Sulpicius Severus's Construction of his 84-year Paschal Table

Abstract

The structure and termini of the 84-year Paschal table with a 14-year saltus followed by the early mediaeval churches of Britain and Ireland remained a matter of conjecture until 1985, when Daibhi O Croinin identified a full copy of the table in MS Padua, Biblioteca Antoniana, I.27. This paper undertakes a detailed analysis of the Padua table and demonstrates that its achievement of Anatolius’ Paschal termini of luna 14-20 between 26 March and 23 April resulted from Sulpicius Severus’ skilful exploitation of the synchronism between his 14-year saltus and the 28-year solar cycle.