Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 132

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Volume 4, Page 132

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[001] But we must see how that day is to be understood in a leap year, because of the
[002] two days which are counted under the same sign and the same letter, of which [the
[003] first],¹ which is called the excrescent day, terminates and completes the period of the
[004] four preceding years and is counted among the days of that period, now passed,
[005] which amount to 1460² and make four ‘minor’ years, to which the one day, made up
[006] of the four quarters,³ is added in order to make the aforesaid four years full and
[007] ‘major.’ It is called the excrescent day, and must be counted within the period of the
[008] aforesaid four years preceding.⁴ There is also a second day under the same letter,
[009] which is the head and the beginning of the four subsequent years, which if it were
[010] counted within the period of the four preceding years, the excrescent day being taken
[011] from the middle and not counted, by reason of any quarter or fourth, the day for
[012] appearing at the Tower would thus be the 367th,⁵ which ought not to be, since the
[013] excrescent day is to be counted⁶ by reason of its quarter or fourth, and thus in a
[014] leap year it will be a lawful day for appearing, so that no more days are contained in
[015] a leap year than 366, just as in other years which are not leap years. Both days are
[016] included under the same letter, of which one, ⁷<that is, the excrescent day in a leap
[017] year, ends the period of the four preceding years and [the other] marks the beginning
[018] of the period of the following four years, just as in a minor year⁸ the preceding year
[019] ends, because of the six hours, on the same day on which the following year begins,
[020] because of the 18 hours,>⁹ is counted and not counted,¹⁰ from different points of
[021] view. The excrescent day is not counted

Notes

1. As Schulz, 294, 297

2. ‘et sexaginta’

3. ‘quadrantibus’; infra 134

4. ‘et qui dicitur . . . praece-dentibus,’ transposed supra 131, n. 7

5. ‘tricesimo’

6. Om: ‘intra . . . praecedentium’

7. Supra i, 414

8. ‘sicut in anno minore,’ from line 23

9. Om: ‘et idem . . . dat’

10. ‘computabilis [est] et non computabilis’