Christ was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ferè triginta annorum almost 30 yeare olde for he wanted aboue two monthes And so Epiphanius taketh it cont Haer. tom 2. li. 1. He was indeed 29 yeare old and 1◠monthes 30 yeare old but not full In which sence Ignatius said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For he was not full 30 till the 25 of December following in Tiberius 16 yeare To which day from the 25 of December in Augustus 42 are iust 30 yeares For it is euident before that Aug. was 20 yeare olde wanting one day the 10 Calendes of October when he was created Consul where his Empyre or raigne began and he died as Suetonius recordeth Cap. 100. the 14 Calendes of September or 19 day of August when he was threescore and 16 yeare olde wanting but 35 daies So that he raigned 56 yeares wanting 36 daies Whereto agree Eutropius and Orosius who say he died in the yeare of Rome 767 after Vurroes account that is 766 after Dionysius account Now Christ was born the 25 of Decēber in his 42 yeare as before is shewed so that Augustus raigned after the Natiuitie of Christ 14 yeares and 8 monthes wanting but 5 daies adde to them 15 years of Tiberius there will be 29 years the 8 monthes which 15 of Tiberius ended the 19 day of August and Christ was baptised about October following the 25 of Decēber following he was iust 30 yeare old which was in Tiberius 16 yeare Now that Christ liued 3. years 3. monthes after that which was three yeares and an halfe after his Baptisme is plaine both by Daniel who attributeth to his ministerie 3 yeares and halfe that is halfe a weeke and also by the historie of the Euangelistes who make expresse mention of 4 Passouers after his baptisme at the last whereof he suffered his Passion The first Iohn 2. when he cast the buiers and sellers out of the Temple the second Math. 12. Marke 2. Luke 6. when the Disciples pluckt the eares in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 second principall Sabboth the third Math. 14. Marke 6. Luke 9. Iohn 6. when he fed 5000 with fiue loaues The fourth and last Math. 26. Marke 14. Luke 22. Iohn 13. when he instituted the new Sacrament of his bodie and blood and accomplished the worke of our Redemption And this the fathers receiued by tradition It is left vnto vs that all the time of the doctrine of Christ was three yeares and a halfe which is halfe one weeke Euseb Demonst Euang. li. 8. ca. 2. And Ignatius in Epist ad Trall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hauing preached the Gospell three yeares he was crucified he saith not two yeares or foure yeares As for the odde daies he standeth not vpon For it was not his purpose to make so exact a computation and yet he is neere the marke For if Christ began not to preach till the beginning of the spring as Clemens Romanus Recog 1. Pa. 2. affirmeth then he preached not much aboue three yeares But how long it was after his Baptisme before he beganne to preach the Euangelistes doe not shewe neyther saith Ignatius any thing of that space but that he preached ful three yeares Wherfore to conclude the time of the life of Christ from his Natiuitie to his Passion was 33 yeares and a quarter and from his Conception or Incarnation to his Passion was full 34 yeares That Dionysius betweene the Incarnation of Christ and his Passion reckoned but 33 is manifest by Beda de nat rerum Cap. 46. Sancta siquidem Romana Apostolica Ecclesia hanc se fidem tenere ipsis testatur indiculis quae suis in cereis annuatim scribere solet vbi tempus dominicae Passionis in memoriam populis reuocans numerum annorum triginta semper tribus annis minorem quam ab eius Incarnatione Dionysius ponat adnotat Denique anno ab eius Incarnatione iuxta Dionysium 701 Indictione 14 fratres nostri qui tunc fuere Romae hoc modo se in natali Domini in cereis sanctae Mariae scriptum vidisse inde descripsisse referebant A passione Domini nostri Iesu Christi anni sunt 668. The holy Romane and Apostolique Church testifieth that she holdeth this faith euen by the very Indices or Tablets which she vseth to write yearely in the Tapers when as putting the people in minde of the time of the Lordes Passion she setteth alway a lesse number by 33 yeares than Dionysius doth set from his Incarnation And in the yeare from his Incarnation 701 after Dionysius the 14 Indictiō our brethren which then were at Rome did report that at Christmas in the Tapers of Saint Marie they saw written and also wrote out in this sort From the Passion of our Lord Iesu Christ there are 668 yeares Subduct 668 out of 701 and there remayne but 33 from his Incarnation to his Passion Likewise if you goe by the Indictions backward from this yeare 701 being the 14 Indiction to the Natiuitie of Christ which Beda de nat rerum ca. 