General Chronology
Chronology (Greek chronos time,
logos, discourse), the science of time-measurement,
has two branches:
- Mathematical Chronology, which determines the
units to be employed in measuring time, and
- Historical Chronology, of which we here treat, and
which fixes in the general course of time the position of
any particular occurrence, or, as it is generally termed,
its date.
It is thus for history what latitude and
longitude are for geography. The first requisite in
any system of historical chronology is an era, that is
to say a fixed point of time, the distance from which
shall indicate the position of all others. The term era,
the derivation of which is not certainly known, appears
first to have been employed in France and Spain
to signify a number or rule. Since the need of a definite
system of chronology was first recognized by mankind,
many and various eras have been employed at
different periods and by different nations. For practical
purposes it is most important to understand
those which affect Christian history.
CHRISTIAN ERA
Foremost among these is that
which is now adopted by all civilized peoples and
known as the Christian, Vulgar, or Common Era, in the twentieth
century of which we are now living. This was introduced
about the year 527 by Dionysius Exiguus,
a Scythian monk resident at Rome, who fixed its
starting point in the year 753 from the foundation of
Rome, in which year, according to his calculation,
the birth of Christ occurred. Making this the year 1 of
his era, he counted the years which followed in regular
course from it, calling them years "of the Lord",
and we now designate such a date A.D. (i.e. Anno
Domini). The year preceding A.D. 1 is called Ante
Christum (A.C.) or Before Christ (B.C.). It is to be
noted that there is no year O intervening, as some have
imagined, between B.C. and A.D. It is supposed by
many that the calculation of Dionysius was incorrect,
and that the birth of Christ really occurred three years
earlier than he placed it, or in the year of Rome 760
which he styles 3 B.C. This, however, is immaterial
for the purposes of chronology, the first year of the
Christian Era being that fixed, rightly or wrongly, by
Dionysius. His system was adopted but gradually,
first in Italy, then in other parts of Christendom.
England would appear to have been among the earliest
regions to have made use of it, under the influence
of the Roman missioners, as it is found in Saxon
charters of the seventh century. In Gaul it made its
appearance only in the eighth, and its use did not
become general in Europe until after A.D. 1000;
accordingly in French the term millésime
was frequently used to signify a date A.D.
In Spain, although not unknown as
early as the seventh century, the use of
the Christian Era, as will presently be shown, did not
become general until after the middle of the
fourteenth century.
PRE-CHRISTIAN CHRONOLOGY
Of the chronological systems previously
in use it will be sufficient to
briefly describe a few.
The Greeks dated events by
Olympiads, or periods of four years intervening
between successive celebrations of the Olympic games,
and this mode of computation, having been largely
adopted at Rome, continued to be frequently used in
the first centuries of Christianity. The Olympiads
started from 776 B.C., and consequently A.D. 1 was
the fourth year of the 194th Olympiad.
The Romans
frequently reckoned from the traditional foundation
of their city (ab urbe conditâ--A.U.C.),
which date, as has been said, coincided
with 753 B.C. They likewise often
designated years by the names of the consuls
then in office (e.g. console Planco). Sometimes
the Romans dated by post-consular years (i.e. so
long after the consulate of a well-known man).
Naturally the regnal years of Roman emperors
presently supplanted those of consuls, whose power in
later times was merely nominal, and from the emperors
this method of describing dates was imitated
by popes, kings, and other rulers, with or without the
addition of the year A.D. It became in fact universal
in the Middle Ages, and it subsists in documents,
both ecclesiastical and civil, down to our own day.
REGNAL YEARS
The pontifical years of the popes
are historically important (see chronological list in
article POPE).
Care must be taken, of course, in the
case of such dates, to observe from what point of time
each reign is reckoned. In an elective monarchy like
the papacy there is necessarily an interval between
successive reigns, which is occasionally considerable.
Moreover, the reckoning is sometimes from the election
of a pontiff, sometimes from his coronation.
