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1882
Volume 13, Issue 1
  • ISSN: 0373-6075
  • E-ISSN: 2507-0185
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Abstract

Abstract

La question du calcul de la date de Pâques fit l’objet de vifs débats durant les premiers siècles du christianisme et ne fut définitivement tranchée qu’aux alentours de 800 en faveur du calcul alexandrin / dionysien, qui s’imposa dans toute la chrétienté jusqu’à la réforme grégorienne du calendrier de 1582. Ce calcul, mis au point à Alexandrie à la fin du e siècle, fut généralisé dans l’Occident latin par Denis le Petit en 525. Il s’agit d’un cycle pascal de 532 ans, mais l’idée de fournir l’intégralité de ce cycle n’est devenue la norme qu’au e siècle. Avant cela, le calcul alexandrin / dionysien circulait sous la forme de tables de 95 ans. La plus ancienne de ces tables qui nous soit parvenue est attribuée à Cyrille d’Alexandrie et couvre les années 437-531. Elle fut continuée par une autre table, bien connue, attribuée à Denys le Petit et couvrant les années 532-626. Nous trouvons ensuite une troisième table pour 627-721 avant la représentation du comput pascal sous la forme d’une structure cyclique de 532 ans. Cette table pour 627-721 n’est conservée que dans une copie unique transmise par trois manuscrits : 3017 ; 5543 ; 10589. Le contexte dans lequel cette table nous est parvenue est constitué par les 6.17 d’Isidore de Séville. Cet article montre que cette table représente une continuation wisigothique du calcul alexandrin indépendante de la tradition dionysienne et retrace sa transmission depuis l’Espagne du e siècle jusqu’à la vallée de la Loire du e siècle en passant par l’Irlande.

Abstract

The question of how to calculate the date of Easter was a hotly debated issue in early Christianity. The matter was ultimately decided by around AD 800 in favour of the Alexandrian / Dionysian reckoning, which remained the unanimously accepted method throughout Christendom until the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582. It was invented in Alexandria in the late third century and was popularized in the Latin West by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525. It constituted a 532-year Easter cycle, but producing the full cycle only became fashionable in the eighth century. Before then, the Alexandrian / Dionysian reckoning circulated in 95-year tables. The most ancient surviving table is attributed to Cyril of Alexandria and covered the years AD 437-531. Its continuation, most famously attributed to Dionysius Exiguus, spanned the years AD 532-626. This was followed by a third table of AD 627-721, before this Easter reckoning was more appropriately represented by its 532-year cyclic structure. The 95-year table of AD 627-721 has survived in only one copy, transmitted in three manuscripts : 3017 ; 5543 ; 10589.The context in which this table survives is Isidore’s 6.17. The present article argues that this table presents a Visigothic continuation of the Alexandrian reckoning independent of the Dionysian tradition and traces its transmission from seventh-century Iberia through Ireland to the ninth-century Loire valley.

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2018-01-01
2025-12-05

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  • Article Type: Research Article

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