loth 
 
 )> 
 
 I St 
 
 >J 
 
 2 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 December 
 
 16 - 
 
 nth 
 
 5) 
 
 ISt 
 
 J) 
 
 2 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 1896. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 January 
 
 14 - 
 
 i2th 
 
 >J 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 2ISt 
 
 55 
 
 February 
 
 13 - 
 
 I St 
 
 )5 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 March 
 
 14 - 
 
 2nd 
 
 >J 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 April 
 
 13 - 
 
 3rd 
 
 )) 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 May 
 
 12 - 
 
 4th 
 
 JJ 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 June 
 
 II - 
 
 5th 
 
 M 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 July 
 
 10 - 
 
 6th 
 
 )J 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 August 
 
 9 - 
 
 7th 
 
 5J 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 September 
 
 7 - 
 
 8th 
 
 )> 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 October 
 
 6 - 
 
 9th 
 
 J> 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 November 
 
 5 - 
 
 loth 
 
 )> 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 December 
 
 4 - 
 
 nth 
 
 J) 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 1897. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 January 
 
 2 - 
 
 1 2th 
 
 J) 
 
 ISt 
 
 55 
 
 22nd 
 
 55 
 
 (179) Computed by myself. 
 
 (180) The present Emperor, Keang Hsii, acceded to the throne on 
 6th month, 5th day — 1 2th January, 1895. 
 
the great calendars. 
 149. The Clog Calendar. (181) 
 
 05 
 
 (181) Refer to see 50 supra. In Chambers's "Book of Days," 
 vol. I., p. 9, there is a very interesting description cf the above 
 
Io6 CHRONOLOGIES AND CALENDARS. 
 
 calendar. "The feasts," it is pointed out, "were denoted by symbols 
 resembling hieroglyphics, in a manner which will be best understood 
 by examples. Thus a peculiarly-shaped emblem referred to Circumcisio 
 Domini on ist January. ... St. John the Baptist, having been 
 beheaded with a sword, his day (June 24th) was graced with that 
 implement. St. Lawrence had his gridiron on the loth of August." 
 In looking at the above plate, it must be kept in mind that it represents 
 the four sides of a square stick, which was about eight inches long. 
 The stick was usually hung up in some convenient corner of the 
 mediaeval dwelling-house. Mr. William Andrews, f.r.h.s., of Hull, 
 in his "Old Church Lore," devotes a chapter to the Clog Calendar, 
 under the title of "Symbols of the Saints." Our illustration is from 
 his volume. 
 
IReterences anb Hbbrevtations, 
 
 A.D. 
 A.H. 
 A.M. 
 A.U.C. ... 
 
 Ante Christ. 
 Acton 
 
 Annales 
 
 B.E. 
 
 Blackstone 
 Bond 
 Bright 
 
 Brewer 
 
 Brit. Assn. 
 
 Brockmann 
 
 Chambers's 
 CHnton 
 Columba . . . 
 Cyclus Pas. 
 
 De Gotha . . . 
 Driver 
 
 Ency. Brit. 
 „ Edin. 
 „ Metrop. 
 
 anno domini = anno Christi 
 
 anno Hegira. 
 
 anno mundi 
 
 anno urbis conditse (years 
 
 of Rome). 
 Ante Christum =± B.C. 
 Lecture on History (Mac- 
 
 millan, 1895) 
 Annales Testament! by 
 
 Usher, 1701 
 
 Bible Educator (Cassells') 
 Blackstone'sCommentaries 
 Handybook on Dates, 1866 
 History of England (Lon., 
 
 1890) 
 Cobham Brewer's Diet., 
 
 1895 
 
 British Association Re- 
 port, 1894 
 
 System der Chronologie 
 (Stuttgart, 1883) 
 
 Encyclopaedia, 1890 
 Fasti of Greece and Rome 
 Life of, (lona Press, 1889) 
 Cyclus Paschalis by Diony- 
 sius the Little 
 
 Almanach de Gotha (Go- 
 tha, 1896) 
 
 Canon Driver's Isaiah 
 (Nisbet, 1893) 
 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica 
 „ Edinensis 
 
 „ Metropolitana 
 
o8 
 
 REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS. 
 