In determining dates by the regnal years of other
sovereigns there are of course various points to which
attention must be paid. Confining ourselves to English
history, the earlier kings after the Norman Conquest
dated their reigns only from their coronation, or
some other public exhibition of sovereignty, so that
there was sometimes an interval of days or even
weeks between the close of one reign and the
commencement of the next. Only from the accession of
Richard II (22 June, 1377) was the reign of a monarch
held to begin with the death or deposition of his
predecessor. Even subsequently to this it was reckoned
sometimes from the day itself upon which the preceding
monarch ceased to reign, sometimes from the day
following. Not till the first year of Queen Elizabeth
was it enacted that the former should be the rule. In
certain particular instances the matter was still
further complicated. King John dated his reign from
his coronation, 27 May, 1199, but this being the Feast
of the Ascension, his years were counted from one
occurrence of this festival to the next, and were
accordingly of varying length. Edward I dated from noon,
20 November, 1272, and in consequence this day in
each year of his reign was partly in one regnal year
and partly in another. In the civil wars of York and
Lancaster, Henry VI and Edward IV equally ignored
the period during which his rival assumed or recovered
power, and counted their years continuously onwards
from the time when they mounted the throne.
Charles II, though he began to reign de facto
only at the Restoration (29 May, 1660), reckoned his
years, de jure, from his father's execution,
30 January, 1648-9, ignoring the Commonwealth and
Protectorate. Queen Mary Tudor reckoned her reign from
the death of Edward VI, 6 July, 1553, but the interval
until 19 July of the same year being occupied by the
abortive reign of Lady Jane Grey, public documents in
her name commence only with the latter date.
William III and Mary II began to reign 13 Feb., 1688-9,
as "William and Mary". Mary died 28 December,
1694, when the style was altered to "William" alone;
but no change was made in the computation of regnal
years. Within the year, it was long usual to specify
dates by reference to some well-known feast in the
ecclesiastical calendar, as, for instance, "the Friday
before Pentecost" or "the day of St. John the Baptist".
INDICTIONS
In papal and other documents, another
epoch is often added, namely, the Indiction.
This had originally been a period of fifteen years,
at the close of which the financial accounts of the
Roman Empire were balanced; but for purposes of
chronology the indictions are conventional periods of
fifteen years, the first of which began in the reign of
Constantine the Great. Unlike the Olympiads, the
indictions themselves were not numbered, but only the
place of a year in the indiction in which it fell. Thus
indictione quartâ; signifies not "in the fourth
indiction", but "in the fourth year of its indiction",
whatever this was. It was obvious that such an element
of computation could serve only to verify more
precisely the date of a year already approximately
known. Moreover, the indictions were calculated on
different systems, which have to be understood and
distinguished:
- The Greek, Constantinian, or
Constantinopolitan Indictions were reckoned from
1 September, 312. These were chiefly used in the East.
- The Imperial, Cæsarean, or Western
Indictions commenced with 24 September, 312.
These were usually adopted in Western Christendom.
They appear to have been of Anglo-Saxon origin,
and to have owed their popularity to the
authority of the Venerable Bede. The day
he chose for the starting point was
due to an erroneous astronomical calculation which
made the autumnal equinox fall on 24 September.
Further confusion was caused by the mistake of some
chroniclers who wrongly began the indictional cycle
a year late--24 September, 313.
- The Roman, Papal, or Pontifical Indictions,
introduced in the ninth century, made the series
start from the first day of the civil year,
which was in some cases 25 December, in others
1 January. This system was also common in Western
Christendom, but in spite of its appellation
it was by no means exclusively used in papal documents.
BEGINNING OF THE YEAR
The date at which the
year commenced varied at different periods and in
different countries. When Julius Caesar reformed
the calendar (45 B.C.) he fixed 1 January as New
Year's Day, a character which it seems never quite to
have lost, even among those who for civil and legal
purposes chose another starting point. The most
common of such starting points were 25 March (Feast
of the Annunciation, "Style of the Incarnation") and
25 December (Christmas Day, "Style of the Nativity").
In England before the Norman Conquest (1066) the year
began either on 25 March or 25 December; from 1087
to 1155 on 1 January; and from 1155 till the reform of
the calendar in 1752 on 25 March, so that 24 March
was the last day of one year, and 25 March the first
day of the next. But though the legal year was thus
reckoned, it is clear that 1 January was commonly
spoken of as New Year's Day. In Scotland, from
1 January, 1600, the beginning of the year was reckoned
from that day. In France the year was variously
reckoned: from Christmas Day, from Easter eve,
or from 25 March. Of all starting points a movable
feast like Easter is obviously the worst. From 1564
the year was reckoned in France from 1 January to 31
December. In Germany the reckoning was anciently
from Christmas, but in 1544 and onwards, from 1
January to 31 December. In Rome and a great part
of Italy, it was from 25 December, until Pope Gregory
XIII reformed the calendar (1582) and fixed 1 January
as the first day of the year. The years, however,
according to which papal Bulls are dated still commence
with Christmas Day. Spain, with Portugal
and Southern France, observed an era of its own long
after the rest of Christendom had adopted that of
Dionysius. This era of Spain or of the Cæsars,
commenced with 1 January, 38 B.C., and remained in
force in the Kingdom of Castile and Leon till A.D.
