Peculiarities of the "date-line" in letters of business from medieval Spain.pdf The time in belles-lettres can be stretched, compressed, interrupted; the events can be interchanged in any order. The text of a letter of business, on the contrary, always indicates the real historical moment (day of the week, date, month, year) when the letter was written, i.e. its temporal coordinates, and also deals with the real historical events and refers to real persons. The "date-line" in letters of business (in Spanish "Lugar y Fecha" -"Place and Date") is not only a temporal, but also a spatial marker that indicates the time of events and their place. It is an important component of a letter of business that represents a reference point (the starting moment) in the text creation. Sometimes translators make mistakes in interpreting dates. One such error can be seen in the book 'Napoleon' by Yevgeny Tarle (a Soviet historian and academic at the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1874-1955) where the date of the first Vendemiaire of the IXth year is indicated as being the 20th of October 1800. This is wrong. On the 5th of October 1793 the National Convention decided to establish a new revolutionary calendar for France. The Christian system of chronology was removed. The National Convention ordered that years should be counted from when the monarchy was destroyed and the republic proclaimed, i.e. the 22nd of September 1792. The poet Fabre d'Eglantine invented new names for each of the twelve months. Thus, the first, Vendemiaire can be only in September, not before the 22nd and not later than 24th, i.e. on the 22nd or 23rd of September [1: 126, 154]. One can also encounter difficulties when decoding dates in letters of business from Medieval Spain. For example, a letter written by the abbot Pedro from the monastery of Onia is dated as "Facta carta en el mes de Dez-iembre. Sub era millesima ducentesima octuagesima tertia" [2: 389]. - "The letter was written (made) in December in 1283 of the era" (here and further the translation is mine. - S.B.). In the original text (picture 1) the year is expressed in Roman figures and clearly reads MCCLXXXIII (M = 1 000, C = 100, L = 50, X = 10). ?cc- hzr %y Picture 1. Source: [2: 161] However while decoding the letter we found it difficult to interpret. The author mentions Fernando III ("El re don Fernando con su mugier la reina donna Juana regnant en Castiella et en Toledo, et en Leon, et en Gal-lizia, et en Cordoua" [Ibid: 389]. - "King Fernando and his wife, Queen Juana, governors of Castile, Toledo, Leone, Galicia and Cordoba..."). This indirect temporal indicator (king's name) does not allow for the consideration of the numbers 1283 as a real year from the point of view of modern chronological system because King Fernando III died in 1252 AD and so was not on the throne in 1283. It is necessary to explain that before the Christian system of chronology, known as Anno Domini (AD) or the "years of the incarnation", a pagan system was used. This was the medieval chronological system, the so-called Hispanic era (in the document this is indicated by Sub era). It is also called the chronology of Visigoths. This chronological system was widely used in Europe from the Vth till the XVth century. To bring the years by Hispanic era (or just ERA) into accord with the modern chronological system one should subtract 38 years as the Hispanic era began in 38 BC. This must be kept in mind when decoding the date on which medieval documents were written. Thus, the letter by the abbot Pedro from Onia was written in 1245 AD. Many researchers have attempted to explain why it is this period of time which separates the modern era from the Hispanic era. A. Vila, for example, believes that the Hispanic era began with the conquest of the peninsula by Emperor Augustus. According to Vila, the Pyrenees were conquered by the Roman Empire 716 years after Rome was founded, i.e. in 38 BC [3]. In this connection the Soviet scientific Shishmarev writes that the Roman troops first appeared on the territory of the Iberian Peninsula in 218 BC; finally Spain was subdued by Rome in 17/19 AD [4: 45]. R. Chao Prieto [5], a specialist in the medieval kingdom of Leon, does not agree that the beginning of the Hispanic era is linked to Augustus because the dates do not coincide. Also, the Asturian-Cantabrian wars had not begun yet. U. Topper also argues that the true reason for choosing 38 years BC as a starting point for the Hispanic era has not been determined until recently [6]. Thus, it must be noted that the problem of date decoding in the Hispanic era system has not been resolved yet. Nevertheless, we will offer our own version. There is a point of view that the word era ('aera' in Latin) is an abbreviation and that the initial letters come from the Latin phrase "Ab exordio regni Augusti", which translates to "From the beginning of the Augustus' reign" [1: 143]. It is known that Caesar Augustus (63 BC - 14 AD, born Gaius Octavius) became the Roman emperor in 27 BC. The title 'August', which means "exalted by God", was given to him by the Senate. With regards to his personal life, 38 BC is an important date for