 Farrar 
 
 French Revolution 
 
 Gain or Loss 
 Grand Dictionnaire 
 Georgiades 
 Gazetteer 
 Gower 
 
 Hamilton ... 
 Herodotus 
 Haydn 
 Herschell . 
 H. R. Empire 
 
 Indian Diary 
 
 Kings of Israel . . . 
 Leng 
 
 Mackenzie 
 
 Maspero 
 
 Merivale 
 
 Minor Prophets ... 
 
 Mommsen's Rome 
 
 Nicolas 
 
 Over the Ocean ... 
 
 Paton 
 
 Pouchet 
 
 See Minor Prophets 
 Mallet's French Revolution 
 (London, 1893) 
 
 by B. J. Snell (London, 
 
 Clarke, 1895) 
 Le Grand Dictionnaire 
 
 (Paris, 1869) 
 La Turquie actuelle (Paris, 
 
 1892) 
 Chambers's Concise (Lon., 
 
 1895) 
 Confessio(Routledge 1889) 
 
 Chronlogical Tables, 1886 
 Gary's Translation (Bohn) 
 Dictionary of Dates 
 Herschell's Astronomy 
 Holy Roman Empire, 
 Bryce, 1890 
 
 Indian and Eastern Diary 
 (Calcutta and Lon.) 
 
 Henry Hill (Lon., 1895) 
 
 Letters from India (Dunde, 
 1896) 
 
 Roman Law (Blackwood) 
 Maspero on Egypt 
 Gen. Hist, of Rome, 1888 
 by Dean Farrar (Nisbet, 
 
 1893) . 
 Bryan's Abridgment, 1891 
 
 The Chronology of History 
 
 by Ocean Publishing Co. 
 (New York, 1895) 
 
 Biography, 1892 
 
 The Universe (Blackie) 
 
REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS. 
 
 109 
 
 R.V 
 
 Revised Statutes 
 
 Reg. Majes. 
 
 Robertson 
 
 Rounds 
 
 S. A. Proceedings 
 
 S. I. Rep 
 
 Sandars 
 
 Schools and Schoolmasters 
 Strauss 
 
 System, Solar 
 
 Thomson's Acts 
 
 Tytler ... 
 
 Voltaire 
 
 Webster 
 
 Whiston's 
 
 Whitaker's 
 
 Wycliffe 
 
 Young 
 
 Zenobia and Palmyra . . . 
 
 Revised Version 
 
 The Statutes Revised. 
 Published by Authority 
 
 Regiam Majestatem, 1609 
 
 Lectures on Scotland (Lon- 
 don, 1878) 
 
 Feudal England, 1895 
 
 Proceedings of Soc. of An- 
 tiquaries af Scotland 
 Smithsonian Institution 
 Report, 1888 (Washington) 
 Sandar's Justinian 
 Hugh Miller's work 
 Das Leben Jesu, Eliot's 
 
 Translation, 1892 
 by Chambers' (London, 
 Newnes, 1895) 
 
 Thomson's Scots' Act from 
 
 1124 
 History of Scotland 
 
 Histoire de Charles XH. 
 
 International Diet, 1891 
 Josephus ; Antiquities, etc. 
 Almanack for 1896 
 N. T. by Wycliffe and 
 Purvey, 1388 
 
 Indian Wigwams (London, 
 1894) 
 
 by Dr. Wright (Nelson 
 1895) 
 
 Note. — I am indebted to the Indian Diary for the Bengali 
 Calendars ; to Whitaker for the Jewish and Roman ; 
 and to the Almanach de Gotha for the Moslem. 
 
I 
 
 (The Numbers Refer to the .Sections.) 
 