48. saith was the fourth Indiction then his incarnation was the third you shall finde the same oddes and distance More argumentes and testimonies might be alleaged for proofe heereof were it not confessed by Dionysius his followers that they all make but 33 yeares from Christes Incarnation to his Passion Which afterward being perceiued caused those alterations of the yeare of the Lord which I noted pag. _____ and the varietie of Computation which is vsed in Christendome For they which made the first alteration Anno Domini 1351 being loth to alter the number and to adde one yeare more to their vulgar and vsuall Computation which would breede by all likelyhoode too much inconuenience they thought it better to keepe the same number and first to alter the Epoche or marke setting it shorter backe by three quarters of a yeare and therefore decreed that it should be accounted but from his Natiuitie Secondly to anticipate the change of the next newe yeare beginning it sooner by one quarter of a yeare And by this means they both regained the whole last year and also made the Computation of the yeare of the Lord to come within eight daies of the vsuall Computation of the Romanes which began at the Calends of Ianuarie But Blondus about 80 yeares after that perswading Eugenius IIII. that the Popes owne rescriptes Bulles Actes and processes might also be dated by the yeare of the Lord whether it were for that he would of singularitie make the Pope differ euen in his Dates from the common course or which I thinke rather for that he saw the newe stile and account did not well concurre and agree neither with the naturall course of the yeare which beginneth with the Spring when the sunne entereth into Aries nor with the ordinance of God which appoynted the month Abib for the first nor with the ancient Computation of the Church which began
See more of this in the discourse following An Houreglasse The Confirmation of the Computation THE first Article from the Creation to Noah is proued in Gen 5. where the ages of the Fathers are recorded From Noah to the beginning of the Deluge is proued Gen. 7.11.12 The continuance of the Deluge to the end Gen 8.14 This yeare of the Deluge being a iust solare yeare of 365. dayes as I noted before is omitted by many in their Computations and cleane left out but Io. Funccius setteth it a yeare latter than it should be and so ouer-reckoneth the time by a whole yeare For although in his first edition he begin the Deluge as all auncient Chronologers doo at the 7. day of the second month of Noachs 600 yeare yet in his second Edition vpon better aduisement as hee sayth hee beginneth it the same day in Noachs 601 yeare wherein other notable Chronologers since doo follow him But surely their reasons are lame and not concludent yea plaine flatt against Moses who sayth the beginning was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the sixe hundreth yeare of Noah not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 After the end of the six hundreth yere as he speaketh Gen. 16.3 where hee intendeth full and complete yeares For questionles ב euer importeth the day month or yeare current not complete His infallible rule as hee calleth it is most fallible and false His rule is that whersoeuer a number of yeares is set downe and months and daies be added to the same that must needs be vnderstood of yeares complete By which rule it must be vnderstood Deut. 1.3 that Moses deliuered Deuteronomie in the 11. month of the 41. yeare after the departing out of Egypt whereas Funccius himselfe maketh Iosua to begin presently after the end of the 40. yeares yea and Aaron too must be vnderstood Num. 33.38 to die in the first day of the 5. month of the 41. yeare of the Israelites departing out of Egypt which himselfe doth not thinke As for that Gen. 7.6 And Noah was six hundred yeare old when the floud of waters was vppon the earth whereupon they stand so much it is not spoken of the Beginning but of the Being of the floud vpon the earth The very instant of the beginning thereof is euidently and purposely expressed v. 11. The second Article is confirmed Gen 11. from the 10. verse to the 25. where the age of the Fathers after the floud vnto Terah are recorded But about the natiuitie of Arphaxad there is some odding For some account from the end of the Deluge to his birth but one yeare and other scarse that whereas we account two yeres For in the 1657 yeare the 2 month and 27 day the Deluge ended Gen. 8.13 The same day and month of the yeare 1659 end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two yeares after the floud Ge. 11.10 And these two yeres are to be takē for complete as both the nature of the Duall number importeth and also the vse of the same word in scripture 2. Sam. 13. 