Augustus as he married Livia Drusilla. We can assume that the Hispanic era is linked to this date because Livia Drusilla was not simply his third wife. She took an active part in state affairs, acting as an advisor and an assistant to Augustus. She is responsible for some of the most famous personalities of the period: she was the mother of Emperor Tiberius, the grandmother of Emperor Claudius and the great-grandmother of Emperors Caligula and Nero. Livia was even deified by Emperor Claudius. The history shows that commonly, the wives of great people stay in the shadows but concurrently have a great influence on their famous husbands. It is they who are the real creative or destructive power behind changes to the world. In letters of business from the Middle Age, written in the Castilian Romance (ancient Spanish), the "date-line" consists of two standard components (as in modern business letters): the geographic (spatial) component, formed with concrete and / or non-concrete elements, and the temporal (chronological) one, generally formed with three parts usually in the following order: day, month and year of letter writing. Since the reign of Castilian King Fernando III (1217-1252), who initiated the use of the national Castilian language in royal documentation, the date was introduced by the words Fecha (that means "done") or Dada ("given"). The name of the town (spatial component) and the date (chronological component) follow after a general introduction such as: Model 1: "Fecha carta apud Toletum rege experimente XXVI die aprilis era MCCLXX sexta" [7: 62]. - The letter of the Castilian King Fernando III. - "Written in Toledo (concrete element of the spatial component) on the 26th of April in the year 1276 of the (Hispanic) era (= 1238 AD)". Model 2: Dada en Maydrit, viernes ocho dias de noviembre era de mill e trezientos e siete annos [7: 62]. - The letter of the Castilian King Alfonso X. - "Written in Madrid, on Friday on the 8 of November in the year 1307 of the (Hispanic) era (= 1269 AD)". Model 3: "...mando dar esta mi carta abierta et sellada con mio seel-lo colgado dada en la ciutat de Castiella veynte et cinco dias de Febrero era de mill et tresientos et dies et nueue annos..." [2: 398]. - The letter of the Castilian King Alfonso X. - "I order you to hand over this open letter certified with my seal, written in the town of Castilia on the 25th of February in the year 1319 of the (Hispanic) era (= 1281 AD)..." The spatial component in the Model 3 consists of two clarifying elements. One is concrete, the name of the town, and another is non-concrete, the word la ciutat ("town") which contains the spatial meaning. The day, month and year are parts of the direct chronological component. They are written in letters (not in figures). The year is accompanied by the noun annos that means "year". In the earlier letters, written in the mix of languages Latin and ancient Castilian (in the middle of the Fernando Ill's governing) the Latin words "Factum" and "Datum" are used to indicate the date. Model 4: "Datum apud Burgum, Rege exprimente. Decimo tertio die Madii. Era millesima ducentesima sexagesima nona" [Ibid: 385]. - The letter of the Castilian King Fernando III dated by 1231. - "[The letter is] written in Burgos, during the king's governing, on the 13 th of May in the year 1269 of the (Hispanic) era" (picture 2). Picture 2. Source: [2: 152] Model 5: "Facta carta apud Valladolit, nono die Octobris, Rege exprimente. Era millesima ducentesima septuagesima sexta" [Ibid: 386]. - The letter of the Castilian King Fernando III dated by 1238. - "The letter is written in Valladolid, on the 9th of October, during the king's governing, in the year 1276 of the (Hispanic) era" (picture 3). Picture 3. Source: [2: 153] We can see in the fragments of the manuscripts (Model 4 - picture 2; Model 5 - picture 3) that the days are written in Roman figures (XIII and VIIII correspondingly) accompanied by the word die ("day"); months are written in letters (madii and Octobr); the years are written in a mixed manner: in figures and in letters (MCCLX nona and MCCLXX sexta). In letters of business from the Middle Age, written in the Castilian Romance, the year can be expressed both with Roman figures (Model 6 -picture 4) and with letters (Model 7 - picture 5). In case of figures there is no word anno ("year"), and vice versa the word anno is added when the year is expressed with letters. Model 6: "Data en Ouiedo decima tertia kalendas Octobrium. Era millesima ducentesima octuagesima nona" [2: 391]. - The letter of the Ovie-do bishop of the 19th September of 1251. - "Written in Oviedo on the thirteenth kalendae of October. In the year 1289 of the (Hispanic) era". li^UlWf Tjjftftig®* %еГ ДэГг е^ф^ Picture 4. Source: [2: 165] Model 7: "Fecha la carta en Burgos, por mandado del Rey, veinticin-co dias andados del mes de Deziembre en Era de mil et dozientos et nouaen-ta et dos annos" [Ibid: 391]. - The letter of the Castilian King Alfonso X dated by 1254. - "The letter is written in Bourgos, by order of the king, on the 25th of December in the year 1292 of the (Hispanic) era". ^^ШжкЛloji5«»e

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