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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JULY, 1910.
last King of the second race, was associated in this period which have been most used in dates: the regal dignity in the vear 979, by his father, for to such acts as are otherwise dated, the with whose name his own is joined in some preceding observation applies. instruments, but be is not known to have granted The first epoch of the reign of King Robert'is any after the death of Lothaire.
the 30th of December, 987, the day on which he Under the third race, public acts varied much in was crowned: but his coronation is Tuore fretheir dates. Those of Hugh Capet are dated from quently assigned to the 1st of January, 988; and his election, in the year 987; and in 988, wben he these two epochs are improperly confounded, associated his son Robert with him in the throne: because the regnal year was reckoned according the greater part of his instruments are dated from to the civil year. The third is from the death of both epoche.
Hugh Capet, who had associated Robert in the It must not be forgotten that the revolution throne, on the 24th of October, 998, which epoch of the regnal year was not always computed from
is the best known, and most followed. A fourth the time of the coronation, but from the first
[878 ] was the second coronation of Robert at day of the civil year. The observation relative to
Rheims, in 990 or 991, but this was rarely used. the private charters of the preceding century is also
Henry the First was crowned at Rheims on the applicable to this. The Kings were not always
14th of May, 1027, during his father's lifetime, acknowledged by all the provinces under their domi and succeeded him on the 20th of July, 1031. nions immediately after their coronation, and in the These are the only two dates derived from known interregnum it was usual to date " from the reign of and settled points. Jesus Christ," or from the death of the last King. Charters of unquestionable authenticity differ In Italy, the date of the reigning King was always from each other in the reign of Philip the First, used. The Emperors of Germany in this century in which there were at least four epochs. The usually dated from their elevation to the throne: first wa, the day of his coronation, the 25:h of but as they did not bear the title of Emperor until May, 1059; the second, from the death of King after they were crowned as such, they sometimes Henry, his father, the 4th of August, 1060; the dated from the period when they received the tbird, from the time when Philip assumed the Imperial [277] crown. Some of them used many government of the Kingdom, in 1061; the fourth, other epochs, with reference to their acquisitions,
from the death of Count Baldwin, his guardian, as well by succession as by right of conquest.
in 1087.
The public acts of the Emperor Henry the The Eleventh Century.
Second are dated from two epochs: from the 6th It was especially in the eleventh century that of June 1002, on which day he succeeded his father, the Ecclesiastical calculation began to be atteuded Otho III.; and from the 14th of February, 2014, to; and it is evident, by the accumulation of on which be was crowned Emperor. His sucdates introduced into charters, that a knowledge Cessor, Conrad II. also reckoned both from his of the subject was much cultivated : but the accession to the throne, and from his coronation different modes of reckoning the years, and the as Emperor. Henry III. added thereto the very frequent variations in the dates of the reigns epochs of his association in the throne by of the Kings of France, are a source of great
Conrad III., and of his coronation at Soleure, as perplexity to chronologists. Their public acts King of Burgundy, in 1038. Henry IV, reckoned often show many fixed points, derived from
from the year 1054, when he was declared and certain events, which deserve to be considered as
crowned King of Germany; from the 5th of epochs; but there are others, and in great num
October, 1056, when he succeeded his father, and bers, which, from the faults of the copyists, or
from the 31st of March, 1084, when he received from the different periods at which the French
the Imperial crown. The Kings of Spain rarely Kings were snccessively acknowledged by their use the years of their reign. provinces and their subjects, from the different Remarks on the use of the regnal year in manner of beginning the civil year and the years the diplomas of the Kings of England, will be of the reigos, or from our ignorance as to what found in another part of the volume." may have served as epoche, confuse those who seek to reconcile all the dates which occur therein,
The Twelfth Contury. with each other. The observation applies parti. The dates of the reigns of the Kings of France cularly to this century although the preceding in the twelfth century were still taken from is not free from similar inconveniences. It is, different epochs. (270) Louis le Gros reckoned however, sufficient to mention the fixed epoche of the years of his reign from his association in the
• Vido pp. 283 et seq. postea.