 Aboriginal reckonings — explanations of native reckonings - 8 
 
 Acts of English Parliament — how early ones dated - . ' - -" 73 
 
 Actium, Era of — how it originated ------ 47 
 
 Acton's, Lord, views on historical documents - - - - 7 
 
 Advent, Date of, from recent astronomy no 
 
 Advent — Dionysius's mistake in fixing same - - - - 23 
 
 A. D. and A, H. compared — the retrogression in A. H. - - 59 
 
 Age of the earth — the great divergences in opinions - - - 30 
 
 Ages, Dark — period thereof explained - - - - - 48 
 
 Almanacs, the Clog — early specimens, where found - - - 139 
 
 Amiens, Louisian era invented at, in 1683 - - . . ^5 
 
 Anglo-Saxon literature. Earliest 72 
 
 Annual epact — meaning of this phrase - - - - - 50 
 
 Annus Magnus — definition of same ------ 49 
 
 Argyle's definition of chronology, Reference to - - - 32 
 
 Artifices in chronology of B.C. — pontiffs in Rome, Effects of - 18 
 
 Asiatic Indian — how he reckoned time 9 
 
 Assyrian dates, their remoteness 12 
 
 Astronomy in chronology — the independence, not the inter- 
 dependence, of Astronomy - - - . . 11^ 
 Astronomy — some ancient and unique opinions - - - 6 
 A. U.C., the era of Rome, Dubiety as to the - - - - 17 
 
 Augustan age in various countries 48 
 
 Augustus, Era of, and the Roman emperors - - - - 47 
 
 Autographs, regal, first in England ; Dates of ... 73 
 
 Babylon, Eras at - - 112 
 
 Ball, Sir Robert — his views on ancient researches - - - 109 
 
 Bailly's calculation of a lost date 112 
 
 Bank of France — curious date of first incorporation - - - 106 
 
 Beltane — meaning of this term and date . - . . 72 
 
 Benedictines' powers for chronological progress - . - 23 
 
 Bengali reckoning in India ------- loi 
 
 Biblical chronologies — growth of same 36 
 
 Biologists' views of A.M. — great antiquity claimed - - - 32 
 
 Bissextile centuries — how computed 26 
 
 Black days mentioned in old calendars 5° 
 
 Blackstone's researches as to early English charters • - - 72 
 
 Brahmin pretensions in chronology 15 
 
112 INDEX. 
 
 (The Numbers Refer to the Sections.) 
 
