Bracton: Thorne Edition: English. Volume 4, Page 134

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Volume 4, Page 134

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[001] at dusk, for the same reason, the third at midnight and the fourth at dawn.¹ But if
[002] the computation is made of the calendar² year, properly speaking by letters, it is
[003] otherwise; the day always precedes and the night follows³ [and] the conventional
[004] year⁴ begins at dawn and is terminated [at dawn], as above. From the foregoing it is
[005] manifestly clear that the essoinee ought to appear at the Tower on the 366th⁵ day;
[006] not earlier, lest he be in default because he has not properly observed ‘languor,’ [and]
[007] not later than on the 366th day,⁵ [according to some], lest he be in default because
[008] he has not observed the day given him at the Tower.⁶ Therefore he may safely appear
[009] on the 366th day, [according to [others] on [the 367th], that is, the first day after
[010] the natural year, which contains within itself the minor conventional year and one
[011] day,]⁷ both in a leap year as well as in the other three preceding years, for in this
[012] respect they do not differ in any way.⁸ In truth, the circle of the conventional or
[013] minor⁹ year is made in the manner and likeness of a snake without a tail, nor will the
[014] year be complete, nor may the body, which is the conventional year and consists of
[015] 365 days, be joined to the head unless the tail is added to it. The tail may be said to be
[016] the six hours which are lacking, that from a conventional year, which contains 365
[017] days, and from the six hours,¹⁰ that is the fourth part¹¹ of a day, a natural year may be
[018] made,¹² which contains the conventional year and one day by reason of the aforesaid
[019] six hours. Thus the circle of the natural year will be in the manner and likeness
[020] of a snake having its tail in its mouth, as may be seen by the calendar¹³ [and] the
[021] calculation of the letters and signs by which the days of the year are designated.
[022] Let us examine therefore every period of four years, that it may be known how each
[023] individual natural year begins and how it is ended. It begins under the same sign
[024] or the same letter and ends under the same sign, which may be called ‘in the
[025] snake's mouth.’ If you begin to calculate from letter B., making the calculation of
[026] 365 days and adding one quarter, which¹⁴ ought to be taken from the day contained
[027] under the sign B., a natural year is formed.¹⁵ In making the computation of the
[028] second year, because of the three quarters which still remain from the future period,
[029] let a quarter

Notes

1. Om: ‘ita ut . . . constat’; ‘ex illis . . . artificiali,’ supra 133, n. 14

2. ‘kalendaris’; cf. Schulz, 301-2

3. Om: ‘ideo vice versa . . . computationem’

4. ‘incipit annus (Schulz, 302) usualis’

5. ‘tricesimo’

6. B.N.B., iii, 300-1

7. ‘et secundum . . . unum diem,’ from lines 12-14; B.N.B., iii, 300, Schulz, 303

8. Supra 91, 132

9. ‘minoris’; Schulz, 303

10. ‘horis’

11. ‘quarta parte’; the MSS in the n. opposite all read ‘quarta’

12. Schulz, 296, 303

13. ‘kalendarem’

14. ‘quae’

15. Om: ‘annus . . . dicuntur’