The ''Chronicon Ambrosianum'' () or ''Chronica parva Ambrosianum'' ("short Ambrosian chronicle") is a set of exceedingly terse

medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

annals Annals (, from , "year") are a concise history, historical record in which events are arranged chronology, chronologically, year by year, although the term is also used loosely for any historical record. Scope The nature of the distinction betw ...

that, together with the '' Annales Compostellani'' and the '' Chronicon Burgense'', forms a group of related histories. These were collectively labelled the ''Efemérides riojanas'' by Manuel Gómez-Moreno, who thought they had been compiled in

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

. The ''Chronicon'' is named after the

Biblioteca Ambrosiana The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose age ...

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, where its manuscript was discovered. It was first published by

Ludovico Antonio Muratori Lodovico Antonio Muratori (21 October 1672 – 23 January 1750), commonly referred to in Latin as Muratorius, was an Italian Catholic priest, notable as historian and a leading scholar of his age, and for his discovery of the Muratorian fragmen ...

. The ''Chronicon'' contains a list of ten

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

s with the names of their saints and seventeen years, each described by one event. The first event, in Era 38, is the

nativity of Jesus The Nativity or birth of Jesus Christ is found in the biblical gospels of Gospel of Matthew, Matthew and Gospel of Luke, Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, in Herodian kingdom, Roman-controlled Judea, th ...

. Besides deaths, the only events mentioned are the

Massacre of the Innocents The Massacre (or Slaughter) of the Innocents is a story recounted in the Nativity narrative of the Gospel of Matthew ( 2:16– 18) in which Herod the Great, king of Judea, orders the execution of all male children who are two years old and u ...

(Era 47), the

passion of Jesus The Passion (from Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy Week. The ''Passion'' may include, amo ...

(Era 69), the assumption of

John the Evangelist John the Evangelist ( – ) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Gospel of John. Christians have traditionally identified him with John the Apostle, John of Patmos, and John the Presbyter, although there is no consensus on how ...

(Era 108), and the prophesying of

Mohammed Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, ...

(Era 656). The final year (Era 1208, that is, AD 1170), though it is placed out of chronological order, is the death of

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

. The last event in the list is the death of Juan de Ortega (''Johannes de Urteca'', Era 1201, that is, 1163).

Editions

*In

, ed. ''Rerum italicarum scriptores'', II (Milan: 1724), col. 1024. *In

Enrique Flórez Enrique or Henrique Flórez de Setién y Huidobro (July 21, 1702August 20, 1773) was a Spanish historian. Biography Flórez was born in Villadiego. At 15 years old, he entered the order of St Augustine. He subsequently became professor of theol ...

, ed. ''España Sagrada''
XXIII
(Madrid: 1767), 304–5. *In Miguel Bravo Tedín, ed. ''Efemérides riojanas''. La Rioja: Editorial Canguro, 1992.

References

*Conerly, Porter (1993). "Cronicones," p. 469. ''Dictionary of the Literature of the Iberian Peninsula'', vol. 1. Germán Bleiberg, Maureen Ihrie, and Janet Pérez, edd. (Greenwood Publishing Group, {{ISBN, 0-313-28731-7). Texts in Latin