 Briefs and Bulls, Dates of Papal 29 
 
 Britain's calendar, History of alteration in - - - - 91 
 
 Britain's calendar — form of Statutory for twelve months - - 142 
 
 Brumaire in Revolution Calendar ---... 106 
 
 Bulgaria, Commencement of year in • - - - - 64 
 
 Calculation of regnal years, Notes upon 95 
 
 Calculation of Indictions — how computed .... 22 
 
 Calendar of Britons, Details of ----- - 92 
 
 Calendar of Hindoos, Details of 99 
 
 Calendar of Jews, Details of 149 
 
 Calendar of Moslems, Details of 59 
 
 Calendar, earliest, in Scotland, Observations anent - - - 87 
 
 Calendar stamp duty — when repealed - - - - - 138 
 
 Calif Omar brings in Anno Hegira - 59 
 
 Callippic Cycles means in chronology 51 
 
 Charters, Oldest, in England, 71 
 
 Charters, Oldest, in Scotland 83 
 
 Charles I. and H. regnal years. Peculiarity of - - - - 79 
 
 Charles in. of Germany uses A. D. first .... 58 
 
 China calendars — details of their months ... - - 147 
 
 China, Eras in — their alleged antiquity ..... jq 
 
 Christian era in Scotland — how same originated - - - 81 
 
 Christian era has no monopoly ...... 23 
 
 Christianity introduced ; various Western nations ... 28 
 
 Christmas — the celebration in different lands .... ^3 
 
 Chronology defined by Herschell - - - - - - 115 
 
 Cinque Ports, Proclamation anent — how dated - ' - - 95 
 
 Civil Day, Meaning of 129 
 
 Clinton's opinion of how chronology evolved - - - - 16 
 
 Coins, British, dates on, Notes regarding .... ^5 
 
 Coins, English, dates on, Notes regarding .... 77 
 
 Coins, Scottish, dates on. History of - - - - - 90 
 
 Comet Year — meaning of this term 115 
 
 Common against Solar Years ; and remarks regarding - - 128 
 
 Conder on N. T. chronology 44 
 
 Conquest — what would result if wrongly dated ... ^ 
 
 Constantine's Indiction — how computed - - . . . 22 
 
 Constantinopolitan calamity to records — when - - - 16 
 
 Constantinople, Era of — history and extent - - - . . 64 
 
 Consuls' terms of chronology — their use and importance • - 21 
 
 Copernican system — reception of same by men of science - 8 
 
 Corea, Style of dates in use in 52 
 
 Creation, Differences in eras of 30 
 
 Crusoe, The rude calendar attributed to 9 
 
 Cyclus Paschalis, Notes on authority of 23 
 
 Dark Ages — their duration 23, 48 
 
INDEX. 
 
 113 
 
 (The Numbers Refer to the Sections.) 
 
 Dates in Papal Bulls — style of same . . . . 
 
 Day begins — various hours in different countries 
 Day of the Hebrews -..-... 
 Day, working defined - - - - - . - 
 
 Day on the ocean 
 
 Days of rest or Holy Days, Specification of - - - 
 Definition of chronology - - - - , ■ - 
 
 Deluge, Era of, as variously given - - - 
 Destruction of records at Rome, etc. - - 
 
 Details of New Style - .- 
 
 Dies aegyptiacae — meaning of this term in calendar 
 Digging Stars — what these were to the aborigines 
 Dionysius the chronologer — history of his era, the A.D. - 
 Discordances of chronologers — their effect - - - 
 Disregard for non- Christian chronologies 
 Documents, Importance of, in researches 
 Documents against opinions — examples of the power of latter 
 Dog Days in U.S.A. differ from British - - - - 
 
 Dominical Letter or Sunday Letter 
 
 Driver's opinion upon chronology 
 
 Druids — Canon views on chronology .... 
 
 Druids, Epoch of 
 
 Duaba Yuga of the ancient Hindoos ... - 
 
 29 
 129 
 
 42 
 
 128 
 
 130 
 
 132 
 
 8 
 
 35 
 16 
 
 91 
 
 50 
 8 
 
 23 
 5 
 2 
 
 7 
 7 
 
 67 
 66 
 37 
 37 
 81 
 
 Earth's age — Kelvin's limit 32 
 
 Earth's age — importance of finding same - - - - 31 
 
 Easter as New Year — history of this 104 
 
 Eclipses in chronological enquiry ; their use - - - - 1 1 1 
 
 Egypt and Egyptian chronology. Notes upon - - - - 11 
 
 Elizabethan attempt at N.S. - - 7^ 
 
 Encyclicals by the Popes — how dated 29 
 
 England, styles in, The changes on the - - - - - 91 
 
 English charters, first dated. Most recent opinions regarding - 71 
 
 Epact — what it is, as used in the almanacs .... 50 
 
 Ephemerides defined — their bulk 138 
 
 Epoch of errors in philosophy and astronomy - - - - 6 
 
 Equinox in 1582 — recurrence of period 27 
 
 Eras of the world. Differences on the 30 
 
 Errors commonly held in the Middle Ages .... 6 
 
 Exchequer year. Date of, explained 128 
 
 Execution of Charles I., date of, Variations on - - - 79 
 
 Eusebius, Chronological tables written by - - - - 13 
 
 Fairs in Scotland, O.S. - 
 
 Farrar's opinion of Biblical chronology 
 
 Fasti at Rome destroyed 
 
 Fellaheen, Meaning of Nile's rising to 
 
 89 
 
 40 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
114 INDEX. 
 
 (The Numbers Refer to the Sections.) 
 
