Dating (certificate)

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Sale of a pension to the Deutschordensballei Koblenz on May 12, 1291. The dating begins with the third word of the penultimate line: Actum anno Domini M CC XC primo, IIII idus Maii .

The term dating or date line is derived from the Latin “datum” (German: “given on”). The dating of documents is one of the historical auxiliary sciences of diplomacy and chronology . In the case of private documents (e.g. notarial instruments) it is usually located at the beginning of the document, immediately after the invocatio , in the case of king / emperor and papal deeds in the escha protocol . In the dating, the time of issue of the certificate or the legal act and the place are named. There may be different information for Actum (legal act) and date (delivery). In some documents , the datar (issuer) is also given.

Year

Especially in medieval documents, the reigns of the rulers were used as the year. This was one of the most common dating options. Nevertheless, there are several options for determining the date that indicate the beginning of the new ruler year (epoch day):

  • Carolingian period: anniversary of the father's death
  • Ottonian-Salic time: day of the coronation
  • Post-Staufer period: election of the secular ruler

Therefore problems with dating resolution can arise.

In addition, the indiction was mentioned in these documents for a so-called major dating . This was an ancient Roman tax cycle that lasted 15 years and theoretically 3 BC. Has started. The indication of the indiction was made mandatory by Emperor Justinian I (482-565) in order to transfer legal validity to the documents.

The popes of the Middle Ages counted the years since Pope Hadrian I (772–795) with their pontificate years .

The dates began late after the year of incarnation , i.e. beginning with the birth of Christ. Here, too, problems arose because there were several existing beginnings of the year: For example, it was in Rome on January 1st and in Constantinople on September 1st .

Day

The name of the day was also chosen differently in the Middle Ages. For example, the Roman calendar served as a model with the so-called Kalenden (1st of the month), Nonen (5th of the month) and Iden (13th of the month). It should be noted that in the months of March, May, July and October (also called the months of MOMJul) the nones are on the 7th and the ides on the 15th day. The days before this information were called pridie . All other days were calculated by putting a number in front of the day and subtracting it from the starting date, including the starting day.

Examples:

Calendar Nuns Iden
kalendas februarii = February 1st nonas februarii = February 5th idus februarii = February 13th
pridie kalendas februarii = January 31st pridie nonas februarii = February 4th pridie idus februarii = February 12th
quarto kalendas februarii = January 29th quarto nonas februarii = February 2nd quarto idus februarii = February 10th
kalendas maii = May 1st nonas maii = May 7th idus maii = May 15th
pridie kalendas maii = April 30th pridie nonas maii = May 6th pridie idus maii = May 14th
quarto kalendas maii = April 28th quarto nonas maii = May 4th quarto idus maii = May 12th

Other day names could represent the days of remembrance of the saints in a document . Since these days were well known, they were used instead of the Roman calendar.

In the later Middle Ages, the date of the month, which is common today, also became more common.

In the Middle Ages, there were also two options for naming the days of the week:

  1. The Judeo-Christian, which counted the week from Sunday to Saturday (e.g. feria secunda = Monday).
  2. The pagan-Roman, which attached the day names to the names of the planets (dies mercurii = Wednesday).

Example and resolution of a major dating

Example : Dat. Wirzeburc XVII cal. Aprilis, indictione V ta , anno dominice incarnationis M ° C ° L ° VII ° regnante domino Friderico Romanorum imperatore invictissimo, anno regni eius V to , imperii vero II o , actum est in Christo feliciter amen.

Translation : Given in Würzburg, on the 17th day before the calendar of April, in the fifth indiction, in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord 1157, in the reign of Mr. Friedrich, the undefeated emperor of the Romans, in the fifth year of his kingship, but in second year of his imperial rule, happened in Christ bringing good luck amen.

Dissolution : The certificate was issued on March 16, 1157. Emperor Friedrich I was crowned king in 1152 and emperor in 1155. This coincides with the royal and imperial years stated in the document.

More problems with dating

Since 1582 there has been Pope Gregory XIII through the calendar reform . additional problems in resolving the dating. During the reform, 10 days of October 1582 were left out in order to adjust the calendar and solar year to one another. But since this calendar was issued by the Pope, the Protestant and Orthodox countries did not accept it and so, for example, in the Holy Roman Empire there was not only the Gregorian , but also the Julian calendar until 1700 . In some documents, mostly peace treaties, both dates were given during this period.

Furthermore, when checking the dating, deliberate incorrect dating must be expected, as not all contracting parties were present at some document issuances and were thus backdated.

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Peter-Johannes Schuler : Dating of documents. In: Lexikon des Mittelalters Vol. 3, Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar, Sp. 575-580. ISBN 3-476-01742-7 .
  2. ↑ Ahasver von Brandt : Tool of the historian. An introduction to the historical auxiliary sciences. 16th edition. Stuttgart 2003, p. 36.
  3. ^ Peter-Johannes Schuler: Dating of documents. In: Lexikon des Mittelalters Vol. 3, Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar, Sp. 575-580. ISBN 3-476-01742-7 .
  4. ↑ In the document VII.X. written
  5. ↑ Digitization of the image in the photo archive of older original documents of the Philipps University of Marburg
  6. ↑ Peter Seelmann: Dating , May 19, 2012.