Scandalous Error

The first comprehensive study on the history of calendar reform and calendrical astronomy in medieval Europe, this volume draws on a range of sources over a period of more than 1600 years, from the Julian calendar of 46/45 BC to the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582, to shed new light on the place of astronomy in medieval intellectual culture.

“It’s the statehouses, stupid.” Laboratories of Autocracy shows that far more than the high-profile antics of politicians like Marjorie Taylor Greene or Jim Jordan—and yes, even bigger than Donald Trump’s "Big Lie”—it’s anonymous, often corrupt politicians in statehouses across the country who pose the greatest dangers to American democracy. Because these statehouses no longer operate as functioning democracies, these unknown politicians have all the incentive to keep doing greater damage, and can not be held accountable however extreme they get. This has driven steep declines in states like Ohio and others across the country. And collectively, it’s placed American democracy in its greatest peril since the dawn of the Jim Crow era. But Pepper doesn’t stop there. He lays out a robust pro-democracy agenda outlining how everyone from elected officials to business leaders to everyday citizens can fight back.

Critical edition of previously unpublished works by a key philosopher of the fifteenth-century Low Countries Peter de Rivo (c.1420–1499), a renowned philosopher active at the University of Leuven, is today mostly remembered for his controversial role in the quarrel over future contingents (1465–1475). Much less known are his contributions to historical chronology, in particular his attempts to determine the dates of Christ’s birth and death. In 1471, Peter made an original contribution to this long-standing discussion with his Dyalogus de temporibus Christi, which reconciles conflicting views by rewriting the history of the Jewish and Christian calendars. Later in his career, Peter tackled the issue of calendar reform in his Reformacio kalendarii Romani (1488) and engaged in a heated debate with Paul of Middelburg on the chronology of Christ. This book edits the Dyalogus and Reformacio and sets out their context and transmission in an extensive historical introduction.