 Festum of the Nativity as New Year's Day in France - - 104 
 
 Festival of Saint John the Baptist, Date of - - - - 86 
 
 Festivals, Abrogation of certain English - - - - - 94 
 
 P'iscal Year in Britain, Period of the 128 
 
 Flexibility of numeric representations of years in calendars . - 2 
 
 Flight — era in India or Moslem reckoning - . . - 97 
 
 Flora, Feast of, in July by mistake - - - - - - 18 
 
 Four hundred and fifty-five days, A year of - - - - 19 
 
 French chronology, History of the 104 
 
 French, First printing of the 126 
 
 Frimaire in the Revolution Calendar 106 
 
 Fusli era in India, Historical notes on q8 
 
 General influences of N.S. 27 
 
 General scope of the science of chronology . . - . i 
 
 " Generations " in Hebrew chronology ----- 38 
 
 "Generations" in Herodotus, Specifications of - - - 118 
 
 German printing. First - - - - - - - - 126 
 
 Going av/ay, the, of Mohammed, Importance of - - - 59 
 
 Golden Number — meaning of the term 57? 66 
 
 Gower dates his poetry by anno regni 76 
 
 Great charter — how dated 73 
 
 Great Years in Josephus — meaning of this term - - . 49 
 
 Greek chronology — explanations thereon 16 
 
 Gregorian — a correction in the Julian Calendar ... 26 
 
 Gregory the Great conserves the A D. mode - - . - 23 
 
 Gregory the Pope — his announcements on chronology - - 26 
 
 Harvest Year or Fusli used in India 98 
 
 Hebrew months contrasted with Greek months - - - 41 
 
 Hebrew years. Commencement of 39 
 
 Hegira and A. D. I., condescended on 7 
 
 Hegira and Christian years, Differences between ... ^9 
 
 Herodotus — his chronological views 118 
 
 Her schell's opinions on chronology 115 
 
 Hieroglyphics — dates of writings 125 
 
 Historians and chronology — their neglect thereof . . - 4 
 
 Historical year, Commencement of 55 
 
 Hindoo figures in astronomy. Fabulous nature of - - -. 14 
 
 Holyrood, Proclarnation on N.S. 88 
 
 Hutton's theory of the earth 34 
 
 Ides explained 20 
 
 Illustrations of the importance of correct mode of dates - - 5 
 
 Imperial epochs at Rome, Dates of - - - - - - 47 
 
 Independence of Scotland, Date of— how given ... 87 
 
INDEX. 
 
 (The Numbers Refer to the Sections 
 
 Independence Day, Date of, in U.S.A. - 
 
 India, Chronologies in use in - 
 
 India, Moslem era in - " - 
 
 Indians of North America and reckonings of time - 
 
 Indiction, Roman etc., History of, and details - 
 
 Introductory observations to the study of chronology . 
 
 115 
 
 67 
 97 
 98 
 8 
 22 
 
 James VI. partially takes N.S. in Scotland - - - - 88 
 
 James, Era of the Temple of - - - - - .- .- 17 
 Jewish Calendar, Explanations upon the - - - . . ^g^ 149 
 
 Jewish chronology. Ambiguity of - - - - - . 36 
 
 Jewish night watches — their hours - - - - - - 43 
 
 Josephus' dates doubted now 36 
 
 Jour de la Revolution — what it is - - - - - - 106 
 
 Jubilee 42 
 
 Julian period — Scaliger's invention. Bases of the - - - 55 
 
 Julius Csesar, Calendar of, and enactments by - • - - 19 
 
 Kalpa — meaning of this epoch 14 
 
 Kalends in Rome, Meaning of - 20 
 
 Kelvin's anno wz^wi//— contrasted with Tait - - - - 32 
 
 Khartoum, Date of annual Nilotic rise at - - - - 8 
 
 Kings, Era of, at Rome - 17 
 
 Leap year — how it comes round 26 
 
 Leap year, Mistake as to - - 19 
 
 Legal memory — meaning of term in English laws - - - 71 
 
 Liberty, year of, Meaning of - - 105 
 
 Library, Alexandrian, Burning of - - - - - - 16 
 
 Louisian epochs. Statement concerning 5^ 
 
 LXX. (the Septuagent), Dates in, differ from others - - 36 
 
 Maba Yuga, the Hindoo great age 14 
 
 Masonic years — how counted 69 
 
 Merivale's opinion on LA. U.C. - I7 
 
 Merivale's researches into Roman (early) history - - - 17 
 
 Metonic Cycle, References to and from 57 
 
 Middle Ages, Curious errors known in 6 
 
 Middle Ages in Western lands, Period of 48 
 
 Miller, Hugh — his views on A.M. 34 
 
 Minerva, Temple of, and annual insertion of nail - - - 18 
 
 Mode of giving Roman dates 21 
 
 Months, calendar, Names of, and notes on - - - 60 
 
 Months, Hebrew 41 
 
 Months, Macedonian 4^ 
 
 Months in French Revolution Calendar 106 
 
Il6 INDEX. 
 