14. Ierem. 28. For when the holy Ghost meaneth the second yeare Current hee sayth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 1. Reg. 15.2 Reg. 1. 14. 15. 19. And if it had beene expressely said that Arphaxad was borne in the 2. yere Current yet that might be in the first or second month of this yeare 1659. and therefore I make the yeare of the world 1659. and the third yeare after the end of the floud to be the first yeare of his age Eusebius between Adam and Terahs 71 yeare which he maketh Abrahams first ouerreckoneth the time by 1236 yeares For from Adam to the ende of the Deluge he sayth there are 2242 which is too much by 586. For himselfe sayth that after the account of the Hebrues it is but 1656. so the seuerall yeres of the fathers which himself a little before did set down doe amount to the same total summe of 1656. though he misse in some particulars adding to Adam 20. yeres which he taketh from Iered and to Seth 25. which he taketh from Mahaleel Yet the Lxx. Greeke Interpreters are wider off than he For they reckon to the end of the Deluge 2362. which is more than Eusebius by 120. but that totall of 2242. which Eusebius hath agreeth with the Latine Translation of the lxx Interpreters which giueth Adam 100. yeares lesse and Mathushelah 20. yeares lesse than the Greeke doth Againe betweene the Deluge and Terahs seuentie one yeare which he after the common opinion supposeth to be the first yeare of Abraham he saith there are 720. yeares which summe is surely corrupted falsefied For in the body of his Chronicle he maketh Abrahams first to be the yeare of the world 3185. vpon that ground proceedeth in all his Chronicle whereby it is euident that he maketh betweene the Deluge and Abrahams birth 942. yet the seuerall summes of the fathers ages which he setteth downe before amount to 1082. which sum the lxx make betweene the Deluge and Terahs seuentie one yeare wanting but 10. yeres which Eusebius putteth to Nahor more than the lxx did and those 10. yeares he stroke out in the sum wherby he proceedeth in his Chronicle as also 130. which both he and they giue to one Cainan because in the Hebrue there is no such man as Cainan And then there remaine the foresaide 942. which is too much by 650. as himselfe intimateth in the 51. yeare of Abraham affirming that vnto that yeare the Hebrues account but 2000 yeares The cause of this Surplussage is in the lxx Interpreters whome herein hee followeth who to make the yeares of the Fathers after the Deluge somewhat proportionable to those before the Deluge giue to all the Fathers betweene Sem and Nahor 100. yeares a peece and to Nahor 50. more than the Hebrue hath and so likewise before the Deluge the lxx gaue to Adam 200. to Lemech 6. to al the rest that wer not in their hundredths 100. a peece This Computatiton of Eusebius coupling Abrahams first with the 3185. of the world is vsed by many as Origen Epiphanius Cedrenus Nicephorus c. and by the Greeke church East Empire euen at the counsell of Basill The time of Terahs age when hee begatte Abraham is also controuersed For the Hebrues say that Terah begat Abraham when hee was 70. yeare old and so begin Abrahams first with Terahs 71. whom all Greekes and almost Latines follow For which opinion these reasons may be giuen First Moses Gen. 11.26 expresseth the 70. yeare of Terah and ioyneth next to it the name of Abraham by whom the Computation was to be continued and Terah liued 70. yeares and begat Abraham Nahor and Haran Secondly because that yeare 130. at which age by this account Terah should beget Abraham is no where expressed by Moses So that whereas all the Patriarkes haue their ages recorded only Abraham the father of all the faithfull euen the Archpatriarke hath his omitted and
owne which began 38 yeares before Christ and some kingdomes accounted by the raignes of their owne kinges all which are seene by the dates in the Tomes of Councels But the Church of Rome vsed a Computation from the passion of Christ as Beda sheweth li. de nat rerum Cap. 46. which also you may see in Hierome and Isidore and some vsed the Computation of Antioch as Eusebius Euagrius Cedrenus Nicesorus which began 48 yeares before Christ as Marianus Scotus sheweth Yea both Heathen and Christian vsed the Aera or account of Diocletian as you may see in Ambrose c. which began in the yeare of Christ 285 and also in former times the Computation of the Chaldaeans was much vsed as you may see in Ptolomie which began the 13 yeare after Alexanders death euen with the second yeare of the 117 Olympiad and at the next Vernal Aequinoctiall began the Computation of the Greekes vsed in the bookes of Maccabees and in Iosephus viz. at the crowning of Saleucus Nicanor and at the coronation of Ptolomaeus Philadelphus in the 26 yeare