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Gottlob Frege

Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege (8 November 1848 – 26 July 1925) was a German philosopher, logician, and mathematician. He was a mathematics professor at the University of Jena, and is understood by many to be the father of analytic philosophy, concentrating on the philosophy of language, logic, and mathematics. Though he was largely ignored during his lifetime, Giuseppe Peano (1858–1932), Bertrand Russell (1872–1970), and, to some extent, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951) introduced his work to later generations of philosophers. Frege is widely considered to be the greatest logician since Aristotle, and one of the most profound philosophers of mathematics ever.

His contributions include the development of modern logic in the Begriffsschrift and work in the foundations of mathematics. His book the Foundations of Arithmetic is the seminal text of the logicist project, and is cited by Michael Dummett as where to pinpoint the linguistic turn. His philosophical papers "On Sense and Reference" and "The Thought" are also widely cited. The former argues for two different types of meaning and descriptivism. In Foundations and "The Thought", Frege argues for Platonism against psychologism or formalism, concerning numbers and propositions respectively.

Childhood (1848–69)
Frege was born in 1848 in Wismar, Mecklenburg-Schwerin (today part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). His father Carl (Karl) Alexander Frege (1809–1866) was the co-founder and headmaster of a girls' high school until his death. After Carl's death, the school was led by Frege's mother Auguste Wilhelmine Sophie Frege (née Bialloblotzky, 12 January 1815 – 14 October 1898); her mother was Auguste Amalia Maria Ballhorn, a descendant of Philipp Melanchthon and her father was Johann Heinrich Siegfried Bialloblotzky, a descendant of a Polish noble family who left Poland in the 17th century. Frege was a Lutheran.

In childhood, Frege encountered philosophies that would guide his future scientific career. For example, his father wrote a textbook on the German language for children aged 9–13, entitled Hülfsbuch zum Unterrichte in der deutschen Sprache für Kinder von 9 bis 13 Jahren (2nd ed., Wismar 1850; 3rd ed., Wismar and Ludwigslust: Hinstorff, 1862) (Help book for teaching German to children from 9 to 13 years old), the first section of which dealt with the structure and logic of language.

Frege studied at and graduated in 1869. His teacher Gustav Adolf Leo Sachse (5 November 1843 – 1 September 1909), who was a poet, played the most important role in determining Frege's future scientific career, encouraging him to continue his studies at the University of Jena.

Studies at University (1869–74)
Frege matriculated at the University of Jena in the spring of 1869 as a citizen of the North German Confederation. In the four semesters of his studies he attended approximately twenty courses of lectures, most of them on mathematics and physics. His most important teacher was Ernst Karl Abbe (1840–1905; physicist, mathematician, and inventor). Abbe gave lectures on theory of gravity, galvanism and electrodynamics, complex analysis theory of functions of a complex variable, applications of physics, selected divisions of mechanics, and mechanics of solids. Abbe was more than a teacher to Frege: he was a trusted friend, and, as director of the optical manufacturer Carl Zeiss AG, he was in a position to advance Frege's career. After Frege's graduation, they came into closer correspondence.

His other notable university teachers were Christian Philipp Karl Snell (1806–86; subjects: use of infinitesimal analysis in geometry, analytic geometry of planes, analytical mechanics, optics, physical foundations of mechanics); Hermann Karl Julius Traugott Schaeffer (1824–1900; analytic geometry, applied physics, algebraic analysis, on the telegraph and other electronic machines); and the philosopher Kuno Fischer (1824–1907; Kantian and critical philosophy).

Starting in 1871, Frege continued his studies in Göttingen, the leading university in mathematics in German-speaking territories, where he attended the lectures of Rudolf Friedrich Alfred Clebsch (1833–72; analytic geometry), Ernst Christian Julius Schering (1824–97; function theory), Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1804–91; physical studies, applied physics), Eduard Riecke (1845–1915; theory of electricity), and Hermann Lotze (1817–81; philosophy of religion). Many of the philosophical doctrines of the mature Frege have parallels in Lotze; it has been the subject of scholarly debate whether or not there was a direct influence on Frege's views arising from his attending Lotze's lectures.

In 1873, Frege attained his doctorate under Ernst Christian Julius Schering, with a dissertation under the title of "Ueber eine geometrische Darstellung der imaginären Gebilde in der Ebene" ("On a Geometrical Representation of Imaginary Forms in a Plane"), in which he aimed to solve such fundamental problems in geometry as the mathematical interpretation of projective geometry's infinitely distant (imaginary) points.

Frege married Margarete Katharina Sophia Anna Lieseberg (15 February 1856 – 25 June 1904) on 14 March 1887. The couple had at least two children, who unfortunately died when young. Years later they adopted a son, Alfred. Little else is known about Frege's family life, however.

Work as a logician
Though his education and early mathematical work focused primarily on geometry, Frege's work soon turned to logic. His marked a turning point in the history of logic. The Begriffsschrift broke new ground, including a rigorous treatment of the ideas of functions and variables. Frege's goal was to show that mathematics grows out of logic, and in so doing, he devised techniques that separated him from the Aristotelian syllogistic but took him rather close to Stoic propositional logic.

In effect, Frege invented axiomatic predicate logic, in large part thanks to his invention of quantified variables, which eventually became ubiquitous in mathematics and logic, and which solved the problem of multiple generality. Previous logic had dealt with the logical constants and, or, if... then..., not, and some and all, but iterations of these operations, especially "some" and "all", were little understood: even the distinction between a sentence like "every boy loves some girl" and "some girl is loved by every boy" could be represented only very artificially, whereas Frege's formalism had no difficulty expressing the different readings of "every boy loves some girl who loves some boy who loves some girl" and similar sentences, in complete parallel with his treatment of, say, "every boy is foolish".

A frequently noted example is that Aristotle's logic is unable to represent mathematical statements like Euclid's theorem, a fundamental statement of number theory that there are an infinite number of prime numbers. Frege's "conceptual notation", however, can represent such inferences. The analysis of logical concepts and the machinery of formalization that is essential to Principia Mathematica (3 vols., 1910–13, by Bertrand Russell, 1872–1970, and Alfred North Whitehead, 1861–1947), to Russell's theory of descriptions, to Kurt Gödel's (1906–78) incompleteness theorems, and to Alfred Tarski's (1901–83) theory of truth, is ultimately due to Frege.

One of Frege's stated purposes was to isolate genuinely logical principles of inference, so that in the proper representation of mathematical proof, one would at no point appeal to "intuition". If there was an intuitive element, it was to be isolated and represented separately as an axiom: from there on, the proof was to be purely logical and without gaps. Having exhibited this possibility, Frege's larger purpose was to defend the view that arithmetic is a branch of logic, a view known as logicism: unlike geometry, arithmetic was to be shown to have no basis in "intuition", and no need for non-logical axioms. Already in the 1879 Begriffsschrift important preliminary theorems, for example, a generalized form of law of trichotomy, were derived within what Frege understood to be pure logic.

This idea was formulated in non-symbolic terms in his The Foundations of Arithmetic (Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik, 1884). Later, in his Basic Laws of Arithmetic (Grundgesetze der Arithmetik, vol. 1, 1893; vol. 2, 1903; vol. 2 was published at his own expense), Frege attempted to derive, by use of his symbolism, all of the laws of arithmetic from axioms he asserted as logical. Most of these axioms were carried over from his Begriffsschrift, though not without some significant changes. The one truly new principle was one he called the Basic Law V: the "value-range" of the function f(x) is the same as the "value-range" of the function g(x) if and only if ∀x[f(x) = g(x)].

The crucial case of the law may be formulated in modern notation as follows. Let {x|Fx} denote the extension of the predicate Fx, that is, the set of all Fs, and similarly for Gx. Then Basic Law V says that the predicates Fx and Gx have the same extension if and only if ∀x[Fx ↔ Gx]. The set of Fs is the same as the set of Gs just in case every F is a G and every G is an F. (The case is special because what is here being called the extension of a predicate, or a set, is only one type of "value-range" of a function.)

In a famous episode, Bertrand Russell wrote to Frege, just as Vol. 2 of the Grundgesetze was about to go to press in 1903, showing that Russell's paradox could be derived from Frege's Basic Law V. It is easy to define the relation of membership of a set or extension in Frege's system; Russell then drew attention to "the set of things x that are such that x is not a member of x". The system of the Grundgesetze entails that the set thus characterised both is and is not a member of itself, and is thus inconsistent. Frege wrote a hasty, last-minute Appendix to Vol. 2, deriving the contradiction and proposing to eliminate it by modifying Basic Law V. Frege opened the Appendix with the exceptionally honest comment: "Hardly anything more unfortunate can befall a scientific writer than to have one of the foundations of his edifice shaken after the work is finished. This was the position I was placed in by a letter of Mr. Bertrand Russell, just when the printing of this volume was nearing its completion." (This letter and Frege's reply are translated in Jean van Heijenoort 1967.)

Frege's proposed remedy was subsequently shown to imply that there is but one object in the universe of discourse, and hence is worthless (indeed, this would make for a contradiction in Frege's system if he had axiomatized the idea, fundamental to his discussion, that the True and the False are distinct objects; see, for example, Dummett 1973), but recent work has shown that much of the program of the Grundgesetze might be salvaged in other ways:
 * Basic Law V can be weakened in other ways. The best-known way is due to philosopher and mathematical logician George Boolos (1940–1996), who was an expert on the work of Frege. A "concept" F is "small" if the objects falling under F cannot be put into one-to-one correspondence with the universe of discourse, that is, unless: ∃R[R is 1-to-1 & ∀x∃y(xRy & Fy)]. Now weaken V to V*: a "concept" F and a "concept" G have the same "extension" if and only if neither F nor G is small or ∀x(Fx ↔ Gx). V* is consistent if second-order arithmetic is, and suffices to prove the axioms of second-order arithmetic.
 * Basic Law V can simply be replaced with Hume's principle, which says that the number of Fs is the same as the number of Gs if and only if the Fs can be put into a one-to-one correspondence with the Gs. This principle, too, is consistent if second-order arithmetic is, and suffices to prove the axioms of second-order arithmetic. This result is termed Frege's theorem because it was noticed that in developing arithmetic, Frege's use of Basic Law V is restricted to a proof of Hume's principle; it is from this, in turn, that arithmetical principles are derived. On Hume's principle and Frege's theorem, see "Frege's Logic, Theorem, and Foundations for Arithmetic".
 * Frege's logic, now known as second-order logic, can be weakened to so-called predicative second-order logic. Predicative second-order logic plus Basic Law V is provably consistent by finitistic or constructive methods, but it can interpret only very weak fragments of arithmetic.

