Late antique calendrical thought and its reception in the Early Middle Ages
Subtitle: proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on the Science of Computus in Ireland and Europe, Galway, 16-18 July, 2010
By: edited by Immo Warntjes & Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
Contributors: Warntjes, Immo, editor; Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí, editor
Series: Studia traditionis theologiae -- 26; Studia traditionis theologiae -- 26.
Publisher: Brepols Publishers n.v.
Published: 2017
Place of publication: Turnhout, Belgium
Language: eng
Number of pages: 391
ISBN-13: 9782503577098
Copyright date: 2017
Subjects: Calendar; Congresses; History; Church calendar; Handschrift; Sankt Gallen; Stiftsbibliothek Sankt Gallen; Cod. 904; Computus
Description: Late antique and early medieval science is commonly defined by the 'quadrivium', the four subjects of the seven liberal arts relating to natural science: astronomy, geometry, arithmetic, and music. The seven-fold division of learning was designed in Late Antiquity by authors such as Martianus Capella, and these authors were studied intensively from the Carolingian age onwards. Because these subjects still have currency today, this leads to the anachronistic view that the 'artes' dominated intellectual thought in Late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages. Quite the contrary, the 'artes' were an idealized curriculum with limited application in practice. Certainly, the 'artes' do not help in our understanding of the intellectual endeavour between the early fifth and the late eighth centuries. This period was dominated by 'computus', a calendrical science with the calculation of Easter at its core. Only 'computus' provides a traceable continuation of scientific thought from Late Antiquity to the early Middle Ages. The key questions were the mathematical modeling of the course of the sun through the zodiac (the Julian calendar) and of the moon phases (in various lunar calendars). This volume highlights key episodes in the transmission of calendrical ideas in this crucial period, and therewith helps explaining the transformation of intellectual culture into its new medieval Christian setting.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 352-374) and index.

In English with one contribution in German.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : state of research on late antique and early medieval computus / Immo Warntjes; title: Towards a new edition of the computus of AD 243 / Alden A. Mosshammer; title: The initial year of De ratione paschali and the relevance of its paschal dates / Jan Zuidhoek; title: The paschal cycle of St Patrick / Daniel McCarthy; title: Felix of Squillace and the Dionysiac computus II : Rome, Gaul, and the insular world / Luciana Cuppo; title: Osterfest und Weltchronistik in den westgotischen Reichen / Brigitte Englisch; title: An addition to the Hiberno-Latin canon : De ratione temporum / David Howlett; title: Once in four : the leap year in early medieval thought / Marina Smyth; title: Chronologically confused : Claudius of Turin and the date of Christ's passion / C. Philipp E. Nothaft; title: What a difference a day makes : the eighth day of the week in book 10 of Hrabanus Maurus' De rerum naturis / Lisa Chen Obrist; title: Archbishop James Ussher (1581-1656) and the history of the Easter controversy / Dáibhí Ó Cróinín.