Roman Numerals

[Lindad]

We've just returned from three days of searching parish Records in the Wiltshire Records Office. Fascinating!

However, we're confused about the dates given on some of the very early parish records which are in Roman numerals. We were OK with all all the usual X I V C L etc. but some of them said something like xxiij.

Quite a few of them mentioned a 'j'. Does anyone know what this means?

[Rod Neep]

A "j" is the same as an "i"

In many documents its main usage appears as the last "i" where there is more than one (but it can also appear on its own):

e.g.

ij
iij
vij
viij
xij

Also see here on the British-Genealogy.com pages for NUMBERS (http://www.british-genealogy.com/resources/registers/registers/readnumbers.htm#numbers)

Regards
Rod

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

We've just returned from three days of searching parish Records in the Wiltshire Records Office. Fascinating!

However, we're confused about the dates given on some of the very early parish records which are in Roman numerals. We were OK with all all the usual X I V C L etc. but some of them said something like xxiij.

Quite a few of them mentioned a 'j'. Does anyone know what this means?

Lindad, your timing is brilliant! :) Yesterday, I obtained some transcriptions for Emley Parish in Yorkshire and although I'm OK with the latin names used for Charles, William etc. the words for son, daughter and widow, the j you referred to, also had me confused! :D

Many thanks Rod and Myth |hug| for the explanation ..... plus the link you gave Rod! I've just heaved a sigh of relief now, as I'm all sorted!

[Guy Etchells]

For those who can't be bothered working it out you could type the numeral in at
http://www.guernsey.net/%7Esgibbs/roman.html
Cheers
Guy

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

For those who can't be bothered working it out you could type the numeral in at
http://www.guernsey.net/%7Esgibbs/roman.html
Cheers
Guy

|hug| Guy ..... thanks for the link, I've saved it for lazy days! ;)

[Pam Downes]

Thank you Guy for that brilliant link.
I've just done the test and scored XVII out of XX, and the calculator is a hoot. M divided by C equals X :D
Pam Downes

[Lindad]

That's great! Thanks everyone!

[Clive Blackaby]

I found myself momentarily totally confuddled by the entries in some Devon parish records where the dates were recorded as (e.g.)

1 VIIber
25 Xber
I eventually figured it, but what sort of warped brain ......

Ah... be careful about these!

VIIIber (also written 8ber) is the 8th month... right? August
Actually... no. it is October! (8=Oct)

and Xber (10ber) is December.

For more of this type of stuff, see
http://www.british-genealogy.com/resources/registers/registers/readnumbers.htm

Regards
Rod