Previously Unpublished Works, Fascicles VI-VII

while the British dates were usually a week earlier. Thus, though there was not any official Roman rule (in 748 A. D. Anno Domini, "In the Year of the Lord." the Pope appears to have fixed a date for Easter which ran counter-like to the 84-year cycle and to the two rival 532-year cycles), a general impression of Roman use was produced, opposed to the British.

In the course of the discussions on the subject, a number of documents were forged, in Ireland mainly, in support of the various positions. Thus the prologue of St. Cyril (Krusch, Studies original: Studien, p. 337) is a Spanish forgery; the Acts of the Council of Caesarea original: Acta Concilii Caesariensis or the Synodical Epistle of Theophilus (Krusch, p. 310; see p. 220) is an Irish forgery of about 505 A. D.; Athanasius, On the Paschal Calculation original: De Ratione Paschali (Krusch, p. 329) is an Irish forgery of about 546 A. D.; Anatolius, On the Paschal Calculation original: De Ratione Paschali (Krusch, p. 311) is an Irish forgery of about 556 A. D., written against the Alexandrian 19-year cycle, which appears to have reached Ireland about that time (see English Historical Review original: Engl. Hist. Rev. x. (1895) 515, 699). A little after, the miracle of the Spanish fonts ¹ 577 and 590 A. D. is recorded in Gregory of Tours (History of the Franks original: Historia Francorum v. 17; x. 23); the Epistle of Cyril (Krusch, p. 344) is an Irish forgery of about 607 A. D., written against the 532-year cycle. From it the revelation to Pachomius and the moonstone story are obtained. Augustine, On the Wonders of Holy Scripture original: De Mirabilibus Sacrae Scripturae is an Irish forgery in favour of an 11-year cycle. After the Synod of Whitby (664 A. D.) the Northumbrian churches adopted the Roman use, and in 716 A. D. Iona came into line with the rest of the Christian World.

TREATISES ON THE COMPUTUS The mathematical and astronomical method used to calculate the date of Easter and other moveable feasts..

The oldest treatise on the Computus we have is the The Calculation of Easter original: De Pascha Computus of Cyprian (Corpus of Latin Ecclesiastical Writers original: Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum iii, part 3, pp. 248—271, ed. Hartel). The first educational treatise on the Computus preserved

¹ A miracle of the font at Meltinas in 417 A. D., recorded by Pascasius (Krusch, p. 247), supported an Easter on 22 April according to the Alexandrian rule, 21 April being the latest possible date by the Roman use, while the 84-year cycle gave 25 March. The miracle of the fonts at Osen was annual. In 577 A. D. the miracle supported the Victorian date A calculation based on the 532-year cycle of Victorius of Aquitaine. against the 84-year cycle on the one hand and the Alexandrian on the other. In 590 A. D. it supported the ‘Latini’ The Latins, referring to the followers of the Roman/Western rite. alternative of Victorius against the Alexandrian and 84-year cycle. From this it appears that the clergy of Osen used the Victorian cycle and retained the old Roman prejudice against 25 April (in 577 A. D gold.) and against an Easter on the fifteenth of the moon (590 A. D.). As late as 787 A. D. the Victorian date for Easter was adopted in Spain as against the Alexandrian.