Frege's work in logic had little international attention until 1903 when Russell wrote an appendix to The Principles of Mathematics stating his differences with Frege. The diagrammatic notation that Frege used had no antecedents (and has had no imitators since). Moreover, until Russell and Whitehead's Principia Mathematica (3 vols.) appeared in 1910–13, the dominant approach to mathematical logic was still that of George Boole (1815–64) and his intellectual descendants, especially Ernst Schröder (1841–1902). Frege's logical ideas nevertheless spread through the writings of his student Rudolf Carnap (1891–1970) and other admirers, particularly Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951).

Philosopher
Frege is one of the founders of analytic philosophy, whose work on logic and language gave rise to the linguistic turn in philosophy. His contributions to the philosophy of language include:
 * Function and argument analysis of the proposition;
 * Distinction between concept and object (Begriff und Gegenstand);
 * Principle of compositionality;
 * Context principle; and
 * Distinction between the sense and reference (Sinn und Bedeutung) of names and other expressions, sometimes said to involve a mediated reference theory.

As a philosopher of mathematics, Frege attacked the psychologistic appeal to mental explanations of the content of judgment of the meaning of sentences. His original purpose was very far from answering general questions about meaning; instead, he devised his logic to explore the foundations of arithmetic, undertaking to answer questions such as "What is a number?" or "What objects do number-words ('one', 'two', etc.) refer to?" But in pursuing these matters, he eventually found himself analysing and explaining what meaning is, and thus came to several conclusions that proved highly consequential for the subsequent course of analytic philosophy and the philosophy of language.

Sense and reference
Frege's 1892 paper, "On Sense and Reference" ("Über Sinn und Bedeutung"), introduced his influential distinction between sense ("Sinn") and reference ("Bedeutung", which has also been translated as "meaning", or "denotation"). While conventional accounts of meaning took expressions to have just one feature (reference), Frege introduced the view that expressions have two different aspects of significance: their sense and their reference.

Reference (or "Bedeutung") applied to proper names, where a given expression (say the expression "Tom") simply refers to the entity bearing the name (the person named Tom). Frege also held that propositions had a referential relationship with their truth-value (in other words, a statement "refers" to the truth-value it takes). By contrast, the sense (or "Sinn") associated with a complete sentence is the thought it expresses. The sense of an expression is said to be the "mode of presentation" of the item referred to, and there can be multiple modes of representation for the same referent.

The distinction can be illustrated thus: In their ordinary uses, the name "Charles Philip Arthur George Mountbatten-Windsor", which for logical purposes is an unanalysable whole, and the functional expression "the King of the United Kingdom", which contains the significant parts "the King of ξ" and "United Kingdom", have the same referent, namely, the person best known as King Charles III. But the sense of the word "United Kingdom" is a part of the sense of the latter expression, but no part of the sense of the "full name" of King Charles.

These distinctions were disputed by Bertrand Russell, especially in his paper "On Denoting"; the controversy has continued into the present, fueled especially by Saul Kripke's famous lectures "Naming and Necessity".

1924 diary
Frege's published philosophical writings were of a very technical nature and divorced from practical issues, so much so that Frege scholar Dummett expressed his "shock to discover, while reading Frege's diary, that his hero was an anti-Semite." After the German Revolution of 1918–19 his political opinions became more radical. In the last year of his life, at the age of 76, his diary contained political opinions opposing the parliamentary system, democrats, liberals, Catholics, the French and Jews, who he thought ought to be deprived of political rights and, preferably, expelled from Germany. Frege confided "that he had once thought of himself as a liberal and was an admirer of Bismarck", but then sympathized with General Ludendorff. In an entry dated 5 May 1924 Frege expressed agreement with an article published in Houston Stewart Chamberlain's Deutschlands Erneuerung which praised Adolf Hitler. Frege recorded the belief that it would be best if the Jews of Germany would "get lost, or better would like to disappear from Germany." Some interpretations have been written about that time. The diary contains a critique of universal suffrage and socialism. Frege had friendly relations with Jews in real life: among his students was Gershom Scholem, who greatly valued his teaching, and it was he who encouraged Ludwig Wittgenstein to leave for England in order to study with Bertrand Russell. The 1924 diary was published posthumously in 1994.

Personality
Frege was described by his students as a highly introverted person, seldom entering into dialogues with others and mostly facing the blackboard while lecturing. He was, however, known to occasionally show wit and even bitter sarcasm during his classes.

Important dates

 * Born 8 November 1848 in Wismar, Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
 * 1869 — attends the University of Jena.
 * 1871 — attends the University of Göttingen.
 * 1873 — PhD, doctor in mathematics (geometry), attained at Göttingen.
 * 1874 — Habilitation at Jena; private teacher.
 * 1879 — Ausserordentlicher Professor at Jena.
 * 1896 — Ordentlicher Honorarprofessor at Jena.
 * 1918 — retires.
 * Died 26 July 1925 in Bad Kleinen (now part of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern).

Logic, foundation of arithmetic
Begriffsschrift: eine der arithmetischen nachgebildete Formelsprache des reinen Denkens (1879), Halle an der Saale: Verlag von Louis Nebert (online version). Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik: Eine logisch-mathematische Untersuchung über den Begriff der Zahl (1884), Breslau: Verlag von Wilhelm Koebner (online version). Grundgesetze der Arithmetik, Band I (1893); Band II (1903), Jena: Verlag Hermann Pohle (online version).
 * In English: Begriffsschrift, a Formula Language, Modeled Upon That of Arithmetic, for Pure Thought, in: J. van Heijenoort (ed.), From Frege to Gödel: A Source Book in Mathematical Logic, 1879–1931, Harvard, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967, pp. 5–82.
 * In English (selected sections revised in modern formal notation): R. L. Mendelsohn, The Philosophy of Gottlob Frege, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005: "Appendix A. Begriffsschrift in Modern Notation: (1) to (51)" and "Appendix B. Begriffsschrift in Modern Notation: (52) to (68)."
 * In English: The Foundations of Arithmetic: A Logico-Mathematical Enquiry into the Concept of Number, translated by J. L. Austin, Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1950.
 * In English (translation of selected sections), "Translation of Part of Frege's Grundgesetze der Arithmetik," translated and edited Peter Geach and Max Black in Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege, New York, NY: Philosophical Library, 1952, pp. 137–158.
 * In German (revised in modern formal notation): Grundgesetze der Arithmetik, Korpora (portal of the University of Duisburg-Essen), 2006: Band I and Band II.
 * In German (revised in modern formal notation): Grundgesetze der Arithmetik – Begriffsschriftlich abgeleitet. Band I und II: In moderne Formelnotation transkribiert und mit einem ausführlichen Sachregister versehen, edited by T. Müller, B. Schröder, and R. Stuhlmann-Laeisz, Paderborn: mentis, 2009.
 * In English: Basic Laws of Arithmetic, translated and edited with an introduction by Philip A. Ebert and Marcus Rossberg. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-928174-9.

Philosophical studies
"Function and Concept" (1891) "On Sense and Reference" (1892) "Concept and Object" (1892) "What is a Function?" (1904)
 * Original: "Funktion und Begriff", an address to the Jenaische Gesellschaft für Medizin und Naturwissenschaft, Jena, 9 January 1891.
 * In English: "Function and Concept".
 * Original: "Über Sinn und Bedeutung", in Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik C (1892): 25–50.
 * In English: "On Sense and Reference", alternatively translated (in later edition) as "On Sense and Meaning".
 * Original: "Ueber Begriff und Gegenstand", in Vierteljahresschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie XVI (1892): 192–205.
 * In English: "Concept and Object".
 * Original: "Was ist eine Funktion?", in Festschrift Ludwig Boltzmann gewidmet zum sechzigsten Geburtstage, 20 February 1904, S. Meyer (ed.), Leipzig, 1904, pp. 656–666.
 * In English: "What is a Function?".

Logical Investigations (1918–1923). Frege intended that the following three papers be published together in a book titled Logische Untersuchungen (Logical Investigations). Though the German book never appeared, the papers were published together in Logische Untersuchungen, ed. G. Patzig, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1966, and English translations appeared together in Logical Investigations, ed. Peter Geach, Blackwell, 1975.
 * 1918–19. "Der Gedanke: Eine logische Untersuchung" ("The Thought: A Logical Inquiry"), in Beiträge zur Philosophie des Deutschen Idealismus I: 58–77.
 * 1918–19. "Die Verneinung" ("Negation") in Beiträge zur Philosophie des Deutschen Idealismus I: 143–157.
 * 1923. "Gedankengefüge" ("Compound Thought"), in Beiträge zur Philosophie des Deutschen Idealismus III: 36–51.

Articles on geometry

 * 1903: "Über die Grundlagen der Geometrie". II. Jahresbericht der deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung XII (1903), 368–375.
 * In English: "On the Foundations of Geometry".
 * 1967: Kleine Schriften. (I. Angelelli, ed.). Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1967 and Hildesheim, G. Olms, 1967. "Small Writings," a collection of most of his writings (e.g., the previous), posthumously published.

