BOOK III. ANCIENT KALENDARS. M. DE VALOIS, at the end of his edition of Eusebius, has a dissertation on the Roman martyrology, in which he says that the church of Rome never had a peculiar martyrology before that of Sixtus V; and Baronius adds some corroborative remarks:-He supposes that the most celebrated churches have always had Fasti, in which the names of bishops and martyrs were written, and which, in course of time, received the title of kalendars. He agrees that the Roman church has had a particular kalendar of this kind, and that she had even an edition of it from Anvers; but he denies that these kalendars are true martyrologies, because the latter regard all churches, and are composed of several kalendars.* The most antient kalendar, according to M. Baillet, is that of the church of Rome, composed towards the middle of the fourth century, under Pope Liberius-but, according to M. Chastelet, under Pope Julius, in 336. It contains the Pagan, as well as the Christian festivals, which were then very few in number. Pinius says that it was used in the middle of the fourth century, or, at least, in the beginning of the fifth.‡ * Moreri, Dict. Hist. art: Martyrologie, p. 186. Published at Anvers, in 1634, by Ægidius Bucherius (Gilles Bouchier), in his Commentary on the Paschal Cycle.-Dict. de Trevoux, art. Calendrier. Tractat. de Antiqua Liturgia Hispan. p. 79. Antv. 1740. BOOK BOOK In the following century flourished St. Hieronymus, or Jerome, to whom a martyrology has been ascribed, that is supposed to have been imitated by the Saxon Bede, or, as he writes his own name, Beda; but, as martyrologies are little else than brief accounts of the persons whose names are found in them, and do not contain the chronological tables and indices contained in kalendars, which are, in fact, perpetual almanacs, they are not a subject of present consideration. A kalendar was composed at Rome, in 448, by Polemeus Sylvius, who addressed it to St. Eucherius, bishop of Lyons. In this, as in some others preceding the seventh century, both the Christian and heathen festivals are inserted. The next in regard to antiquity is the kalendar of Carthage, composed in 483, and discovered by Mabillon. The MS. is preserved in the abbey of St. Germaine de Près, at Paris. It commences with "xiii kal. Maias, martyris Mappalici," i. e. April 19, and it ends xiiii kal. Mart., or Feb. 16.* Joh. Frontius published another, which Pinius considers the next in order of time. In the abbey of St. Germaine de Près there is a MS. of the seventh century, which seems, from the notice of it in the new edition of the Encyclopedie Française, to be a kalendar; and the following singular mode of computing the days and months of the year appears in the second page : : "Dec. d. xxxj. k. iiij. non. viij. id. xviij. k. Januarias. Feb. in ka. xxxij. in id. xliiij." This denotes that the month of December contains 31 days; from the kalends of December to the nones are 4 days; from the nones to the ides, 8; from the ides to the kalends of January, 18: that the year has 32 days to the kalends of February; 36 to the nones, and 44 to the ides. In this manner all the months and days of the culated.+ Vet. Analect. p. 163. Fol. Paris, 1723. + Departm. Antiquit. tom. I, art, Chiffre, p. 241. year are cal The next known kalendar in the order of time appears to be that published by D'Achery, who regarded it as a composition of the year 826.* It is entitled thus-" Incipit Ordo Solaris Anni cum Litteris a S. Hieronymo superpositis, ad explorandum Septimanæ Diem, et Lunæ Ætatem investigandam in unoquoque Die per xix Annos." St. Jerome's application of the letters of the alphabet, which were afterwards superseded by the more simple and convenient indices called Golden Numbers, is found in other early kalendars, both with and without further assistance, except the corresponding tables for finding the moon's age. The vernal equinox is assigned to March 21, as fixed by the Nicene council of 325; and the kalendar is supposed to have belonged to the church of Arras.† This was followed by another, published by Pamelius, and again by Baluzius, after which Edmund Martene published a kalendar, which seems to belong to the ninth century.‡ Pinius considers that the characters of antiquity are paucity of announcements; simplicity, the names of martyrs alone being expressed; fewness of the Virgin's festivals; absence of feasts in Lent; rarity of more than the names of one or two saints, and omission of the title of saint. The dates of canonization, or of the institution of the festivals which occur in kalendars, will of course furnish criteria, by which we may be prevented from ascribing too great an age to a kalendar-as the absence of such festivals may, in many cases, enable us to state that a kalendar is earlier than some particular century. The tables of computation will also give other indications, because, where a series of years occurs, it is not to be imagined that the computist and copyer will have inserted the years which precede the composition, since these would be of no use to "Quod scriptum sive concinnatum fuisse anno 826 plusquam verisimile est."