of the Greekes began the Aera of Dionysius much vsed by Ptolomie yet the Church and Emperours of the East vsed to Date by the yeares of the world according to Eusebius account as you may see in the councell of Basil where the Emperours Crisobol or letter patent is dated anno à mundi creatione 6944 and the Patriarch of Constantinople his letters are dated anno ab Adam seu mundi constitutione 6944 which was the yeare from the Natiuitie of Christ 1435 as both the said letters do testifie for they are both dated by the years of Christs Natiuitie likewise Marry now the Turkes vse their Computation which they call Alhigera beginning in the yeare of Christ 622 and the Persians vse their Iesdagert which began in the yeare of Christ 632. But in the yeare of Christ 532 Dionysius Exiguus instituting the Paschal Cicle and Golden number would not number and calculate the same by the Aera or Computation of wicked Diocletian the 10. persecutor of the Church which then was vsed thorow the whole Empyre but would cast and account it by the yeares of Christ beginning at his Incarnation as Beda sheweth Tom. 2 li. de nat rerum cap. 46. Which Aera or Computation was not vsed by the Emperors or Popes till long after For the first Emperour that vsed it in dating of his Actes proceedings Epistles was Carolus Crassus And afterward Eugenius IIII. at the aduise instance of Blondus his Register receiued it into the Popes Bulles and writtes as Paulus Forosemproniensis affirmeth in his Paulina parte 2. li. 13. Praeside Eugenio IIII adhortante Blondo Forliuiensi Pontificij collegij a secretis Notario in bullis atque rescriptis Pontificalibus annorum haec a Christi Incarnatione supputatio scribi primùm coepit when Eugenius IIII was Pope at the instance of Blondus of Forli Clarke of the Popes counsell this Computation of yeares from the Incarnation of Christ began first to be written in the Popes Bulles and Mandates Which I doe not take as though the Computation by the yeares of the Lord was then first brought into the Church as Gerardus Mercator and other take it or as though it were not vsed in the actes of the Church and in ecclesiasticall courtes and proceedings before that time but that then and by that meanes it began first to be vsed in the Bulles Mandates and writtes that were meere Papal and passed onely from the Pope For in writtes of that nature the yeare of the Lord was not mentioned at al before that time but onely the yeares of their owne coronation anno Pontificatus nostri c. For anone after Paulus Forosemproniensis addeth Sed notarij annos à natiuitate computare consueuerunt But all other notaries vsed to account the yeares from the Natiuitie And that is euident by the dates of all the Sessions of the councell of Constance which was before Eugenius which are all dated anno à Natiuitate Domini but the Popes Mandates and letters are only dated anno Pontificatus nostri So that the Computation of Dionysius was both vsed and also corrected before Eugenius IIII. The order whereof I will briefly set downe The computation from the Incarnation of Christ ordained by Dionysius was vsed till Decem. 25. 1351. At which time for speciall cause which is shewed pag. _____ it was decreed that the computatiō by the yeare of the Lord should begin not at the Incarnation or 25 of March as before it did but at the Natiuitie or 25 of December and yet the same number should be kept and obserued without alteration all the yeare thorow saue the first quarter Forsomuch they preuented the change and beginning of the new yeare writing 1352. after the said 25. of December which otherwise they should not haue done till the Incarnation or 25. day of March following The Act or Decree is recorded by Ierapha His quoque temporibus apud Perpinianum oppidum in curia generali 25 Decembris 1351 fuit determinatum in Catalonia ne Calendae à notarijs in chartis scriberentur nec ab Incarnatione annus Domini sed à Natiuitate inchoaretur And also at that time at Parpinnan in a generall Court Decemb. 25. 1351. it was decreed in Catalonia that the Calendes should not be vsed by Notaries in Chartes and that the year of the Lord should not begin at the incarnatiō but at the Natiuitie The practise hereof appeareth in the councell of Constance about 53 yeares after where all the Sessions and Actes are dated not by Calendes but by the daies of the month and by the yeares from the Natiuitie of the Lord and not from his incarnation Which yeare did alter chaunge not at the incarnation for the second session holden the second of March and the third holden the 25. of March that is the day of Christes Incarnation and the fourth holden the 30. of March and the fift holden the 6. of Aprill are all recorded in one and the same yeare 1415. But the yeare altered