1383, when a royal edict commanded the substitution
of the Christian Era. In Portugal the change was not
made till 1422. No satisfactory explanation has been
found of the date from which this era started.
THE GREGORIAN REFORM
The introduction of
the Gregorian Calendar entailed various discrepancies
between the dates which different people assigned to
the same events. The Julian system of time-measurements,
introduced by Cæsar, was not sufficiently
accurate, as it made the year slightly too long, with the
result that by the sixteenth century it had fallen ten
days in arrear, so that, for instance, the day of the
vernal equinox, which should have been called 21
March, was called 11 March. To remedy this, besides
substituting an improved system which should
prevent the error from operating in future, it was
necessary to omit ten full days in order to bring things
back to the proper point. Pope Gregory XIII, who
introduced the reformed system, or "New Style",
ordained that ten days in October, 1582, should not be
counted, the fourth of that month being immediately
followed by the fifteenth. He moreover determined
that the year should begin with 1 January, and in order
to prevent the Julian error from causing retardation in
the future as in the past, he ruled that three leap years
should be omitted in every four centuries, viz. those
of the centennial years the first two figures of which
are not exact multiples of four, as 1700, 1800, 1900,
2100, etc. The New Style (N.S.) was speedily
adopted by Catholic States, but for a long time the
Protestant States retained the Old (O.S.), from which
there followed important differences in marking dates
according as one or other style was followed. In the
first place there was the original difference of ten days
between them, increased to eleven by the O.S. 29
February in A.D. 1700, to twelve days in 1800, and to
thirteen in 1900. Moreover, the period from 1 January
to 24 March inclusive, which was the commencement
of the year according to N.S., according to O.S.
was the conclusion of the year previous. From want
of attention to this, important events have sometimes
been misquoted by a year. In illustration may be
considered the death of Queen Elizabeth. This occurred
in what was then styled in England 24 March
1602, being the last day of that year. In France and
wherever the N.S. prevailed, this day was described
as 3 April, 1603. To avoid all possible ambiguity
such dates are frequently expressed in fractional
form as 24 March/3 April, 1602/3. In our modern
histories years are always
given according to N.S., but dates
are otherwise left as they were originally recorded.
Thus Queen Elizabeth is said to have died 24 March,
1603. Not till 1700 was the Gregorian reform accepted
by the Protestant States of Germany and the
Low Countries, and not till 1752 by Great Britain,
there being by that time a difference of eleven days
between O.S. and N.S. Sweden, after some strange
vacillation, followed suit in 1753. O.S. was still
followed by Russia and other Eastern Orthodox countries
well into the twentieth century, and their dates
consequently were thirteen days behind those of
the rest of Christendom.
JULIAN PERIOD
The Christian Era has this disadvantage
for chronological purposes, that dates have
to be reckoned backwards or forwards according as
they are B.C. or A.D., whereas in an ideally perfect
system all events would be reckoned in one sequence.
The difficulty was to find a starting point whence to
reckon, for the beginnings of history in which this
should naturally be placed are those of which
chronologically we know least. At one period it was
attempted to date from the Creation (A.M. or Anno
Mundi), that event being placed by Christian
chronologists, such as Archbishop Usher,
in 4004 B.C., and by the Jews in 3761
B.C. But any attempt thus to determine
the age of the world has been long since
abandoned. In the year 1583, however--that following
the Gregorian reform--Joseph Justus Scaliger
introduced a basis of calculation which to a large
extent served the purpose required, and, according
to Sir John Herschel, first introduced light and order
into chronology. This was the Julian Period--one of 7980
Julian years, i.e. years of which every fourth one
contains 366 days. The same number of Gregorian years
would contain 60 days less. For historians these
commence with the midnight preceding 1 January,
4713 B.C., for astronomers with the following noon.
The period 7980 was obtained by multiplying together
28, 19, and 15, being respectively the number
of years in the Solar Cycles the Lunar Cycle, and the
Roman Indiction, and the year 4713 B.C. was that for
which the number of each of these subordinate cycles
equals 1. The astronomical
day is reckoned from noon to noon instead
of from midnight to midnight. Scaliger calculated
his period for the meridian of Alexandria to which
Ptolemy had referred his calculation.