Primary

 * Online bibliography of Frege's works and their English translations (compiled by Edward N. Zalta, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
 * 1879. Begriffsschrift, eine der arithmetischen nachgebildete Formelsprache des reinen Denkens. Halle a. S.: Louis Nebert. Translation: Concept Script, a formal language of pure thought modelled upon that of arithmetic, by S. Bauer-Mengelberg in Jean Van Heijenoort, ed., 1967. From Frege to Gödel: A Source Book in Mathematical Logic, 1879–1931. Harvard University Press.
 * 1884. Die Grundlagen der Arithmetik: Eine logisch-mathematische Untersuchung über den Begriff der Zahl. Breslau: W. Koebner. Translation: J. L. Austin, 1974. The Foundations of Arithmetic: A Logico-Mathematical Enquiry into the Concept of Number, 2nd ed. Blackwell.
 * 1891. "Funktion und Begriff." Translation: "Function and Concept" in Geach and Black (1980).
 * 1892a. "Über Sinn und Bedeutung" in Zeitschrift für Philosophie und philosophische Kritik 100:25–50. Translation: "On Sense and Reference" in Geach and Black (1980).
 * 1892b. "Ueber Begriff und Gegenstand" in Vierteljahresschrift für wissenschaftliche Philosophie 16:192–205. Translation: "Concept and Object" in Geach and Black (1980).
 * 1893. Grundgesetze der Arithmetik, Band I. Jena: Verlag Hermann Pohle. Band II, 1903. Band I+II online . Partial translation of volume 1: Montgomery Furth, 1964. The Basic Laws of Arithmetic. Univ. of California Press. Translation of selected sections from volume 2 in Geach and Black (1980). Complete translation of both volumes: Philip A. Ebert and Marcus Rossberg, 2013, Basic Laws of Arithmetic. Oxford University Press.
 * 1904. "Was ist eine Funktion?" in Meyer, S., ed., 1904. Festschrift Ludwig Boltzmann gewidmet zum sechzigsten Geburtstage, 20. Februar 1904. Leipzig: Barth: 656–666. Translation: "What is a Function?" in Geach and Black (1980).
 * 1918–1923. Peter Geach (editor): Logical Investigations, Blackwell, 1975.
 * 1924. Gottfried Gabriel, Wolfgang Kienzler (editors): Gottlob Freges politisches Tagebuch. In: Deutsche Zeitschrift für Philosophie, vol. 42, 1994, pp. 1057–98. Introduction by the editors on pp. 1057–66. This article has been translated into English, in: Inquiry, vol. 39, 1996, pp. 303–342.
 * Peter Geach and Max Black, eds., and trans., 1980. Translations from the Philosophical Writings of Gottlob Frege, 3rd ed. Blackwell (1st ed. 1952).

Secondary
Philosophy
 * Badiou, Alain. "On a Contemporary Usage of Frege", trans. Justin Clemens and Sam Gillespie. UMBR(a), no. 1, 2000, pp. 99–115.
 * Baker, Gordon, and P.M.S. Hacker, 1984. Frege: Logical Excavations. Oxford University Press. — Vigorous, if controversial, criticism of both Frege's philosophy and influential contemporary interpretations such as Dummett's.
 * Currie, Gregory, 1982. Frege: An Introduction to His Philosophy. Harvester Press.
 * Dummett, Michael, 1973. Frege: Philosophy of Language. Harvard University Press.
 * --, 1981. The Interpretation of Frege's Philosophy. Harvard University Press.
 * Hill, Claire Ortiz, 1991. Word and Object in Husserl, Frege and Russell: The Roots of Twentieth-Century Philosophy. Athens OH: Ohio University Press.
 * --, and Rosado Haddock, G. E., 2000. Husserl or Frege: Meaning, Objectivity, and Mathematics. Open Court. — On the Frege-Husserl-Cantor triangle.
 * Kenny, Anthony, 1995. Frege – An introduction to the founder of modern analytic philosophy. Penguin Books. — Excellent non-technical introduction and overview of Frege's philosophy.
 * Klemke, E.D., ed., 1968. Essays on Frege. University of Illinois Press. — 31 essays by philosophers, grouped under three headings: 1. Ontology; 2. Semantics; and 3. Logic and Philosophy of Mathematics.
 * Rosado Haddock, Guillermo E., 2006. A Critical Introduction to the Philosophy of Gottlob Frege. Ashgate Publishing.
 * Sisti, Nicola, 2005. Il Programma Logicista di Frege e il Tema delle Definizioni. Franco Angeli. — On Frege's theory of definitions.
 * Sluga, Hans, 1980. Gottlob Frege. Routledge.
 * Nicla Vassallo, 2014, Frege on Thinking and Its Epistemic Significance with Pieranna Garavaso, Lexington Books–Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD, Usa.
 * Weiner, Joan, 1990. Frege in Perspective, Cornell University Press.

Logic and mathematics
 * Anderson, D. J., and Edward Zalta, 2004, "Frege, Boolos, and Logical Objects," Journal of Philosophical Logic 33: 1–26.
 * Blanchette, Patricia, 2012, Frege's Conception of Logic. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012
 * Burgess, John, 2005. Fixing Frege. Princeton Univ. Press. — A critical survey of the ongoing rehabilitation of Frege's logicism.
 * Boolos, George, 1998. Logic, Logic, and Logic. MIT Press. — 12 papers on Frege's theorem and the logicist approach to the foundation of arithmetic.
 * Dummett, Michael, 1991. Frege: Philosophy of Mathematics. Harvard University Press.
 * Demopoulos, William, ed., 1995. Frege's Philosophy of Mathematics. Harvard Univ. Press. — Papers exploring Frege's theorem and Frege's mathematical and intellectual background.
 * Ferreira, F. and Wehmeier, K., 2002, "On the consistency of the Delta-1-1-CA fragment of Frege's Grundgesetze," Journal of Philosophic Logic 31: 301–11.
 * Grattan-Guinness, Ivor, 2000. The Search for Mathematical Roots 1870–1940. Princeton University Press. — Fair to the mathematician, less so to the philosopher.
 * Gillies, Donald A., 1982. Frege, Dedekind, and Peano on the foundations of arithmetic. Methodology and Science Foundation, 2. Van Gorcum & Co., Assen, 1982.
 * Gillies, Donald: The Fregean revolution in logic. Revolutions in mathematics, 265–305, Oxford Sci. Publ., Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1992.
 * Irvine, Andrew David, 2010, "Frege on Number Properties," Studia Logica, 96(2): 239–60.
 * Charles Parsons, 1965, "Frege's Theory of Number." Reprinted with Postscript in Demopoulos (1965): 182–210. The starting point of the ongoing sympathetic reexamination of Frege's logicism.
 * Gillies, Donald: The Fregean revolution in logic. Revolutions in mathematics, 265–305, Oxford Sci. Publ., Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1992.
 * Heck, Richard Kimberly: Frege's Theorem. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011
 * Heck, Richard Kimberly: Reading Frege's Grundgesetze. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013
 * Wright, Crispin, 1983. Frege's Conception of Numbers as Objects. Aberdeen University Press. — A systematic exposition and a scope-restricted defense of Frege's Grundlagen conception of numbers.

Historical context

title: Gottlob Frege


text:
359

Year 359 (CCCLIX) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Eusebius and Hypatius (or, less frequently, year 1112 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 359 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * King Shapur II the Great of the Persian Empire invades southern Armenia. The Romans implement a scorched earth policy and place strong guards at the Euphrates crossings.
 * Siege of Amida: Shapur II besieges the Roman fortress of Amida (modern Diyarbakir). After seventy-three days the city is conquered and the population is massacred by the Persians. Ammianus Marcellinus is a fortunate survivor and flees to Singara (Iraq).
 * The first known Prefect of the city of Constantinople, Honoratus, takes office.
 * Famine in Upper Rhineland: A fleet of 800 river boats, built for the Rhine, cross to the British east coast, and carry back enough corn to raise the famine.
 * Winter – Shapur II halts his campaign, due to heavy casualties during the Persian invasion.

Art

 * The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus, in the Old St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican, is made (approximate date).

Religion

 * July – Emperor Constantius II convenes the Council of Rimini, to resolve the crisis over Arianism in the Church. Some 400 bishops of the Western portion of the Roman Empire attend, while the Eastern bishops simultaneously hold a meeting at Seleucia. Given Saint Jerome's comment that, "The whole world groaned in astonishment to find itself Arian", it appears to have failed. Pope Liberius rejects the new creed at Rimini.

Births

 * Godigisel, king of the Vandals (d. 406)
 * Gratian, Roman emperor (d. 383)
 * Murong Chong, Chinese emperor (d. 386)
 * Stilicho, Roman general (d. 408)

Deaths

 * Barbatio, Roman general (magister militum)
 * Hosius of Corduba, Christian bishop (b. 256)
 * Junius Bassus Theotecnius, Roman politician
 * Xun Xian (or Lingze), Chinese general (b. 322)
 * Zhang Guan, Chinese general and regent

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title: 359


text:
Mary of Teck

Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; 26 May 1867 –24 March 1953) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, from 6 May 1910 until 20 January 1936 as the wife of King-Emperor George V.

Born and raised in London, Mary was the daughter of Francis, Duke of Teck, a German nobleman, and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of King George III. She was informally known as "May", after the month of her birth. At the age of 24, she was betrothed to her second cousin once removed Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, the eldest son of the Prince of Wales and second in line to the throne. Six weeks after the announcement of the engagement, he died unexpectedly during an influenza pandemic. The following year, she became engaged to Albert Victor's only surviving brother, George, who subsequently became king. Before her husband's accession, she was successively Duchess of York, Duchess of Cornwall, and Princess of Wales.