and changed vpon the verie day of the Natiuitie For the coronation of Martin V. is recorded to be vpon sunday the 21. day of Nouember anno à Natiuitate Domini 1417. Indictione 10. and vpon tuesday the 28 of December following was holden the 42 Session and there the yeare is altered both of the yeare of the Lord and also of the Indiction For it is dated anno a Natiuitate Domini 1418. indictione 11. Indeed printed copies haue there also 1417. but an auncient copie written by a Notarie at the very councell which Lucidus Samotheus affirmeth that he hath seene hath 1418. And it must needes be so first because the yeare of the Lord is there expressed which would not haue beene done vnlesse the yeare were chaunged For otherwise he would haue said anno indictione quibus suprà Secondly because the 22. and 29. of April following are there recorded
anno indictione quibus suprà And the next before mentioned is that whereas in April 1417 the 32 Session was held as before there was mentioned Thirdly because the Indiction is changed which the Church of Rome altereth with their yeare But in all that Councel the writtes and processes of the Popes themselues Martin v. Gregorie xij or Iohn xxiiij are dated neither by the daies of the month nor by the yeare of the Lord but by the Calendes the yeare of their owne Papacie or Coronation And I haue a pardon granted by Martin V. to Issabell Wootton of London dated thus vi Idus Martij Pontificatus nostri anno nono without any mention of the yeare of the Lord. Wherefore Blondus perswading Eugenius IIII. about thirtie yeares after that councell to date his Bulles Pardons and writtes by the yeare of the Lord would haue him to follow Dionysius stile and to write from the Incarnation keeping the same number but altering the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or marke though all other courtes and notaries did keepe their newe stile from the Natiuitie as Forocemproniensis affirmed before The practise heereof is euident in the councell of Basil held vnder the same Eugenius wherein all his Bulles and Mandates as also the Bull of Nicholaus V. are dated anno Incarnationis Dominicae c. and by the Calendes And the reuocation of three of his Buls is dated by himselfe Calendis Ianuarij anno Incarnationis Dominicae 1433 but the Bishop and two Cardinals which subscribed to the same Reuocation the fift day of Februarie following date their subscription anno a Natiuitate Domini 1434. where the yeare you see is chaunged And so all the Sessions and Actes of the same councell are dated by the yeare à Natiuitate Domini or anno Domini which is all one for they meane à Natiuitate The like practise we haue in the Bull of Clement VII for the Iubilie 1525. For the Bull as it came from the Pope himselfe is dated thus Datum Romae apud sanctum Petrum anno Incarnationis Dominicae 1524. Cal. Maij. But out of the courte of Audience by the Bishop of Worcester Auditor Generall of the Apostolique Chamber it is dated thus Datum Romae in aedibus nostrae solitae residentiae anno a Natiuitate Domini 1524. die decimo mensis Iunij And these are the two vsuall datings and computations in Christendome at this day the occasion of the difference whereof I will briefly shew The principall cause of the oddes and errour was in Dionysius Exiguus who both erred himselfe and caused other to erre as one saide truely of him though the same man could not find out the errour as in like sort Reinerius Sigebertus Gemblacensis Stofflerinus Paulus Forosemproniensis c. haue found by their Calculations that Dionysius was out and in an errour Marry wherein the errour consisteth and what was the true cause thereof which being taken away it might be amended and made right they coulde not perceiue and therefore mistaking the cause they plunge themselues into further errours The trueth is briefly this Dionysius intending principally the time and account to come and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely the time and Computation past came too short of the Conception or Incarnation of Christ by one whole yeare in his account backward because he accounted from the Incarnation of Christ to his Passion but onely 33 yeares so made the whol life of Christ but onely 32 yeares beside the odde time from the 25 of December to his Passion In which errour were as Forosemproniensis reckoneth them vp parte 2. li. 4. Apollinarus Laodicensis Augustine Victorinus Lemonicensis Magister Historiarum Nicholaus de Lyra and Marianus Scotus to whome we may adde Bartholomeus Scultetus and many other excellent Astronomers And because that would not fit well with Histories and the astronomicall calculations it hath driuen other into grosser absurdities namely to auouch that Christ liued but 31 full years as Iohannes de Muris