OTHER ERAS
Various eras employed by historians
and chroniclers may be briefly mentioned, with
the dates from which they were computed.
- The Chinese Era dates probably from 2700 B.C.,
and time is computed by cycles of sixty lunar years,
each shorter by eleven days than ordinary solar years.
- Era of Abraham, from 1 October, 2016 B.C.
- Era of the Olympiads, 13 July, 776 B.C., and
continued to A.D. 396 (Olympiad 293).
- Era of the Foundation of Rome, 21 April, 753 B.C.
- Era of Nabonassar, 26 February, 747, the basis of
all calculations of Ptolemy.
- Era of Alexander, 12 November, 324 B.C.
- Greek Era of Seleucus, 1 September, 312 B.C.
- Era of Tyre, 19 October, 125 B.C.
- Cæsarian Era of Antioch, 9 August, 48 B.C.,
instituted to commemorate the battle of Pharsalia.
- Julian Era, 1 January, 45 B. C., instituted on the
Julian reformation of the calendar.
- Era of Spain or of the Cæsars, 1 January, 38
B.C.
- Era of Augustus, 2 September, 31 B.C., instituted to
commemorate the Battle of Actium.
- Egyptian Year, 29 August, 26 B.C., instituted on the
reformation of the Egyptian calendar by Augustus.
- Era of Martyrs or of Diocletian, 29 August, A.D.
284, employed by Eusebius and early ecclesiastical
writers.
- Era of the Armenians, 9 July A.D. 552, commemorates
the consummation of the Armenian schism by
their condemnation of the Council of Chalcedon.
- Era of the Hegira, 16 July, A.D. 622, dates from
the entrance of Mohammed into Medina after his flight
from Mecca; its years are lunar, of 354 days each, except
in intercalary years, of which there are eleven in
each cycle of thirty. In these there are 355 days.
- Persian Era of Yezdegird III, 16 June, A.D. 632.
At the French Revolution it was
determined to introduce an entirely new system of
chronology, dating from that event and having no
affinity with any previously adopted. In the first
form this was the Era of Liberty, commencing
1 January, 1789. This was soon replaced by the
Republican Era, at first appointed to commence
1 January, 1792, and afterwards 22 September,
1792. This was the date of the proclamation
of the Republic, which coincided with the autumnal
equinox, calculated on the meridian of Paris.
The year was divided into twelve months of
thirty days each, and the days into decades, weeks
being abolished. The months had names given to
them according to their seasonal character.
- The autumnal
months (22 Sept. onwards) were Vendémiaire
(Vintage), Brumaire (Foggy), Frimaire
(Sleety).
- Winter Months: Nivose (Snowy), Pluviose
(Rainy), Ventose (Blowy).
- Spring Months: Germinal
(Budding), Floréal (Flowery), Prairial
(Meadowy).
- Summer Months: Messidor (Harvesting),
Thermidor (Torrid), Fructidor (Fruitful).
As these months contained only 360 days, five jours
complémentaires were added at the end of
Fructidor, officially called Primidi, Duodi, Tridi,
Quartidi, Quintidi, but commonly known as
Sans-culottides. Olympic or leap
years occurred every fourth year of the Republic,
and had a sixth intermediary day called Sextidi. The
period thus terminated was called Franciade. This
calendar was enforced in France till 1 January, 1806,
when it was abolished by Napoleon, and the use of the
Gregorian calendar resumed.
