Medieval History

» Robin Fowler - This was a very intriguing article!

I wonder, were the Asian and Western calendars parallel at this point in history? If not, could that possibly explain the discrepancies of the records of the events between the cultures (even though the Asian records seem much more thorough)?

Thanks!
Robin

» thesnowleopard - This was a very intriguing article!

That's a possibility, too. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find out how, exactly, the Chinese calendar dates were determined, but I do know that the European dates were taken from sources several centuries later (later copies of earlier sources not being an uncommon occurance) and since the contested dates occur in the spring, they're not even sure that the sources originally date from 1054.

This is due to a medieval peculiarity of the calendar--the European calendar was based on the events of Jesus' life, but also partly on the old Roman Julian calendar. Depending on the convention the scribe or chronicler followed (frequently not spelled out), the New Year could begin anywhere between January 1 and April. So, dates within that period can't always be pinned down to an exact year.

One thing I wanted to caution about in the article is that while the Asian sources may seem much more thorough and accurate than the European ones on first glance, it's doubtful that they truly are "accurate" in the modern sense. You're talking about two cultures quite remote from ours, with very different priorities from ours in their recordkeeping.

Paula

-- posted by thesnowleopard