 (The Numbers Refer to the Sections.) 
 
 Moon, same word = month 9 
 
 Moon called the Measurer in old times - - - - . g 
 
 Moslem year — how computed - - - - - -- 59 
 
 Movable feasts and the golden number 66 
 
 Mundane's eras compared -30 
 
 Mussulman's calendar in India and the East, Year of - - 99 
 
 Nabonassur, Era of — history and explanations - - - - 61 
 
 N. A. Indian's way of counting time 9 
 
 Nail, marking year in Rome — details of process - ■ - 18 
 
 New Style, Britain — how it originated 91 
 
 New Style attempted in Elizabeth's reign .... yg 
 
 New Style in France — how brought in - - - - - 105 
 
 Niagra, era of, Origin of 67 
 
 Night watches of the Jews — how divided . . . . 43 
 
 Nile, Seasons of Egyptians marked by rising of - - - 8 
 
 Nones in Roman months— definitions - . . . . 20 
 
 Non-bisextile centuries — how known 27 
 
 Non-Christian reckonings forgotten in general ... 2 
 
 Norse Invasion — how date found 113 
 
 Northampton, Treaty of— how dated 87 
 
 North American Indians' way of counting time ... S 
 
 Number, the golden number. Importance of - - - - 57 
 
 Numa's efforts in chronology 17 
 
 Numismatics, English datable 77 
 
 Old Style in Scotland, Prevalence of the .... 89 
 
 Old Style and N.S., tabulated 62 
 
 Olympiads explained — date of origin 16 
 
 Ortolan on Roman history 17 
 
 Ortolan's trite saying regarding early Rome - - - - 17 
 
 Paleography in chronology — its great use - - - - 120 
 
 Palmyra, Dates on inscriptions in 63 
 
 Papal Bulls and Briefs — how they are dated - - - . 29 
 
 Penult day, Meaning of, in Scottish charters ... 1 87 
 
 Persian Christmas — what it is meant to honour ... ^3 
 
 Persian years. Short account of the 15 
 
 Peter the Great and chronology— his Ukase .... 64 
 
 Phoenician chronology — its romantic antiquity - - - 13 
 
 Pleiades mark a season to aborigines 9 
 
 Pontiffs in ancient Rome — how they falsified the calendar - 18 
 
 Printing in China, Dates of 10 
 
 Proclamation, British dates of, explained .... 95 
 
 Proclamation, U.S.A. — how given 67 
 
 Ptolemy and astronomical records, Uses of - - • - 61 
 
INDEX. 
 
 117 
 
 (The Numbers Refer to the Sections.) 
 