-Spicil. Script. Veterum, tom. X, p. 15. Ed. 4to. + Dict. de Trevoux. Analect. tom. V, col, 08. § Ut suprà. BOOK III. BOOK Saxon Kalendars. the purposes of the church for which the kalendar is intended. There are extant in our public libraries many kalendars in Saxon characters, which cannot be much less in age than nine centuries. Such is certainly the menology presented by Bishop Leofric to the church of Exeter, after the reign of Alfred. From this MS.,* which is in the vernacular language of the country (the remaining kalendars being in Latin), Dr. Hickes has published extracts, in order, as he says, that the learned reader may know what male and female saints were commemorated with particular devotion by our ancestors. As this menology does not contain the festival of St. Swithun, who died in 861, and who was held in much esteem among the Saxons, it is not very improbable that the composition is nearly as ancient as the kalendar of Arras. In the Bodleian library is preserved a beautifully-written kalendar, in 4to, but much mutilated, in which the obits of Gildas, King Alfred, and other illustrious persons are inserted-a lunar table, and various ecclesiastical computa Bibl. Cott. MSS. Julius, A X. As this is a curious codex, the reader who is inclined to consult it may save himself some trouble, by observing the following directions, the binder having transposed the leaves, and rendered it apparently more imperfect than it is in reality: After Jan. 25 and March 13 there are many leaves lost, as remarked by Dr. Hickes. From fo. 95, b (bið seo tid), read the continuation, Benirres rod, &c. at fo. 104, as far as the end of fo. 111, b.: return to fo. 96, and read to fo. 119, b. Here the leaves are lost, containing the subjects of the interval between June 24 and July 1 inclusive. The continuation is found at fo. 12, b, as far as the popung rei tranqvillim; and again at fo. 122. After July 15, turn back to fo. 120. After July 19, the leaves from July 20 to to 29 are wanting. The MS. begins again at fo. 130, and is uninterrupted to the last folium, where a considerable deficiency appears. + Thesaur. tom. II, p. 185-6. Chron. Saxon. ad Ann. "vi non. Julii." Flor. Wigorn. ad ann. The life of this saint was written in Saxon by Elfric (Cott. MS. Julius, E VII, fo. 94, b, 101), who takes no notice of the tradition (suprà, B. II, p. 320), or the superstition connected with it, respecting his day. tions, also occur.* This MS. is supposed to belong to the age of King Athelstan, who died in 940. Another Saxon kalendar in this library also deserves to be noticed: like the last, it contains the obits of princes, bishops, and men of rank and distinction, and, among the rest, that of Wulfstan, Bishop of Winchester. It has a table of Dominical years, indictions, and epacts, from 1063 to 1119,† whence we may conclude, in the absence of other proofs, that it belongs to the middle of the 11th century, and was probably composed before the Norman advent. BOOK III. Saxon Po The most elegant kalendar, or rather menology, that has Danosurvived the destruction of Saxon literature, is beyond all tical Mequestion the "Calendarium, seu Menologium Poeticum," nology. in the Cotton library. It is composed in Dano-Saxon, and consists of 456 verses; but Dr. Hickes, by printing in several instances two verses as one, makes it only 448.‡ To these he has added a second poem, as a continuation of the kalendar, although an inspection of the MS. itself, as well as the total want of connexion between the subjects, makes it clearly evident that they are quite distinct. A former possessor of this codex has written before the first line"Cronica Saxonica Abbingdoniæ, ad annum 1066;" but the poem is as little connected with the Abbingdon Chronicle as it is with the translation of Orosius, by which it is preceded. With respect to its age, Dr. Hickes remarks that, as it does not contain the festival of either St. Edward or St. Dunstan, which were both directed by a law of Canute to be celebrated throughout the English nation, it is certainly earlier than the year 988.§ A metrical kalendar (Galba, A XVIII) in very ancient King Saxon characters, prefixed to a small 4to psalter which had Athelstan's belonged to king Athelstan, part of whose name is yet to * Junius, 27. Hickes, ibid. p. 76. ✦ Junius, 99, Hickes, ib. p. 26. Hickes, tom. I, p. 203. § Ib. p. 221, not. The Codex is marked Tiberius, B. I, and extends from fo. 110 to fo. 112 b, both inclusive. Kalendar. |