DAYS OF THE MONTH AND WEEK
Various methods
have been devised for ascertaining upon what day of
the week any given date falls. The best known is
that of
Dominical Letters,
which has this
disadvantage, that a table is usually
required to find out what is the Dominical
Letter for the year in question. Complication
is likewise caused by the necessity of passing
from one letter to another in leap years, on reaching
the intercalary day in February. The following
method is free from these inconveniences, and can be
worked without any reference to tables:
The days of the week are numbered according to
their natural order, viz. Sunday=1, Monday=2,
Tuesday=3, Wednesday=4, Thursday=5, Friday=6,
Saturday=7. (At the time from which the Christian
Era starts there were of course no weeks, such
a measure of time not being known among the Greeks
and Romans. Counting backwards, however, according
to our present system, we can divide all time
into weeks, and it is to be noted that in the Christian
period the order of days of the week has never been
interrupted. Thus, when Gregory XIII reformed the
Calendar, in 1582, Thursday, 4 October, was followed
by Friday, 15 October. So in England, in 1752,
Wednesday, 2 September, was followed by Thursday,
14 September. What we style 14 August, 1907, the
Russians style 1 August, but both call it Wednesday.)
For our present purpose the year commences with
March; January and February being reckoned as the
11th and 12th months of the preceding year; thus
29 February, when it occurs, is the last day of the
year and causes no further disturbance.
As a matter
of fact, it is found by computation that 1 March of
the year known as A.D. 1 was a Tuesday. Assigning
to this year the figure 1 as its year number, to
March the figure 1 as its month number, and adding
these to 1, the day number of 1 March, we get 3,
indicating Tuesday the third day of the weeks.
From this first datum all the rest follows. The succeeding
days of March increase their figures each by 1, on
account of the increased day number. When 7 is passed it is
only the figures which remain, after division by that
number, which are to be considered; thus 11 may be
treated as 4 (7+4) and 30 as 2 (28+2). In general,
any exact multiple of 7 (14, 21, 28) may be
added or subtracted when convenient without affecting
the result. Instead of adding any number (e.g. 1 or 4)
we may subtract its difference from 7 or a multiple
of 7 (e.g. 6 or 3). The remainder 0 in a division
is equivalent to 7, and thus in calculating for the day
of the week it signifies Saturday.
As the days of the leading month, so those of the
months preceding it follow naturally. As March
contains 31 days (i.e. 28+3), April necessarily begins
with a day 3 places later in the weekly sequence, and
its month number instead of 1 is 4. So of other
months, according to the number of days in that
which preceded. The following are the month numbers
throughout the year which never change:--March 1;
April 4; May 6; June 2; July 4; August 0;
September 3; October 5; November 1; December 3;
January 6; February 2. A.D. 1, being a common
year of 365 days (or 52 weeks+1 day), ends with
the same day of the week--Tuesday--with which
it commenced. Consequently the next year, A.D.
2, commences a day later, with Wednesday for
1 March, and as its year number is increased to 2,
we get 2+1+1=4. So in A.D. 3, the year number
becomes 3, and 1 March is Thursday. But on
account of 29 February preceding 1 March, A.D.
4, this day falls 366 days (or 52 weeks+2 days)
after 1 March, A.D. 3, or on Saturday, and its year
number must be increased to 5; 5+1+1=7. Thus,
to find the number belonging to any year within its
own century, we must find how many days beyond an
exact number of weeks there have been since that
century commenced. As every common year contains
one day more than fifty-two weeks, and every leap
year two days more, by adding at any period the
number of leap years which there have been in the
century to the total number of years in the same, we
obtain the number of days required. To obtain the
number of leap years, we divide the last two figures of
the date (i.e. those in the tens and units place)
by four. The quotient (neglecting any remainder)
shows the number of leap years; which, added to the
same two figures, gives the number of days over and
above the sets of fifty-two weeks which the years
contain. Thus, for example, the year '39 of any century
(939, 1539, 1839, 1939) will have 6 for its year number;
for in such year 48 extra days will have accumulated
since the corresponding day of the centurial
year (00), viz. 1 day for each of the 30 common years,
and 18 days for the 9 leap years.
THE CENTURY
One more element of calculation
remains to be considered -- the Century. We begin
with the Julian system, or Old Style (O.S.)--according to which
all centuries contain 75 common years of 365 days,
and 25 leap years of 366, and accordingly 125 days in
all, over and above 5200 weeks. But 125 days=17
weeks+6 days. Therefore a Julian century ends
with the day of the week two days previous to that
with which if began, and the succeeding century will
begin with the day of the week, one day earlier than
its predecessor. Thus, A.D. 1 March, 1300, being
Tuesday, in 1400 it would be Monday, in 1500 Sunday,
in 1600 Saturday. Having obtained the centurial
number for any century, we add to it the year
numbers of the years which follow to the close of that
century. Centurial numbers O.S. are obtained by
subtracting the centurial figure or figures (viz. those
preceding 00) from the multiple of 7 next above, the
remainder being the number required. Thus for A.D.