 Quarto- Decimans — their origin and contention as to Easter - 21 
 
 Queen's reign — how years thereof counted . . . . g^ 
 
 Quintihs, former name for July — how changed and why • - 60 
 
 Quirinus, The taxation under ---..--. 4^ 
 
 Rawlinson's calculations on Assyrian dates - - - 12 
 
 Records, Consequence of loss of, to chronology' ... ^ 
 
 Regnal years explained — how they are counted - - - 95 
 
 Revolutionists' era, Origin, details, and end of - - - 106 
 
 Roman Calendars — details of same - - - - . '- '- 141 
 
 Roman history, Early myths regarding - - - - - 17 
 
 Roman Emperors, List of the - - . . . . 47 
 
 Rome, Destruction of ihe Fastz at 16 
 
 Roumania, Commencement of year in - - . - - 64 
 
 Round's opinion as to early English dates .... 72 
 
 Runic Calendars, Explanation concerning .... g 
 
 Russian Calendars — details of same ..... 144 
 
 Russian chronology, History of 64 
 
 Russian style — how it could be changed 27 
 
 Samvat Calendars in India 99 
 
 Sanchoniathon's fabulous chronology as to Phoenician history - 13 
 
 Satya Yuga — an epoch in ancient India 14 
 
 Sayce's view on chronology of the Book of Kings - - - 37 
 
 Saxon against Norman as an era of confusion - - - - 10 
 
 Scaliger's work on the Julian period 55 
 
 Scottish chronology, Claims of - - - .. - 80 
 Seleucides, era of. Influence of, in Syria - - - - - 42, 63 
 
 Septennates of years - - 38 
 
 Series of the Roman consuls' nominations - . . - 21 
 
 Sextilis form, name of August — why changed - - - . 60 
 
 Solar cycle, or cycle of the sun, Details regarding - - . 65 
 
 South Seas, Time counted near the 8 
 
 Stair's, Lord, opinion as to dates -.--.- 89 
 
 Statutes of uncertain dates—their place 75 
 
 Strauss — his views on N.T. chronology ..... 46 
 
 Struthers' views on evolution 34 
 
 Sunday letter explained --...... 66 
 
 Sunday as a chief market day 103 
 
 Sundays in Jerusalem 132 
 
 Supposition and the truth in dates compared and illustrated - 5 
 
 Syro-Macedonian months contrasted with Hebrew . - - 41 
 
 Tail's opinion of earth's age 32 
 
 Terrorists' system of chronology 106 
 
 Thoth, the month — how the first day recurred - - - - 11 
 
 Three years make a leap year for a time 19 
 
Il8 INDEX. 
 
 (The Numbers Refer to the Sections.) 
 
 Time, relative as used by Argyle 32 
 
 Time of legal memory in English laws - - - - - 71 
 
 Two hundred and eighty-one days, Year of - - - - 92 
 
 Uncials, Year of hundreds in earliest 125 
 
 U.S.A., Proclamation dates in - 67 
 
 U.S.A. calendars, Remarks regarding 67 
 
 Usher's methods of chronological progress - . . . yS 
 
 Usurper, era of the. Meaning of 79 
 
 Vague year of the Egyptians explained 1 1 
 
 Varro accounts for the origin of the Kalends - - - - 20 
 
 Vatican coinage — how it was dated - 25 
 
 Vendemiaire — the month in the Revolutionists' calendar - - 106 
 
 Vernal Equinox and the Quarto-Decimans . . . . 21 
 
 Vertumunus, Festival of — change in season - - - - 18 
 
 VI., Year VI. explained — French mode 106 
 
 Victoria, Era of — meaning of that phrase .... 9^ 
 
 Vikramaditya, Era of — an Indian epoch ----- 98 
 
 Vintage Month, What was 106 
 
 Voltaire's opinion of Russian era - 64 
 
 Wall, China's great— in which dynasty 10 
 
 Water-marks as guides to dates 127 
 
 Week — did it prevail in Persia 15 
 
 Week of five days — where found 15 
 
 Weeks and days — meaning of terms 132 
 
 William the Conqueror — results on history if Conquest wrongly 
 
 dated 5 
 
 Windy Month — a French phrase 106 
 
 Writings, first in Scotland, Date of 63 
 
 Year, Common - - 128 
 
 Year, Fiscal, in India 102 
 
 Year, Great, of Josephus, Meaning of - - • - - 49 
 
 Year, intercalculated amongst Jews, Method of - - . - 58 
 
 Year, Meaning of different people's 3 
 
 Year of God as used in Scots' Acts, etc. 87 
 
 Year of Independence in U.S.A. 67 
 
 Year of Liberty in France ....... 105 
 
 Year of Light, Mason's use of 69 
 
 Year of our Lord first used in France 68 
 
 Year, Short — how it occurred 92 
 
 Yesdegera era began in India 70 
 
 Xanthicus, The opening, of Macedonia 41 
 
 Zulus, How springtime caloula-ted by 8 
 
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