As queen consort from 1910, Mary supported her husband through the First World War, his ill health, and major political changes arising from the aftermath of the war. After George's death in 1936, she became queen mother when her eldest son, Edward VIII, ascended the throne. To her dismay, he abdicated later the same year in order to marry twice-divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson. She supported her second son, George VI, until his death in 1952. Mary died the following year, ten weeks before her granddaughter Elizabeth II was crowned. An ocean liner, a battlecruiser, and a university were named in her honour.

Early life

Princess Victoria Mary of Teck was born on 26 May 1867 at Kensington Palace, London, in the room where Queen Victoria, her first cousin once removed, had been born 48 years and two days earlier. Queen Victoria came to visit the baby, writing that she was "a very fine one, with pretty little features and a quantity of hair".

The princess's father was Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the son of Duke Alexander of Württemberg by his morganatic wife, Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde. Her mother was Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a granddaughter of King George III and the third child and younger daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel. The infant was baptised in the Chapel Royal of Kensington Palace on 27 July 1867 by Charles Thomas Longley, Archbishop of Canterbury. From an early age, she was known to her family, friends and the public by the diminutive name of "May", after her birth month.

May's upbringing was "merry but fairly strict". She was the eldest of four children and the only daughter. She "learned to exercise her native discretion, firmness, and tact" by resolving her three younger brothers' petty boyhood squabbles. They played with their cousins, the children of the Prince of Wales, who were similar in age. She grew up at Kensington Palace and White Lodge, in Richmond Park, which was granted by Queen Victoria on permanent loan. She was educated at home by her mother and governess (as were her brothers until they were sent to boarding schools). The Duchess of Teck spent an unusually long time with her children for a lady of her time and class, and enlisted May in various charitable endeavours, which included visiting the tenements of the poor.

Although May was a great-grandchild of George III, she was only a minor member of the British royal family. Her father, the Duke of Teck, had no inheritance or wealth and carried the lower royal style of Serene Highness because his parents' marriage was morganatic. The Duchess of Teck was granted a parliamentary annuity of £5,000 and received about £4,000 a year from her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, but she donated lavishly to dozens of charities. Prince Francis was deeply in debt and moved his family abroad with a small staff in 1883, in order to economise. They travelled throughout Europe, visiting their various relations. For a time they stayed in Florence, Italy, where May enjoyed visiting the art galleries, churches and museums. She was fluent in English, German, and French.

In 1885, the family returned to London and lived for some time in Chester Square. May was close to her mother and acted as an unofficial secretary, helping to organise parties and social events. She was also close to her aunt Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and wrote to her every week. During the First World War, the Crown Princess of Sweden helped pass letters from May to Augusta, who lived in enemy territory in Germany until her death in 1916.

Engagements

In 1886, May was a debutante in her first season and was introduced at court. Her status as the only unmarried British princess who was not descended from Queen Victoria made her a suitable candidate for the royal family's most eligible bachelor, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, her second cousin once removed and the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.

On 3 December 1891 at Luton Hoo, then the country residence of Danish Ambassador Christian Frederick de Falbe, Albert Victor proposed marriage to May and she accepted. The choice of May as bride for the Duke owed much to Queen Victoria's fondness for her, as well as to her strong character and sense of duty. However, Albert Victor died six weeks later, in a recurrence of the worldwide 1889–90 influenza pandemic.

Albert Victor's brother, Prince George, Duke of York, now second in line to the throne, evidently became close to May during their shared period of mourning, and Queen Victoria still thought of her as a suitable candidate to marry a future king. The public was also anxious that the Duke of York should marry and settle the succession. In May 1893, George proposed, and May accepted. They were soon deeply in love, and their marriage was a success. George wrote to May every day they were apart and, unlike his father, never took a mistress.

Duchess of York
Mary married Prince George, Duke of York, in London on 6 July 1893 at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. The couple lived in York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, and in apartments in St James's Palace. York Cottage was a modest house for royalty, but it was a favourite of George, who liked a relatively simple life. They had six children: Edward, Albert, Mary, Henry, George, and John.

The children were put into the care of a nanny, as was usual in upper-class families at the time. The first nanny was dismissed for insolence and the second for abusing the children. This second woman, anxious to suggest that the children preferred her to anyone else, would pinch Edward and Albert whenever they were about to be presented to their parents so that they would start crying and be speedily returned to her. On discovery, she was replaced by her effective and much-loved assistant, Charlotte Bill.

Sometimes, Mary and George appear to have been distant parents. At first, they failed to notice the nanny's abuse of their sons Edward and Albert, and their youngest son, John, was housed in a private farm on the Sandringham Estate, in Charlotte Bill's care, perhaps to hide his epilepsy from the public. Despite Mary's austere public image and her strait-laced private life, she was a caring mother and comforted her children when they suffered from her husband's strict discipline.

Edward wrote fondly of his mother in his memoirs: "Her soft voice, her cultivated mind, the cosy room overflowing with personal treasures were all inseparable ingredients of the happiness associated with this last hour of a child's day ... Such was my mother's pride in her children that everything that happened to each one was of the utmost importance to her. With the birth of each new child, Mama started an album in which she painstakingly recorded each progressive stage of our childhood". He expressed a less charitable view, however, in private letters to his wife after his mother's death: "My sadness was mixed with incredulity that any mother could have been so hard and cruel towards her eldest son for so many years and yet so demanding at the end without relenting a scrap. I'm afraid the fluids in her veins have always been as icy cold as they are now in death."

The Duke and Duchess of York carried out a variety of public duties. In 1897, Mary became the patron of the London Needlework Guild in succession to her mother. The guild, initially established as The London Guild in 1882, was renamed several times and was named after Mary between 1914 and 2010. Samples of her own embroidery range from chair seats to tea cosies.

On 22 January 1901, Queen Victoria died, and Mary's father-in-law ascended the throne as Edward VII. For most of the rest of that year, George and Mary were known as the "Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York". For eight months they toured the British Empire, visiting Gibraltar, Malta, Egypt, Ceylon, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Mauritius, South Africa and Canada. No royal had undertaken such an ambitious tour before. She broke down in tears at the thought of leaving her children, who were to be left in the care of their grandparents, for such a long time.

Princess of Wales
On 9 November 1901, nine days after arriving back in Britain and on the King's 60th birthday, George was created Prince of Wales. The family moved their London residence from St James's Palace to Marlborough House. As Princess of Wales, Mary accompanied her husband on trips to Austria-Hungary and Württemberg in 1904. The following year, she gave birth to her last child, John. It was a difficult labour, and although she recovered quickly, her newborn son developed respiratory problems.

From October 1905 the Prince and Princess of Wales undertook another eight-month tour, this time of India, and the children were once again left in the care of their grandparents. They passed through Egypt both ways and on the way back stopped in Greece. The tour was almost immediately followed by a trip to Spain for the wedding of King Alfonso XIII to Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, at which the bride and groom narrowly avoided assassination. Only a week after returning to Britain, Mary and George went to Norway for the coronation of George's brother-in-law and sister, King Haakon VII and Queen Maud.

Queen and empress consort
On 6 May 1910, Edward VII died. Mary's husband ascended the throne and she became queen consort. When her husband asked her to drop one of her two official names, Victoria Mary, she chose to be called Mary, preferring not to be known by the same style as her husband's grandmother, Queen Victoria. She was the first British queen consort born in Britain since Catherine Parr. Mary was crowned alongside her husband at a coronation on 22 June 1911 in Westminster Abbey. Later in the year, the King and Queen travelled to India for the Delhi Durbar held on 12 December 1911, and toured the sub-continent as Emperor and Empress of India, returning to Britain in February.

The beginning of Mary's period as consort brought her into conflict with her mother-in-law, Queen Alexandra. Although the two were on friendly terms, Alexandra could be stubborn; she demanded precedence over Mary at the funeral of Edward VII, was slow in leaving Buckingham Palace, and kept some of the royal jewels that should have been passed to the new queen.

During the First World War, Queen Mary instituted an austerity drive at the palace, where she rationed food, and visited wounded and dying servicemen in hospital, which caused her great emotional strain. After three years of war against Germany, and with anti-German feeling in Britain running high, the Russian imperial family, which had been deposed by a revolutionary government, was refused asylum. News of the tsar's abdication provided a boost to those in Britain who wished to replace their own monarchy with a republic. The war ended in 1918 with the defeat of Germany and the abdication and exile of the kaiser.

Two months after the end of the war, Prince John died at the age of thirteen. Queen Mary described her shock and sorrow in her diary and letters, extracts of which were published after her death: "our poor darling little Johnnie had passed away suddenly ... The first break in the family circle is hard to bear but people have been so kind & sympathetic & this has helped us [the King and me] much."

The Queen's staunch support of her husband continued during the later half of his reign. She advised him on speeches and used her extensive knowledge of history and royalty to advise him on matters affecting his position. He appreciated her discretion, intelligence, and judgement. She maintained an air of self-assured calm throughout all her public engagements in the years after the war, a period marked by civil unrest over social conditions, Irish independence, and Indian nationalism.

In the late 1920s, George became increasingly ill with lung problems, exacerbated by his heavy smoking. Mary paid particular attention to his care. During his illness in 1928, one of his doctors, Sir Farquhar Buzzard, was asked who had saved the King's life. He replied, "The Queen". In 1935, George and Mary celebrated their silver jubilee, with celebrations taking place throughout the British Empire. In his jubilee speech, George paid public tribute to his wife, having told his speechwriter, "Put that paragraph at the very end. I cannot trust myself to speak of the Queen when I think of all I owe her."

Queen mother
George V died on 20 January 1936, after his physician, Lord Dawson of Penn, gave him an injection of morphine and cocaine that may have hastened his death. Queen Mary's eldest son ascended the throne as Edward VIII. She was then to be known as Her Majesty Queen Mary.

