Students of the Middle Ages all know that the Holy Roman Empire was, in the words of Voltaire, 'neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire'.

But did this agglomeration of medieval power and influence also saddle us with a bogus calendar?

Could an emperor – maybe two emperors, with the help of a friendly pope – have been responsible for shoving 297 years' worth of utterly fictitious history into our collective consciousness, there to fester and cause problems for innocent historical researchers? What year is it, anyway?

To be clear: the Phantom Time Hypothesis, originally by Heribert Illig and Hans-Ulrich Niemitz1, states that the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto III, in collusion with Pope Sylvester II, misdated the Western calendar in order to celebrate the end of the first millennium – 297 years early.


This theory claims that Otto and others then filled in the 'phantom time' with some pretty interesting, but totally imaginary, history.

What do tree rings tell us about a possible media conspiracy? What was Charlemagne – ideal ruler, or corporate myth? What secrets does the Aachen treasure room hold in addition to Jesus' underwear?

Inquiring minds want to know. The rest of you will just have to come along for the ride.

The Dark Ages - Who Turned Out the Lights?

The term 'Dark Ages' is in disrepute to describe the period between 500 and 1000 CE – Common Era. (For those unfamiliar with this politically correct term, the years are equivalent to 'Anno Domini', or 'AD'2).

During this period, it was formerly believed, Western Europeans did very little that would interest historians, or indeed anybody not directly related to them.

They produced almost no literature, art, or cultural artefacts. They made no appreciable progress in agriculture or technology. They didn't even have any interesting wars.

This bothered scholars.

What bothered them even more was that in the 7th, 8th, and 9th Centuries, there were no records to speak of.

Cities that one might assume to have been continuously inhabited, such as the German towns that were formerly Roman colonies, seem to have been empty of, say, market activity.

One could only conclude that, while there were obviously buildings there, churches and such, nobody ever came to town to sell a pig. Or at least, kept it a secret.

Then there were the Jews, who usually kept good community records. In the 6th Century, they were everywhere in Western Europe.

For about three centuries after that, they seem to have disappeared – only to show up again in exactly the same places. What could explain this? A shortage of parchment? A game of historical hide-and-seek?

By the 1980s, some people were taking a look at these historical puzzles, and asking themselves a few questions:

Why was there a three-century moratorium on building projects in Constantinople, of all places?
Is it reasonable to assume that Romanesque architecture was created more than half a millennium after the fall of the Roman Empire? Or that the Cathedral of Aachen was 200 years ahead of its time in innovation?
Where did everybody go?


In a number of fields – archaeology, history, palaeography – scholars had questions. Faced with the obvious answer that 'we don't know, it just happened', they wrote their studies around the puzzles – until someone challenged their assumptions.

The resulting mini-firestorm of discussion has not resulted in a movement to change the calendar from 2011 to 1714, but the Phantom Time Hypothesis, as it came to be called, has provided food for thought.

The Least You Need to Know about the Middle Ages

Before examining the claims of the Phantom Time Hypothesis, it is well to review the following unquestioned facts about the Middle Ages:

Literacy was not widespread. Since most people could not read or write, the ability to do so equalled power. You could write down anything you liked, as long as your fellow literates did not challenge you.
There are thousands of recognised forgeries from the Middle Ages. People forged wills, history texts, land deeds, etc, etc. In these cases, it is usually fairly easy to answer the question cui bono?3
Although it may seem counterintuitive, one of the biggest forgery factories during this period was the Church.
In this connection, it is well to mention the Donation of Constantine, a document which alleges that the Emperor Constantine (272-337 CE) died and left the pope in charge of vast amounts of land in Europe.
The usual date for this forgery is the 8th Century CE (if there was an 8th Century CE).
The Church did not only forge documents. Many, many churches throughout European Christendom have objects called relics – items which are said to have belonged to especially holy people, called saints, or to famous personages from the Christian Bible.
These items range from artefacts and utensils, such as the chains used to bind St Peter or the Crown of Thorns4, to more personal things such as body parts (John the Baptist's head) and drops of blood5.
To accept every single one of these objects as genuine is a matter of faith. To question the chain of evidence in their provenance – could these really be the bones of the Magi in that box? – is a question of forensic science and, one might claim, common sense.
Churches at this time vied hotly for the possession of relics. A recognised relic was a sign of legitimacy for the owner. They were not above stealing these things from one another
Nobody at this period owned a clock. To find out what day it was, they asked a priest. It was the Feast Day of Saint So-and-So. This was either a working day, or a holiday. That ended the discussion.


With these facts in mind, it is possible to follow the arguments of the Phantom Time Hypothesis.

more here

4,606,652,031
Our planet's timeline written in one million year increments.
http://earthdevelopslife.blogspot.com/ (Do Not Print)

Here is a list of different calendars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_calendars#List_of_calendars

Calendars are usually based on a 24 hour day. The problem is that the Earth has not always had a 24 hour day. It will continue to slow as time progresses.

The month has not always been the same either. The moon is slowly moving away from the Earth. Months in the past passed more quickly and months in the future will pass more slowly.

With Speed, there is a thing called time dilation. Time passes relative to the observer.

International Atomic Time (TAI) is a time scale that uses the combined output of some 400 highly precise atomic clocks. It provides the exact speed at which our clocks tick. Universal Time (UT1), also known as astronomical time. Based right now on the decay of a caesium atom.

A calendar is nothing more than a socially accepted delusion to allow humans to reference the past, acknowledge the present and plan for the future.

months and days depend on the moon.... it slowed the earth to a 24 hour clock from it's gravity... theories and studies suggest the Earth might not have developed life if the moon wasn't around...

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/moon-life-tides/


but this article is more about the churches deleting 300 years of history to make sure they can control people easier/better...

Oh...sorry. I got side tracked by your question of what year it is really.
LOL, I don't really care what churches or religions do...

Good article but a little incomplete. Gravity does have an effect on the rotation of the Earth but it is not only the Moon's (major) influence. It is many things in conjunction like universal gravitational waves and even the dynamics of our planet's core movement. Arguments could even include atmospheric drag.

I can't resist... There is even Side-real time.

Okay, back to your religious rant, I'll leave it alone...

agreed, but the churches influence about 4 billion people around us, so it makes it harder to not care what they do...

Agreed.

People tend to get caught up in the delusions and lies they are told. Never really living in the moment or in the reality of that which surrounds them.
Thus, people are full of drama and seriously stressed out over things that really have no direct affect on their present.

My recruiter lied to me when I joined the Navy. It is in the past and I can't change the past so actually, it is not very important to me.

The churches lied about many, many things and people accept those lies for any number of reasons. They build their lives around those lies and delusions and stress out when reality doesn't match their expectations.

To be in a society means you must acknowledge and conform to delusions that are socially accepted. To effectively participate with society the calendar needs to be accepted regardless if it is based in truth or lies. Until a more accurate system is developed and accepted we are forced to conform in order to be part of that society.