1100 the centurial number is 3 (14-11), for 1500, 6
(21-15), for 1900, 2 (21-19).
Under the N.S. three centuries in every four contain
76 common years and 24 leap years, and thus
have only 124 days over 5200 weeks, or 17 weeks and
5 days, and end with the day of the week three earlier
than they began. The following century, beginning
two days earlier than that which it follows, has its
centurial number less by 2. Thus 1 March, A.D. 1700,
was Monday, and the centurial number 0 (or 7). 1
March, 1800, was Saturday, and the centurial number
5. Every fourth centurial year N.S., being a leap
year (1600, 2000, 2400, etc.), has 366 days; and the
century to which it belongs, like those of the O.S.,
diminishes its centurial number only by 1 from the
preceding. N.S. having been introduced in the sixteenth
century, it is only for dates 15-- and upwards
that N.S. centurial numbers are required. They are
as follows: for 1500=3; 1600=2; 1700=7; 1800=5;
1900=3; 2000=2. It will be seen that the same
figures constantly recur. Leap year centuries (with
the first two figures exactly divisible by 4) having
the centurial number 2, and the three centuries following
having 7 (or 0), 5, and 3 respectively, after
which 2 comes round again. The centurial number
N.S. can be obtained from that of O.S. if the
difference of days between O.S. and N.S. be allowed
for. This is done by subtracting the said difference
from the O.S. centurial number, increased by as
many times 7 as the subtraction requires. As we
have seen, for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
the difference was 10 days; for the eighteenth,
11; for the nineteenth, 12; for the twentieth and
twenty-first, 13. Thus:
| A.D. 1500 etc. |
C. N. (O.S.) = 6 | (N.S.) = 3 |
(6+7-10). | | A.D. 1600 |
do. = 5 | do. = 2 |
(5+7-10). | | A.D. 1700 |
do. = 4 | do. = 0 |
(7) (4+7-11). | | A.D. 1800 |
do. = 3 | do. = 5 |
(3+14-12). | | A.D. 1900 |
do. = 2 | do. = 3 |
(2+14-13). | | A.D. 2000 |
do. = 1 | do. = 2 |
(1+14-13). |
Rule to find day of week for any date: Take
the sum of the centurial number+year number+month
number+day number; divide this by 7; the remainder
gives day of week, O.S. or N.S., according to
century number used.
Examples
(1) King John was crowned 27 May,
1199. What day?
| Century (O.S.) | | Year |
| Month | |
Day | | | 3 | + |
4 | + | 6 or
6(27=21+6) | + |
27 | = 40 = 7x5+5 |
Therefore the day was Thursday.
(2) Waterloo was fought 18 June, 1815. What day?
| Century (N.S.) | | Year |
| Month | |
Day | | | 5 | + |
18 or
4(18=14+4) | + |
2 | + | 18 |
= 43 = 7x6+1 |
Therefore the day was Sunday, as readers of
"Vanity Fair" will recollect.
(3) Columbus discovered the New World 12
October, 1492. What day?
| Century (O.S.) | | Year |
| Month | |
Day | | | 0 | + |
3 | + | 5 |
+ | 12 | = 20/7; remainder 6
|
Therefore the day was Friday.
(4) If St. Patrick died 17 March, 463, required the
day of the week.
| Century (O.S.) | | Year |
| Month | |
Day | | | 3 | + |
1 | + | 1 |
+ | 17 | = 22/7; remainder 1
|
Therefore the day was Sunday.
(5) Mary Queen of Scots was executed 8 February,
1587 (1586/7), which was a Wednesday. Was this
O.S.or N.S.?
| Century (O.S.) | | Year 1586 |
| Month | |
Day | | | 6 | + |
2 | + | 2 |
+ | 8 | = 18 =Wednesday
|
It was O.S.
According to N.S. it would be:--
| Century (N.S.) | | Year 1586 |
| Month | |
Day | | | 3 | + |
2 | + | 2 |
+ | 8 | = 15 =Sunday
|
This is an illustration of February being reckoned in
the preceding year.
JOHN GERARD
Transcribed by Rick McCarty
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume
III
Copyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition
Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
Nihil Obstat, November 1, 1908.
Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley,
Archbishop of New York
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