and Rogerus Bacon in his Epistle to Clement V or that he liued 34 yeares full as Chrysostome Albertus Magnus and of late Gerardus Mercator all contrarie to the faith of the Church as Beda sheweth li. de nat rerum Cap. 46. Habet ecclesiae fides Dominum in carne paulò plus quam 33 annis vsque ad suae tempora passionis vixisse The faith of the Church holdeth that the Lord liued in the flesh a little more than 33 yeeres to the time of his Passion And contrarie to Ignatius who attributeth to Christ 33 yeares and somewhat more in his Epistle to the Trallians 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ hauing conuersed three Decades of yeares was baptised and hauing preached three yeares was crucified where he reckoneth 33 full yeares beside the time from his baptisme to the beginning of his preaching and contrarie to Eusebius who placeth Christes Natiuitie in the 3 yeare of the 194 Olymp. and his death in the yeare 4 of the Olymp. 202. which is the distance of 33 yeares and as much as from the 25 day of December to the day of his Passion contrarie to the age of Christ by the yeares of the Emperours For Saint Luke saith that Iohn the Baptist began his office in Tiberius 15 yeare which ended the 19 day of August if we begin his Empire at Augustus death Yet Tacitus and Suetonius Cap. 14. shew that Tiberius stood a while after Augustus death in great suspence whether he might take the Empyre vpon him or not insomuch that some brak pacience one in a tumult cryed out aut agat aut desistat c. And therefore it may be that his Empyre began to be accounted two or three monthes after Howsoeuer it be for it mattreth not much it is euident by Daniel that Christ was baptised about October accounting from his Passion backward to his baptisme halfe a weeke and it is probable by the Analogie betweene the Baptisme of Christ the feast of Expiation that he was baptised at that feast which was that yeare the 7 day of October Nowe Christ at his Baptisme was almost full 30 yeare old as appeareth by Saint Luke Cap. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Iesus himselfe was beginning almost to be of 30 yeares of age that is beginning to be full 30 yeare olde as Epiphanius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and twise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth place the wordes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. and Iesus was beginning to be almost of thirtie yeares being the sonne c. And so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken Act. 13.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and almost fortie yeares he bare their maners in the wildernes meaning not full 40 for there wanted aboue a month of it as before is shewed And so ferè is vsed by Eutropius Caesar was slaine in they yeare seuen hundred and almost nine septingentessimo ac ferè nono because there wanted aboue a month of the full of that yeare So
both the yeares of the world and the yeare of the Lord at one time viz. about the Vernall Aequinocticall refused the new stile and Computation from the Natiuitie tooke the old from the Incarnation Yet beginning the change of the new yeare after the new yeare of the other Computation from the Natiuitie as euidently appeareth by the two dates of the Popes Reuocation in the councell of Basil he intimateth not obscurelie that this his Computation reached not to the true Incarnation of Christ by one whole yeare but that it beginneth at the feast of his Incarnation which was in the first yeare of his Natiuitie and so left out the whole last yeare before the beginning of his Computation This Computation of Blondus is vsed by the church of England and not onely heere but also in Italy by the states of Florence and Sienes all which vse the Computation from the Incarnation and begin the yeare the 25 day of March after that the Church of Rome hath begun their Computation from the Natiuitie the 25 of Decēber before As Anno Reginae 37 the 25 day of December the Church of Rome began the yeare 1595 from the Natiuitie and the Citie of Rome together with the Astronomers for they haue a peculiar Computatiō proportioned to the ancient and vsual yeare of the Romanes without any regard of the first 8 daies of Christes Natiuitie begin the same yeare 1595 the first day of Ianuarie or the feast of Circumcision which therfore is called New-yeares day as our yearly Almanacks shew and at the 25 of March following we of England Florence and Senes begin the same yeare 1595 from the Incarnation or Conception of Christ Which is as much as if Christ had beene borne and Circumcised too a quarter of a yeare before he was conceiued were it not that they by this their Computation would giue vs to vnderstand that there is lost a whole yeare of the Lord which