Within the year, Edward's intention to marry his twice-divorced American mistress, Wallis Simpson, led to his abdication. Mary disapproved of divorce as it was contrary to the teaching of the Anglican Church, and thought Simpson wholly unsuitable to be the wife of a king. After receiving advice from British prime minister Stanley Baldwin, as well as the Dominion governments, that he could not remain king and marry Simpson, Edward abdicated.

Though loyal and supportive of her son, Mary could not comprehend why Edward would neglect his royal duties in favour of his personal feelings. Simpson had been presented formally to both King George V and Queen Mary at court, but Mary later refused to meet her either in public or privately. She saw it as her duty to provide moral support for her second son, the reserved Prince Albert, Duke of York. Albert ascended the throne on Edward's abdication, taking the name George VI. When Mary attended the coronation of George VI, she became the first British dowager queen to do so. Edward's abdication did not lessen her love for him, but she never wavered in her disapproval of his actions.

After her reign, Mary returned to live in her main London residence Marlborough House, where she had also lived as princess of Wales. Mary took an interest in the upbringing of her granddaughters Elizabeth and Margaret. She took them on various excursions in London, to art galleries and museums. (The princesses' own parents thought it unnecessary for them to be burdened with a demanding educational regime.) In May 1939, Mary was in a car crash: her car was overturned but she escaped with minor injuries and bruises.

During the Second World War, George VI wished his mother to be evacuated from London. Although she was reluctant, she decided to live at Badminton House, Gloucestershire, with her niece Mary, Duchess of Beaufort, the daughter of her brother Adolphus. Her personal belongings were transported from London in seventy pieces of luggage. Her household, which comprised fifty-five servants, occupied most of the house, except for the Duke and Duchess's private suites, until after the war. The only people to complain about the arrangements were the royal servants, who found the house too small.

From Badminton, in support of the war effort, Queen Mary visited troops and factories and directed the gathering of scrap materials. She was known to offer lifts to soldiers she spotted on the roads. In 1942, her son George, Duke of Kent, was killed in an air crash while on active service. Mary finally returned to Marlborough House in June 1945, after the war in Europe had resulted in the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Mary was an eager collector of objects and pictures with a royal connection. She paid above-market estimates when purchasing jewels from the estate of Dowager Empress Marie of Russia and paid almost three times the estimate when buying the family's Cambridge Emeralds from Lady Kilmorey, the mistress of her late brother Prince Francis. After Francis's death, Mary had intervened to ensure his will was sealed by a court to cover his affair with Kilmorey. This set a precedent for royal wills to be sealed. In 1924, the famous architect Sir Edwin Lutyens created Queen Mary's Dolls' House for her collection of miniature pieces. She has sometimes been criticised for her aggressive acquisition of objets d'art for the Royal Collection. On several occasions, she would express to hosts, or others, that she admired something they had in their possession, in the expectation that the owner would be willing to donate it.

Mary's extensive knowledge of, and research into, the Royal Collection helped in identifying artefacts and artwork that had gone astray over the years. The royal family had lent out many pieces over previous generations. Once she had identified unreturned items through old inventories, she would write to the holders, requesting that they be returned. In addition to being an avid collector, Mary also commissioned many gifts of jewellery, including rings which she presented to her ladies-in-waiting on the occasion of their engagements.

Final year and death
In 1952, George VI died, the third of Mary's children to predecease her; her eldest granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, ascended the throne as Queen Elizabeth II. The death of a third child profoundly affected her. Mary remarked to Princess Marie Louise: "I have lost three sons through death, but I have never been privileged to be there to say a last farewell to them."

On the accession of Elizabeth II, there was some dispute regarding the dynasty to which descendants of Elizabeth and her husband Phillip would belong. Mary expressed to Prime Minister Winston Churchill her aversion to the idea of the House of Mountbatten succeeding the House of Windsor as the royal dynasty.

Mary died on 24 March 1953 in her sleep at the age of 85, ten weeks before her granddaughter's coronation. She had let it be known that should she die, the coronation should not be postponed. Her remains lay in state at Westminster Hall, where large numbers of mourners filed past her coffin. She is buried beside her husband in the nave of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Mary's will was sealed in London after her death. Her estate was valued at £406,407 (or £ in when adjusted for inflation).

Legacy
Actresses who have portrayed Queen Mary include Dame Flora Robson (in A King's Story, 1965), Dame Wendy Hiller (on the London stage in Crown Matrimonial, 1972), Greer Garson (in the television production of Crown Matrimonial, 1974), Judy Loe (in Edward the Seventh, 1975), Dame Peggy Ashcroft (in Edward & Mrs. Simpson, 1978), Phyllis Calvert (in The Woman He Loved, 1988), Gaye Brown (in All the King's Men, 1999), Miranda Richardson (in The Lost Prince, 2003), Margaret Tyzack (in Wallis & Edward, 2005), Claire Bloom (in The King's Speech, 2010), Judy Parfitt (in W.E., 2011), Valerie Dane (in the television version of Downton Abbey, 2013), Dame Eileen Atkins (in Bertie and Elizabeth, 2002 and The Crown, 2016), Geraldine James (in the film version of Downton Abbey, 2019), and Candida Benson (in The Crown, 2022).

Many places and buildings have been named in Mary's honour, including Queen Mary University of London, Queen Mary Reservoir in Surrey, and Queen Mary College in Lahore.

Sir Henry "Chips" Channon wrote that Queen Mary was "above politics ... magnificent, humorous, worldly, in fact nearly sublime, though cold and hard. But what a grand Queen."

Titles, honours and arms
Queen Mary's arms were the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom impaled with her family arms – the arms of her grandfather Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, in the 1st and 4th quarters, and the arms of her father, Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. The shield is surmounted by the imperial crown, and supported by the crowned lion of England and "a stag Proper" as in the arms of Württemberg.

title: Mary of Teck


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358

Year 358 (CCCLVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Datianus and Cerealis (or, less frequently, year 1111 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 358 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * Emperor Constantius II builds new forts to secure upper Mesopotamia. Persia's king Shapur II sends an emissary to Constantinople with gifts and a letter wrapped in white silk. He requests that Constantius return the lands of his ancestors from the Euphrates to the frontier of Macedonia. Constantius tactfully refuses to cede any territories.
 * The Salian Franks capitulate to Julian the Apostate in Gaul. He allows them to form a Roman foederati in Toxandria. Frankish settlers are established in areas in the north and the east to help with the defense of the Rhine frontier.
 * An invasion of Pannonia by the Quadi and the Sarmates is repulsed by Constantius II.
 * August 24 — An earthquake destroys Nicomedia, and damages 150 cities in Macedonia, Asia and Pontus.

Religion

 * Constantius II recalls Pope Liberius to Rome, where he receives a joyous welcome from the Christians. Antipope Felix II prudently retires to his estate near Porto (Portugal).
 * Eudoxius becomes Patriarch of Antioch.
 * The last universally binding decision, of the Great Sanhedrin, establishes a fixed Hebrew calendar.

Births

 * Aignan of Orleans, Christian bishop (d. 453)

Deaths

 * Duan, Chinese princess and wife of Murong Chui
 * Paulinus of Trier, Christian bishop and saint

title: 358


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357

Year 357 (CCCLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Iulianus (or, less frequently, year 1110 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 357 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * April 28 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnentius. He address the Senate and the Roman people.
 * August 25 – Battle of Strasbourg: Julian, Caesar (deputy emperor) and supreme commander of the Roman army in Gaul, wins an important victory against the Alemanni at Strasbourg (Argentoratum), driving the barbarians back behind the Rhine.
 * The Imperial Library of Constantinople is founded.
 * Ammianus Marcellinus describes the Pantheon as being "rounded like the boundary of the horizon and vaulted with a beautiful loftiness".
 * Winter – Constantius II receives ambassadors from the Persian Empire. They demand that Rome restore the lands surrendered by King Narseh.

Asia

 * The reign of Fú Jiān, the emperor of Former Qin, commences in China.
 * The Alans rout the Hun army in Western Asia.

Ireland

 * Saran, King of Ulster, is overthrown.

Religion

 * Late in the year Pope Liberius travels to Sirmium (Pannonia) and agrees to sign documents that effectively undo the Nicene Creed (which has implicitly disavowed Arianism) and to sever his relationship with the former Alexandrian patriarch Athanasius, who is replaced as bishop of Alexandria by his Arian opponent George of Cappadocia.
 * At about this date, the relics of St Andrew the Apostle are taken from Patras to Constantinople by order of the Emperor Constantius II, and deposited in the Church of the Holy Apostles.
 * At about this date, Basil of Caesarea visits Egypt.

Deaths

 * Fu Sheng, Chinese emperor of the Di state Former Qin (b. 335)
 * Xie Shang (or Renzu), Chinese general and musician (b. 308)
 * yao Xiang (or Jingguo), Chinese general and warlord (b. 331)

title: 357


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José Saramago

José de Sousa Saramago (16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010) was a Portuguese writer. He was the recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony [with which he] continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality." His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the theopoetic human factor. In 2003 Harold Bloom described Saramago as "the most gifted novelist alive in the world today" and in 2010 said he considers Saramago to be "a permanent part of the Western canon", while James Wood praises "the distinctive tone to his fiction because he narrates his novels as if he were someone both wise and ignorant."

More than two million copies of Saramago's books have been sold in Portugal alone and his work has been translated into 25 languages. A proponent of libertarian communism, Saramago criticized institutions such as the Catholic Church, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. An atheist, he defended love as an instrument to improve the human condition. In 1992, the Government of Portugal under Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva ordered the removal of one of his works, The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, from the Aristeion Prize's shortlist, claiming the work was religiously offensive. Disheartened by this political censorship of his work, Saramago went into exile on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, where he lived alongside his Spanish wife Pilar del Río until his death in 2010.

Saramago was a founding member of the National Front for the Defense of Culture in Lisbon in 1992.

