CHRISTIAN ERA, sometimes called the era of the incarnation, is now almost uni versally employed in Christian countries, and is used by some eastern nations. Its epoch, or commencement, is the 1st of Jan. in the fourth year of the 194th olympiad, the 753d year from the foundation of Rome, and the 4,714th of the Julian period. It is usually supposed to begin with the year of the birth of Christ, but there are various with regard to the year in which that event took place. The general opinion seems to be that Christ was born four years earlier than the dates now used imply. The C. E. was introduced into Italy in the 6th c., and began to be used in Gaul in the 8th c., though not generally used in England before the close of the 8th century. Before its introduction the usual practice in Latin countries was to distinguish the rears by their number in the indiction. In the C. E. the years are distinguished by Arabic numerals, those before the birth of Christ being marked B.C. (before Christ), or A.C. (ante Christum); and those after Christ A.D. (anno Domini, in the year of our Lord). There is difficulty in determining the years before Christ, since astronomers reckon the year preceding our era as the year 0 B.C., while chronologers call it 1 B.c. The latter seems to be correct, and by that method the leap years before Christ fall on the years 1, 5, 9, 13, etc., while those after Christ fall upon 4, 8, 12, etc. Dates of the C. E. are greatly confused by variations of time for the beginning of the year. Dionysius, who was the author of the C. E., began the first year on the 25th of Mar., or ou the day of the Annunciation to the virgin Mary, 9 months before the birth of Christ. By this calculation the C. E. began 9 months and 7 days before our year 1, which began on the 1st of January. This beginning the year on the 25th of Mar. was the prac tice in most Italian states as late (in Pisa) as 1745. It was adopted in some papal docu ments, and it was employed in France about the middle of the 11th century. In some instances the year was counted from the 25th of Mar. following our epoch, which would be 2 months and 24 days after our beginning of the era. A. few writers of the 6th and 7th centuries began the year on the 1st of January. In France, the practice as late as the middle of the 16th c. was to begin the year with Easter; but in 1663 Charles IX. directed that thereafter the year should commence on the 1st of January. Iu Germany, about the 11th c., it was usual to begin the year with Christmas, and this
practice prevailed at Milan, Rome, and other Italian cities in the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. In England, the practice of beginning the year at Christmas was intro duced in the 7th c., and traces of it are found down to the 13th century. Gervase of Canterbury mentions that most writers of his country agreed in regarding Christmas as the first day of the year, because it formed the term at which the sun finished and recommenced his annual course. This is a remnant of the old Norse religion. In the severely cold regions of Scandinavia the return of the sun from its extreme southern declination was hailed with great rejoicing; the great yule festival was held, and offer ings and thanksgiving marked the period. This was, of course, at the winter solstice, iu early ages very nearly on the day of Christmas. When Anschar and other Roman Catholic missionaries penetrated to Denmark, they eng-rafted upon the heathen yule the Christian Christmas, and for the return of the material sun they taught the rising of the son of God. Thus, the church Christmas may be the successor not only of the Roman saturnalia, but of the °clinic yule. The memory of the latter is still strong among the rural population of England. In England, in the 12th c., the practice prevailed of beginning the year on the Annunciation, the 25th of Mar., and that was the general practice until the reformation of the calendar, in 1751, by a parliamentary law, which directed that the year 1752 should be reckoned from the 1st of Jan., thus leaving 1751 nearly three months short. English authors, however, have endeavored to make the beginning of the historical year on the 1st of January. The liturgic year of the church of England began with the first Sunday in Advent, the Lord's day before Christmas. These variations in the commencement of the year lead to much confusion in dates.
The English revolution is popularly called the revolution of 1688;, but if we reckon , from the 1st of Jan., it began in 1639. In the tables of modern works on chronology, the birth of Christ is placed in the year 4 before Christ. Some recent chronologers of eminence place the Nativity nearer the Christian era. Eusebius dates the crucifixion in the year 33 A.D.; but Augustine, Origen, and others, place it in the year 29 A.D. In either case, the long-established date of the commencement of the C. E. is not altered. See CHRONOLOGY.
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