they would regaine and restore by beginning their Computation from his Incarnation a iust yeare after his true Incarnation that is at the feast of his Incarnation or Annunciation next after his Natiuitie But the states of Pisa haue the right and perfect computation from the Incarnation which runneth alwaies a iust yeare before this of England Florence and Senes For the same 25 of March Elizabethae 37 they begin the yeare 1596 from the Incarnation and so date all their recordes writtes processes Epistles euidences c. Indeed in those places where anie of the other Computations are vsed perhaps it will seeme good and conuenient as not vnlikely it did to Blondus not to alter their account and stile ancient though erroneus but rather to keepe and retayne the vulgar and vsuall Computation both in their publique and priuate Actes because the alteration thereof would breede some confusion in their recordes and euidences But yet it is necessarie for the studious in Historie to be acquainted heerewith and to vnderstand the differences of Computations in the worlde Of this poynt I haue beene the larger partly because the author of our last great Chronicle in his description of England li. 3. ca. 14. maketh this a great scruple to vse his owne terme and so leaueth it concluding that with vs Christ is borne before he is conceiued and partly because I remember this doubt was moued to a man of manifolde learning and of great reading and iudgement as any in this land who did answere it by a distinction of Annus Natiuitatis and annus Actatis Which distinction I haue read in Iacobus Phillippus Bergomensis Chronic. li. 8. where he laboureth by that meane to take away all doubt about the yeare of the Baptisme and Passion of Christ And first he putteth a difference betweene the vsual yeare and the Emergent yeare which Emergent yeare a quouis rei euentu quouis tempore anni vsualis emergit incipit reuolutis duodecim mensibus solaribus finem habet atque iterum in sua vestigia redit iterum atque iterum circumuoluitur donec ea res numerari desinit a cuius euentu coeptum est numerari vt solet fieri in primordijs regum imperatorum And after he addeth ad hoc tempus anni emergentis annos Domini dupliciter numeramus aut secundum Natiuitatem aut secundū aetatem c. By this Emergent yeare we account the yeare of the Lord two waies eyther by his Natiuitie or by his age Whereupon Christ being borne in the end of the vsuall yeare he meaneth of the Romans he had of the last yeare of his Natiuitie but onely 7 daies but the first yeare of his age from the 25 day of December wherein he was borne to that day tweluemonth is ended in the second yeare of his Natiuitie And so he accomplished two yeares of his Natiuitie after the vsuall yeare almost in the first yeare of his age and the second yeare of his Natiuitie and the first of his age is all one Whereby it commeth to passe that the yeares of Christes Natiuitie are 34 and a halfe almost c. Anone after and in the 33 yeare of his age and 34 of his Natiuitie Christ suffered Againe therefore Iulius Caesar being slayne in March whence Augustus Empyre is accounted Christ began the first yeare of his Natiuitie in the end of Augustus 42 yeare c. This difference I thought good to alledge because it may serue the Historician to many good purposes as namely it openeth and declareth the meaning of Oroseus where he saith anno Augusti 42 prope emenso Christus natus est as before I expounded it As for the scruple before mentioned and moued it doth somewhat ouershadowe it but not cleane take it away shifting it off prettily but not satisfying it fully For if we take the common and vulgar Computation of Christ to be secundum Natiuitatem after his Natiuitie then indeed the second yeare of Christ secundùm Natiuitatem must begin before the second yeare of Christes true Incarnation and so onward the Computation secundum Natiuitatem will begin a quarter of a yeare before the Computation from his Incarnation Although the first yeare of Christ secundum Natiuitatem which contayned but 7 daies began three quarters after the beginning of the first yeare of his Incarnation But heere first I say that in the common and vulgar Computation of Christendome the yeare of the Lord is not taken secundum Natiuitatem but secundum aetatem beginneth not at the first day of Ianuarie but at the 25 day of December which was the day of his Natiuitie as appeareth by the councell of Constance which putteth the 28 of December and the 11 of March both in one yeare And although the Astronomers and some other haue reduced the yeare of Christ to the vsuall yeare of the Romanes and beginne it with the beginning thereof that is at the first day of Ianuarie being the day of Christes Circumcision yet they doe not account those 7 daies