Early and middle life
Saramago was born in 1922 into a family of very poor landless peasants in Azinhaga, Portugal, a small village in Ribatejo Province, some one hundred kilometres northeast of Lisbon. His parents were José de Sousa and Maria da Piedade. "Saramago", the Portuguese word for Raphanus raphanistrum (wild radish), was the insulting nickname given to his father, and was accidentally incorporated into his name by the village clerk upon registration of his birth.

In 1924, Saramago's family moved to Lisbon, where his father started working as a policeman. A few months after the family moved to the capital, his brother Francisco, older by two years, died. He spent vacations with his grandparents in Azinhaga. When his grandfather suffered a stroke and was to be taken to Lisbon for treatment, Saramago recalled, "He went into the yard of his house, where there were a few trees, fig-trees, olive trees. And he went one by one, embracing the trees and crying, saying goodbye to them because he knew he would not return. To see this, to live this, if that doesn't mark you for the rest of your life," Saramago said, "you have no feeling." Although Saramago was a good pupil, his parents were unable to afford to keep him in grammar school, and instead moved him to a technical school at age 12.

After graduating as a lathe operator, he worked as a car mechanic for two years. At this time Saramago had acquired a taste for reading and started to frequent a public library in Lisbon in his free time. He married Ilda Reis, a typist and later artist, in 1944 (they divorced in 1970). Their only daughter, Violante, was born in 1947. By this time he was working in the Social Welfare Service as a civil servant. Later he worked at the publishing company Estúdios Cor as an editor and translator, and then as a journalist. By that time, in 1968, he met and became lover of writer Isabel da Nóbrega, the longtime partner of author and critic João Gaspar Simões. Nóbrega became Saramago's devoted literary mentor, to whom he would later dedicate Memorial do Convento and O Ano da Morte de Ricardo Reis.

After the democratic revolution in 1974, on 9 April 1975, during the rule of Vasco Gonçalves, Saramago became the assistant director of the newspaper Diário de Notícias, and the editorial line became clearly pro-communist. A group of 30 journalists – half the editorial staff – handed the board a petition calling for the editorial line to be revised and for it to be published. A plenary was called and, following an angry intervention by Saramago, 24 journalists were expelled, accused of being right-wingers. After the Coup of 25 November 1975 that put an end to the communist PREC, Saramago, in turn, was fired from the newspaper.

Saramago published his first novel, Land of Sin, in 1947. It remained his only published literary work until a poetry book, Possible Poems, was published in 1966. It was followed by another book of poems, Probably Joy, in 1970, three collections of newspaper articles in 1971, 1973 and 1974 respectively, and the long poem The Year of 1993 in 1975. A collection of political writing was published in 1976 under the title Notes. After his dismissal from Diário de Notícias in 1975, Saramago embraced his writing more seriously and in following years he published a series of important works including Manual de Pintura e Caligrafia (1977), Objecto Quase (1978), Levantado do Chão (1980) and Viagem a Portugal (1981).

Later life and international acclaim
Saramago did not achieve widespread recognition and acclaim until he was sixty, with the publication of his fourth novel, Memorial do Convento (1982). A baroque tale set during the Inquisition in 18th-century Lisbon, it tells of the love between a maimed soldier and a young clairvoyant, and of a renegade priest's heretical dream of flight. The novel's translation in 1988 as Baltasar and Blimunda (by Giovanni Pontiero) brought Saramago to the attention of an international readership. This novel won the Portuguese PEN Club Award.

Following acclaimed novels such as The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis and The History of the Siege of Lisbon, Saramago was hailed by literary critics for his complex yet elegant style, his broad range of references and his wit.

For the former novel, Saramago received the British Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. The multilayered The History of the Siege of Lisbon deals with the uncertainty of historical events and includes the story of a middle-aged isolated proofreader who falls in love with his boss. Saramago acknowledged that there is a lot of himself in the protagonist of the novel, and dedicated the novel to his wife.

In 1986 Saramago met a Spanish intellectual and journalist, Pilar del Río, 27 years his junior, and he promptly ended his relationship with Isabel Nóbrega, his partner since 1968. They married in 1988 and remained together until his death in June 2010. Del Río is the official translator of Saramago's books into Spanish.

Saramago joined the Portuguese Communist Party in 1969 and remained a member until the end of his life. He was a self-confessed pessimist. His views aroused considerable controversy in Portugal, especially after the publication of The Gospel According to Jesus Christ. Members of the country's Catholic community were outraged by Saramago's representation of Jesus and particularly God as fallible, even cruel human beings. Portugal's conservative government, led by then-prime minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva, did not allow Saramago's work to compete for the Aristeion Prize, arguing that it offended the Catholic community. As a result, Saramago and his wife moved to Lanzarote, an island in the Canaries.

In 1998 Saramago was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature with the prize motivation: "who with parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony continually enables us once again to apprehend an elusory reality."

Saramago was expected to speak as the guest of honour at the European Writers' Parliament in 2010, which was convened in Istanbul following a proposal he had co-authored. However, Saramago died before the event took place.

Death and funeral
Saramago suffered from leukemia. He died on 18 June 2010, aged 87, having spent the last few years of his life in Lanzarote, Spain. His family said that he had breakfast and chatted with his wife and translator Pilar del Río on Friday morning, after which he started feeling unwell and died. The Guardian described him as "the finest Portuguese writer of his generation", while Fernanda Eberstadt of The New York Times said he was "known almost as much for his unfaltering Communism as for his fiction".

Saramago's English language translator, Margaret Jull Costa, paid tribute to his "wonderful imagination," calling him "the greatest contemporary Portuguese writer". Saramago continued his writing until his death. His most recent publication, Claraboia, was published posthumously in 2011. Saramago had suffered from pneumonia a year before his death. Having been thought to have made a full recovery, he had been scheduled to attend the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August 2010.

Portugal declared two days of mourning. There were tributes from senior international politicians: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil), Bernard Kouchner (France) and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (Spain), while Cuba's Raúl and Fidel Castro sent flowers.

Saramago's funeral was held in Lisbon on 20 June 2010, in the presence of more than 20,000 people, many of whom had travelled hundreds of kilometres, but also notably in the absence of right-wing President of Portugal Aníbal Cavaco Silva, who was holidaying in the Azores as the ceremony took place. Cavaco Silva, the Prime Minister who removed Saramago's work from the shortlist of the Aristeion Prize, said he did not attend Saramago's funeral because he "had never had the privilege to know him". Mourners, who questioned Cavaco Silva's absence in the presence of reporters, held copies of the red carnation, symbolic of Portugal's democratic revolution. Saramago's cremation took place in Lisbon, and his ashes were buried on the anniversary of his death, 18 June 2011, underneath a hundred-year-old olive tree on the square in front of the José Saramago Foundation (Casa dos Bicos).

Lost novel
The José Saramago Foundation announced in October 2011 the publication of a "lost novel" published as Skylight (Claraboia in Portuguese). It was written in the 1950s and remained in the archive of a publisher to whom the manuscript had been sent. Saramago remained silent about the work up to his death. The book has been translated into several languages.

Style and themes
Saramago's experimental style often features long sentences, at times more than a page long. He used full stops sparingly, choosing instead a loose flow of clauses joined by commas. Many of his paragraphs extend for pages without pausing for dialogue (which Saramago chooses not to delimit by quotation marks); when the speaker changes, Saramago capitalizes the first letter of the new speaker's clause. His works often refer to his other works. In his novel Blindness, Saramago completely abandons the use of proper nouns, instead referring to characters simply by some unique characteristic, an example of his style reflecting the recurring themes of identity and meaning found throughout his work.

Saramago's novels often deal with fantastic scenarios. In his 1986 novel The Stone Raft, the Iberian Peninsula breaks off from the rest of Europe and sails around the Atlantic Ocean. In his 1995 novel Blindness, an entire unnamed country is stricken with a mysterious plague of "white blindness". In his 1984 novel The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis (which won the PEN Award and the Independent Foreign Fiction Award), Fernando Pessoa's heteronym survives for a year after the poet himself dies. Additionally, his novel Death with Interruptions (also translated as Death at Intervals) takes place in a country in which, suddenly, nobody dies, and concerns, in part, the spiritual and political implications of the event, although the book ultimately moves from a synoptic to a more personal perspective.

Saramago addresses serious matters with empathy for the human condition and for the isolation of contemporary urban life. His characters struggle with their need to connect with one another, form relations and bond as a community, and also with their need for individuality, and to find meaning and dignity outside of political and economic structures.

When asked to describe his daily writing routine in 2009, Saramago responded, "I write two pages. And then I read and read and read."

Personal life
Saramago was an atheist. The Catholic Church criticised him on numerous occasions due to the content of some of his novels, mainly The Gospel According to Jesus Christ and Cain, in which he uses satire and biblical quotations to present the figure of God in a comical way. The Portuguese government lambasted his 1991 novel O Evangelho Segundo Jesus Cristo (The Gospel according to Jesus Christ) and struck the writer's name from nominees for the European Literature Prize, saying the atheist work offended Portuguese Catholic convictions.

The book portrays a Christ who, subject to human desires, lives with Mary Magdalene and tries to back out of the crucifixion. Following the Swedish Academy's decision to present Saramago with the Nobel Prize in Literature, the Vatican questioned the decision on political grounds, though gave no comment on the aesthetic or literary components of Saramago's work. Saramago responded: "The Vatican is easily scandalized, especially by people from outside. They should just focus on their prayers and leave people in peace. I respect those who believe, but I have no respect for the institution."

Saramago was a member of the Communist Party of Portugal, and in his late years defined himself as a proponent of libertarian communism. He ran in the 1989 Lisbon local election as part of the "Coalition For Lisbon," and was elected alderman presiding officer of the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon. Saramago was also a candidate of the Democratic Unity Coalition in all elections of the European Parliament from 1989 to 2009, though he ran for positions of which it was thought he had no possibility of winning. He was a critic of European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) policies.

