Regnal year

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A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign. From Latin regnum meaning kingdom, rule.

The oldest dating systems were in regnal years, and considered the date as an ordinal, not a cardinal number. For example, a monarch could have a first year of rule, a second year of rule, a third, and so on, but a zero year of rule would be nonsense. Applying this ancient epoch system to modern calculations of time, which include zero, is what lead to the debate over when the third millennium began.

Reckoning in various cultures

In ancient times, calendars were counted in terms of the number of years of the reign of the current monarch. The oldest such reckoning is preserved in the Sumerian king list.

In England, and later the United Kingdom, until 1963, each Act of Parliament was defined by its serial number within the regnal year in which it was enacted. Each regnal year begins on the anniversary of the day the sovereign succeeded to the throne. A table of English regnal years, from 1066 to 1962, is given here

The Zoroastrian calendar also operated with regnal years following the reform of Ardashir I (3rd century).

Asian era names

Japanese

The official Japanese system or Nengo numbers years from the accession of the current emperor, regarding the calendar year during which the accession occurred as the first year. The current emperor Akihito succeeded to the throne in 1989, and the new era name Heisei was decreed by the Cabinet. Thus that year corresponds to . The system was in use sporadically from 645 and continuously from 701. Until 1867 several were used during each emperor's reign. From 1868 only one era name has been used by each emperor. Since 1868, each emperor has been known posthumously by his era name.

Chinese

The Chinese eras or Nian Hao were used sporadically from 156 BC and continuously from 140 BC. Until 1367 several were used during each emperor's reign. From 1368 until 1912 only one era name was used by each emperor, who was posthumously known by his era name.

Korean

Korean eras were used from 536 to 963 and from 1894 to 1910. At least from 1894 to 1897, years were also numbered from the founding of the Joseon Dynasty in 1393, hence with years numbered 5nn. From 1952 until 1961 years were numbered via Dangi years, where 2333 BC was regarded as the first such year.

Notable king lists

External links

Regnal Chronologies

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Last updated on Thursday March 13, 2008 at 14:39:42 PDT (GMT -0700)
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