Glaber: a feared end of the human race, then calm and plenty in the thousandth year of the Passion
retrospective response
On: propinquante ejusdem dominicae passionis anno millesimo
Linked by verbal allusion. Same author, later chapters: IV.14 opens “Anno a passione Domini millesimo”, echoing IV.1’s “dominicae passionis anno millesimo”.
Source quotation · Rodulfus Glaber, Histories IV.13–14; Latin from Prou’s 1886 edition, pp. 102–103; new English translation by Rainbow Watch (2026).
For it was thought that the order of the seasons and of the elements, which had ruled the past ages from the beginning, had fallen into perpetual chaos, and the destruction of the human race.
In the thousandth year from the Lord’s Passion, following the scarcities of the disaster just recounted, the rain-clouds were stilled by the regard of the divine goodness and mercy; the glad face of the sky began to brighten, to blow with fitting breezes and in calm serenity to show the magnanimity of the Creator; and the whole surface of the earth, turning pleasantly green, began to promise an abundance of crops that would drive out want entirely.
Latin (Prou edition, IV.13 and IV.14):
Estimabatur enim ordo temporum et elementorum, preterita ab initio moderans secula, in chaos decidisse perpetuum atque humani generis interitum.
Anno a passione Domini millesimo, memorate cladis penurias subsequente, sedatis nimborum imbribus, respectu divine bonitatis et misericordie, cepit leta facies celi clarescere congruisque ethereis flare placidaque serenitate magnanimitatem Conditoris ostendere; telluris quoque tota superficies amicabiliter virens frugum habundantiam funditus inopiam expellendo portendere.
Historiarum libri quinque · Rodulfus Glaber, Historiarum libri quinque IV.13 (last complete sentence) and IV.14 (first sentence), Prou edition (Paris, 1886), pp. 102–103, transcribed from the Internet Archive page images (leaves n132–n133). New AI-assisted English translation by Rainbow Watch, 2026, placed before the Latin; bracketed words supplied for sense. Requires independent reviewer comparison.
Source reuse and transcription
Latin text and 1886 edition public domain; new Rainbow Watch translation.
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2026-10-01T14:02:23+00:00
For it was thought that the order of the seasons and of the elements, which had ruled the past ages from the beginning, had fallen into perpetual chaos, and the destruction of the human race.
In the thousandth year from the Lord’s Passion, following the scarcities of the disaster just recounted, the rain-clouds were stilled by the regard of the divine goodness and mercy; the glad face of the sky began to brighten, to blow with fitting breezes and in calm serenity to show the magnanimity of the Creator; and the whole surface of the earth, turning pleasantly green, began to promise an abundance of crops that would drive out want entirely.
Latin (Prou edition, IV.13 and IV.14):
Estimabatur enim ordo temporum et elementorum, preterita ab initio moderans secula, in chaos decidisse perpetuum atque humani generis interitum.
Anno a passione Domini millesimo, memorate cladis penurias subsequente, sedatis nimborum imbribus, respectu divine bonitatis et misericordie, cepit leta facies celi clarescere congruisque ethereis flare placidaque serenitate magnanimitatem Conditoris ostendere; telluris quoque tota superficies amicabiliter virens frugum habundantiam funditus inopiam expellendo portendere.