Many of his novels are acknowledged as political satire of a subtle kind. It is in The Notebook that Saramago makes his political convictions most clear. The book, written from a Marxist perspective, is a collection of blog entries from September 2008 to August 2009. According to The Independent, "Saramago aims to cut through the web of 'organized lies' surrounding humanity, and to convince readers by delivering his opinions in a relentless series of unadorned, knock-down prose blows." His political engagement has led to comparisons with George Orwell.

When speaking to The Observer in 2006, Saramago said he "believe[s] that we all have some influence, not because of the fact that one is an artist, but because we are citizens. As citizens, we all have an obligation to intervene and become involved, it's the citizen who changes things. I can't imagine myself outside any kind of social or political involvement."

During the Second Intifada, while visiting Ramallah in March 2002, Saramago said that "what is happening in Palestine is a crime we can put on the same plane as what happened at Auschwitz ... A sense of impunity characterises the Israeli people and its army. They have turned into rentiers of the Holocaust." In an essay he wrote expanding on his views, Saramago wrote of Jews: "educated and trained in the idea that any suffering that has been inflicted . . . on everyone else . . . will always be inferior to that which they themselves suffered in the Holocaust, the Jews endlessly scratch their own wound to keep it bleeding, to make it incurable, and they show it to the world as if it were a banner." Critics of these statements charged that they were antisemitic. Six months later, Saramago clarified. "To have said that Israel's action is to be condemned, that war crimes are being perpetrated – really the Israelis are used to that. It doesn't bother them. But there are certain words they can't stand. And to say 'Auschwitz' there ... note well, I didn't say that Ramallah was the same as Auschwitz, that would be stupid. What I said was that the spirit of Auschwitz was present in Ramallah. We were eight writers. They all made condemning statements, Wole Soyinka, Breyten Breytenbach, Vincenzo Consolo and others. But the Israelis weren't bothered about those. It was the fact that I put my finger in the Auschwitz wound that made them jump."

During the 2006 Lebanon War, Saramago joined Tariq Ali, John Berger, Noam Chomsky, and others in condemning what they characterized as "a long-term military, economic and geographic practice whose political aim is nothing less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation".

He was also a supporter of Iberian Federalism. In a 2008 press conference for the filming of Blindness he asked, in reference to the Great Recession, "Where was all that money poured on markets? Very tight and well kept; then suddenly it appears to save what? lives? no, banks." He added, "Marx was never so right as now", and predicted "the worst is still to come."

Awards and accolades

 * 1995: Camões Prize
 * 1998: Nobel Prize in Literature
 * 2004: America Award
 * 2009: São Paulo Prize for Literature — Shortlisted in the Best Book of the Year category for A Viagem do Elefante

Nobel Prize in Literature
The Swedish Academy selected Saramago as the 1998 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature. The announcement came when he was about to fly out of Germany after the Frankfurt Book Fair, and caught both him and his editor by surprise. The Nobel committee praised his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony", and his "modern skepticism" about official truths.

Decorations

 * PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Grand Collar BAR.png Grand Collar of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, Portugal (3 December 1998)
 * PRT Order of Saint James of the Sword - Commander BAR.svg Commander of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword, Portugal (24 August 1985)
 * PRT Order of Camões - Grand Collar BAR.svg Grand Collar of the Order of Camões, Portugal (16 November 2021)

The José Saramago Foundation
The José Saramago Foundation was founded by José Saramago in June 2007, with the aim to defend and spread the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the promotion of culture in Portugal just like in all the countries, and protection of the environment. The José Saramago Foundation is located in the historic Casa dos Bicos in the city of Lisbon.

title: José Saramago


text:
354

Year 354 (CCCLIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Constantius (or, less frequently, year 1107 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 354 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * Emperor Constantius II recalls his Caesar (and cousin) Constantius Gallus to Constantinople after hearing unfavorable reports about him. Gallus, Caesar of the East, has suppressed revolts in Palestine and central Anatolia. Constantius strips him of his powers and later has him executed in Pola (Croatia).
 * The Roman Calendar of 354, an illuminated manuscript, is drawn up and becomes the earliest dated codex.

Europe

 * As a result of the armies of the West having been largely withdrawn by the usurper Magnus Magnentius, to fight Constantius II, hordes of barbarians (Franks and Alemanni) cross the upper Rhine into Gaul and invade the lands of the Helvetians.
 * The Bulgars are first mentioned in extant European chronicles.

China

 * Fu Sheng, emperor of the Former Qin, reigns in northern China.

Religion

 * Libanius becomes a teacher of rhetoric in Antioch; his students include John Chrysostom and Theodore of Mopsuestia.

Births

 * November 13 – Augustine of Hippo, African bishop (d. 430)
 * Apa Bane, Christian hermit and saint (approximate date)
 * Paulinus of Nola, French bishop and writer (d. 431)
 * Pelagius, English monk and theologian (d. 418)

Deaths

 * Constantina, daughter of Constantine the Great (b. c. 320)
 * Constantius Gallus, Roman consul and statesman (b. 326)
 * Fu Xiong (or Yuancai), Chinese general and politician
 * Pei, Chinese princess and wife of Zhang Chonghua
 * Ran Zhi, Chinese nobleman and prince of Ran Wei
 * Xie Ai, Chinese general of Former Liang (b. 301)

title: 354


text:
353

Year 353 (CCCLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magnentius and Decentius (or, less frequently, year 1106 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 353 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * Battle of Mons Seleucus: Emperor Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius, who commits suicide in Gaul in order to avoid capture. Constantius becomes sole emperor, and reunifies the Roman Empire.
 * Constantius II sends his official Paulus Catena to Britain, to hunt down the opponents supporting Magnentius. Flavius Martinus, vicarius of Britain and supporter of Constantius, opposes the persecutions; he is then accused by Catena of being a traitor. In response, Martinus tries to kill Catena with a sword; he fails and then commits suicide.
 * Constantius II assembles a conciliabulum at Arles, and condemns Athanasius as Patriarch of Alexandria.

China

 * Wang Xizhi, Chinese calligrapher, produces "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" in running script style. It becomes a model for future calligraphers.

Births

 * Saint Paulinus (Paolino), Bishop of Nola (d. 431)
 * Saint Vigilius, Bishop of Trent (d. 405)

Deaths

 * August 11 – Magnentius, Roman usurper (b. 303)
 * August 18 – Magnus Decentius, brother and Caesar of Magnentius
 * Flavius Martinus, vicarius of Roman Britain
 * Zhang Chonghua, ruler of Former Liang (b. 327)

title: 353


text:
352

Year 352 (CCCLII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Decentius and Paulus (or, less frequently, year 1105 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 352 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * Emperor Constantius II invades northern Italy in pursuit of the usurper Magnus Magnentius, who withdraws with his army to Gaul. He declares an amnesty for Magnentius' soldiers, many of whom desert to him.
 * By the end of the year Constantius enters Milan.
 * The Alamanni and the Franks cross the Rhine and defeat the depleted Roman units left at the frontier. The Germans take control of around 40 towns and cities between the Moselle and the Rhine.
 * Constantius Gallus sends his general (magister equitum) Ursicinus to forcefully put down the Jewish revolt in Palestine. The rebels destroy the cities Diopolis and Tiberias, while Diocesarea is razed to the ground. Ursicinus gives the order to kill thousands of Jews, even children. After the revolt, a permanent garrison is stationed in Galilee.

Asia

 * War begins between the Huns and the Alans.
 * Ran Wei is destroyed after Ran Min is killed by Murong Jun, the Xianbei emperor of the Former Yan.

Art and Science

 * The earliest sighting of a supernova occurs in China.

Religion

 * May 17 – Pope Julius I dies after a 15-year reign in which he has made himself the chief opponent of Arianism. He is succeeded by Pope Liberius as the 36th pope, who immediately writes to Constantius II requesting a council at Aquileia to discuss the former Alexandrian patriarch Athanasius, who opposes the Arian belief to which the emperor subscribes.

Births

 * Arsenius the Great, anchorite and Desert Father (approximate date)

Deaths

 * April 12 – Julius I, bishop of Rome
 * June 1 – Ran Min, Chinese emperor "Heavenly King" (Tian Wang)
 * Yao Yizhong, Chinese general and warlord (b. 280)

title: 352


text:
351

Year 351 (CCCLI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magnentius and Gaiso (or, less frequently, year 1104 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 351 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * March 15 – Emperor Constantius II elevates his 25-year-old cousin Constantius Gallus to Caesar at Sirmium (Pannonia). He arranges a marriage with his sister Constantina, and puts him in charge of the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire.
 * Constantius marches West with a large field army (around 60,000 men) to topple Magnus Magnentius in Pannonia.
 * May 7 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out. After his arrival at Antioch, the Jews begin a rebellion in Palestine. The Roman garrison in the town of Diocesarea is wiped out.
 * September 28 – Battle of Mursa Major: Constantius II defeats the usurper Magnentius along the valley of the Drava. The battle is one of the bloodiest in Roman military history. During the fighting Marcellinus, a general of Magnentius is killed; Magnentius himself survives.
 * Winter – Magnentius flees to Aquileia in northern Italy and fortifies the mountain passes in the Alps.

China

 * Emperor Shi Zhi is killed by Ran Min's forces, an action that sets the stage for Wei's victory in the Ran Wei–Later Zhao war.
 * Fú Jiàn declares himself "Heavenly Prince" (Tian Wang) during the collapse of Later Zhao, and establishes Former Qin.

Art and Science

 * In India, a new process makes possible the extraction of sugar from sugarcane.

Religion

 * Macedonius is restored as Patriarch of Constantinople.

