__NOTOC__ The menologem (, ''mēnológēma''), menologium (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

), or menologion (, ''mēnológion'') was a dating clause used in certain types of official acts of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

, such as the

prostagma A ''prostagma'' () or ''prostaxis'' (πρόσταξις), both meaning "order, command", were documents issued by the Byzantine imperial chancery bearing an imperial decision or command, usually on administrative matters. ''Prostaxis'' was the com ...

and

sigillion A ''sigillion'' (, plural ''sigillia'', σιγίλλια), was a type of legal document publicly affirmed with a seal, usually of lead. Origin and Byzantine usage The term ''sigillion'' derives from the Latin ''sigillum'', "seal", which quickly ca ...

. It recorded the month and the

indiction An indiction (, impost) was a periodic reassessment of taxation in the Roman Empire which took place every fifteen years. In Late Antiquity, this 15-year cycle began to be used to date documents and it continued to be used for this purpose in Med ...

(but not the day) and was always written by the issuer's own hand. It thus functioned as a signature. The

emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

alone was allowed to write the menologem in red ink, while the

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

was permitted to use black. Until the late thirteenth century, only the senior emperorif there was more than one bearing the title simultaneouslyhad the right to use red ink. In the fourteenth century, the Metropolitan of Thessalonike also used black. The earliest use of the menologem dates from the reign of

Constantine IV Constantine IV (); 650 – 10 July 685), called the Younger () and often incorrectly the Bearded () out of confusion with Constans II, his father, was Byzantine emperor from 668 to 685. His reign saw the first serious check to nearly 50 years ...

(654–85). It was discontinued by Manuel II in 1394, when he ordered the year of the world to be added to the date. Under the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantin ...

Frankokratia The Frankish Occupation (; anglicized as ), also known as the Latin Occupation () and, for the Venetian domains, Venetian Occupation (), was the period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204), when a number of primarily French ...

founded after the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

in 1204, a hybrid menologem was used in Latin documents. For example, on 5 August 1243 the Latin emperor Baldwin II authenticated a letter by writing a dating formula with his own hand in red ink, but he dropped the indiction and added to the day the year of the Lord, the place of signature (

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

), and his

regnal year A regnal year is a year of the reign of a sovereign, from the Latin meaning kingdom, rule. Regnal years 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 t ...

. Among the Byzantine successor states after 1204, the authentic red menologem of the emperors was kept alive only in the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea (), also known as the Nicene Empire, was the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by Walter Abel Heurtley, W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C ...

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* * * {{refend Medieval documents