Births

 * Princess Dowager Helan, mother of Wei Daowudi (d. 396)
 * Li Gao, Chinese general of the state Western Liang (d. 417)

Deaths

 * September 28 – Flavius Romulus, Roman consul
 * Marcellinus, Roman general (magister officiorum)
 * Shi Zhi, Chinese prince and emperor of Later Zhao

title: 351


text:
350

Year 350 (CCCL) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Nigrinianus (or, less frequently, year 1103 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 350 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * January 18 – Western Roman Emperor Constans I makes himself extremely unpopular; one of his generals, Magnentius, is proclaimed emperor at Augustodunum in the Diocese of Galliae, with the support of the army on the Rhine frontier.
 * January – Constans I flees towards Spain, where he is subsequently assassinated at Castrum Helenae. Magnentius rules the Western portion of the Roman Empire and is far more tolerant towards Christians and Pagans alike.
 * March 1 – Vetranio is asked by Constantina, sister of Constantius II, to proclaim himself Caesar. Constantius accepts the new emperor and sends him funds to raise an army.
 * June 3 – Nepotianus, Roman usurper, proclaims himself emperor and enters Rome with a group of gladiators.
 * June 30 – Nepotianus is defeated and killed by Marcellinus, a trusted general sent by Magnentius. His head is put on a spear and carried around the city.
 * December 25 – Vetranio meets Constantius II at Naissus (Serbia) and joins forces with him. Vetranio is forced to abdicate his title, and Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.

Asia

 * King Pushyavarman establishes the Varman Dynasty in Assam.
 * About this time the Huns begin to invade the Sassanid Empire.
 * The city of Anbar (Iraq) is founded by king Shapur II.
 * The Ran Wei-Later Zhao war breaks out in North China.

Art

 * The church of Santa Constanza in Rome is finished.

Births

 * Honoratus, archbishop of Arles (approximate date);
 * Hypatia of Alexandria, female Neoplatonist philosopher (approximate date);
 * Murong Wei, emperor of the Xianbei state Former Yan (d. 385);
 * Plutarch of Athens, Greek philosopher (approximate date);
 * Theodore of Mopsuestia, bishop and theologian (approximate date);
 * Zhang Xuanjing, ruler of the Chinese state Former Liang (d. 363).
 * Earliest common ancestor of Y haplotype R-S6881 born in north-west Germania (approximate date)

Deaths

 * February 11 – Constans I, Roman Emperor;
 * June 21 – Martin of Tongres, Roman Catholic bishop and saint;
 * June 30 – Nepotianus, Roman usurper;
 * August 5 – Cassian of Autun Roman Catholic bishop and saint;
 * November 26 – Paul I of Constantinople, Byzantine Orthodox bishop and saint.

Date unknown

 * Shi Jian, emperor of the Jie state Later Zhao.

title: 350


text:
349

Year 349 (CCCXLIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Limenius and Catullinus (or, less frequently, year 1102 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 349 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Asia

 * After a brief reign of 183 days, Emperor Shi Zun and his mother Empress Zheng Yingtao are executed; his son Shi Jian succeeds him, as emperor of the Jie state Later Zhao.
 * The Mou-jong (proto-Mongols) take control of North China.

Births

 * John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople (approximate date)

Deaths

 * Empress Liu, wife of Emperor Shi Hu (b. 318)
 * Shi Hu, emperor of the Jie state Later Zhao (b. 295)
 * Shi Shi, emperor and brother of Shi Zun (b. 339)
 * Shi Zun, emperor of the Jie state Later Zhao
 * Wei Shuo, calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty (b. 272)
 * Empress Zhang, wife of emperor Shi Zun
 * Empress Zheng Yingtao, mother of emperor Shi Zun

title: 349


text:
348

Year 348 (CCCXLVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Philippus and Salia (or, less frequently, year 1101 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 348 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Europe

 * Wulfila escapes religious persecution by the Gothic chieftain Athanaric, obtains permission from Constantius II to migrate with his flock of converts to Moesia, and settle near Nicopolis ad Istrum (Bulgaria).

Asia

 * In Persia, women are enrolled in the army to perform auxiliary services.
 * In India, Samudragupta of the Gupta Empire defeats Rudrasena in battle.

Births

 * Prudentius, Roman Christian poet (d. 413)
 * Shenoute, monk and saint (d. 466)

Deaths

 * May 9 – Pachomius the Great, founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism (b. 292)
 * December 12 – Saint Spyridon, Greek-Cypriot Orthodox bishop and saint (b. 270)

Date unknown

 * Murong Huang, Chinese ruler of the Former Yan (b. 297)
 * Plato, Gereek philosopher (or 347 BC)

title: 348


text:
347

Year 347 (CCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Rufinus and Eusebius (or, less frequently, year 1100 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 347 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

China

 * Li Shi, ruler of Cheng Han, fails in his attempt to halt a Jin expedition under Huan Wen. He flees to the capital Chengdu and surrenders his forces. Emperor Jin Mudi spares his life and makes him a marquess.

Religion

 * Council of Sardica: An attempt is made to resolve the Arian controversy, and ground rules for bishops are laid down.
 * The Council of Philippopolis is held as the result of Eastern bishops leaving the Council of Sardica. In Philippopolis (Bulgaria), they excommunicate Pope Julius, and as a result, the Arian controversy is perpetuated.

Births

 * January 11 – Theodosius I, Roman Emperor (d. 395)
 * March 27 – Saint Jerome, priest and translator of the Bible (approximate date)
 * Eunapius, Greek sophist and historian
 * John Chrysostom, archbishop of Constantinople (approximate date)
 * Paula, Desert Mother and Saint (d. 404)
 * Saint Porphyry, bishop of Gaza (approximate date)

Deaths

 * Ursicinus of Brescia, Bishop of Brescia

title: 347


text:
346

Year 346 (CCCXLVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Claudius (or, less frequently, year 1099 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 346 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Asia

 * In Korea, the Buyeo Kingdom is absorbed by Goguryeo.
 * Geunchogo becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Baekje.

Religion

 * Emperor Constans I uses his influence to secure the return of Athanasius. He is restored as Patriarch of Alexandria, and documents are compiled relating to his expulsion, under the title Apology Against the Arians.
 * Macedonius I, Patriarch of Constantinople, is deposed again by Paul I.
 * Julius Firmicus Maternus writes De erroribus profanarum religionum.
 * The Visigoths are converted to Arianism by Wulfila.

Births

 * Zhang Tianxi, Chinese ruler of Former Liang (d. 406)

Deaths

 * He Chong (or Cidao), Chinese politician (b. 292)
 * Maximin of Trier, German bishop (approximate date)
 * Zhang Jun (or Gongting), Chinese prince (b. 307)

title: 346


text:
345

The Year 345 (CCCXLV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Amantius and Albinus (or, less frequently, year 1098 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 345 for this year has been used ever since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

India

 * Merchant Knai Thomman and 400 followers visit the Malabar Coast in Kerala (India), and assist the church there.
 * The Kadamba Dynasty is founded by Mayurasharma.

Italy

 * Constans orders the Basilica di Santa Tecla to be constructed in Milan.

Births

 * Evagrius Ponticus, Christian monk and ascetic (d. 399)
 * Afranius Syagrius, Roman politician and administrator
 * Quintus Aurelius Symmachus, Roman consul and intellectual (d. 402)
 * Tyrannius of Aquileia, historian and theologian (approximate date)

Deaths

 * February 4 – Abraham of Arbela, Persian bishop and martyr (approximate date)
 * April 6
 * Abdecalas – Persian Orthodox priest and saint
 * Shemon Bar Sabbae – Persian Orthodox priest and saint
 * June 16 – Patriarch Gregory of Cappadocia
 * August 27 – Narnus, Roman Catholic bishop and saint
 * November 20 – Abiatha, Hathes and Mamlacha, Syrian Orthodox priests, virgins, martyrs and saints

Date unknown

 * Abdisho, member of the Church of the East
 * Aphrahat, Syrian Orthodox priest and saint
 * Stephen I of Antioch, Byzantine bishop and saint

title: 345


text:
344

Year 344 (CCCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Leontius and Bonosus (or, less frequently, year 1097 Ab urbe condita). The denomination 344 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

Roman Empire

 * The Eastern Roman Emperor Constantius II campaigns in eastern Mesopotamia, against the Sassanid Persians.
 * Battle of Singara: The Roman army under Constantius wins a close victory, at the strongly fortified city of Singara (Mesopotamia). His enemy, King Shapur II, is forced to lift the siege, and withdraw the Persian army.
 * Shapur II, for the second time, besieges the Roman fortress of Nisibis in eastern Mesopotamia, but is repulsed by forces under General Lucilianus.

Asia

 * Jin Mudi, age 1, succeeds his father Jin Kangdi as emperor of China. His mother, Empress Dowager Chu, becomes the ruling authority at court, and serves as regent.
 * Gye becomes king of the Korean kingdom of Baekje.

Art

 * The making of a detail of Admonitions of the Imperial Instructress to Court Ladies (attributed to Gu Kaizhi and being from the Six Dynasties period) begins (approximate year) and is completed in 406. It is now kept at the British Museum, London.

Religion

 * Bishop Eustorgius I brings relics of the Three Magi from Constantinople to Milan, according to a 12th century legend.

Births

 * Gu Kaizhi, Chinese painter (approximate date)
 * Kumārajīva, Buddhist monk and translator (d. 413)
 * Mary of Egypt, patron Saint (approximate date)
 * Wang Xianzhi, Chinese calligrapher (d. 386)
 * Zhang Yaoling, ruler of Former Liang (d. 355)

Deaths

 * April 14
 * Chusdazat, Syrian Orthodox priest, martyr and saint
 * Pusai, Syrian Orthodox priest, martyr and saint
 * August 20 – Heliodorus of Bet Zabdai, bishop and martyr
 * November 17 – Jin Kangdi, emperor of the Jin Dynasty (b. 322)

Date unknown

 * Biryu of Baekje, king of Baekje (Three Kingdoms of Korea)

title: 344