A dedicatory stone erected in Rome in 1270 A.D.
I(n) n(omi)n(e) D(omi)ni am(en). Anno na-
tivitatis eiusdem M° C-
C° LXX° indictione XIII
me(n)se iunii die s(e)c(un)da apo-
stolica sede vacant-
e t(em)p(o)r(e) d(omi)ni Pandulphi d-
e Sebura archip(res)b(ite)ri ec-
clesie s(an)c(t)e Marie Rot-
unde et p(res)b(ite)ri Petri p(res)b-
(ite)ri Deodati Petri Barç-
ellone Romani Iaco-
bi Romani Petri Corr-
adi Pauli Ioh(ann)is Petri
et Tebaldi de Alp(er)inis
eiusdem eccl(es)ie cl(er)icis
facte fuerunt nole
et nolarium
Here is your hosts' humble conjecture:
In the Name of the Lord, Amen. In the year of
the His birth 1270, in the 13th indiction
on the 2nd day of the month of June,
the Apostolic See being vacant, in the time of Master Pandulph
of Sebura the archpriest of
the church of Santa Maria Rotunda
and the priest Peter and
priests Deodatus, Peter of Barcelona, the Roman
Jacob, the Roman Peter Corradus, Paul, John, Peter
and Tebaldus of Alperinis,
clerics of the same church,
made the bells and the bell tower.
Something I had been completely unaware of - indiction.
Regarding "indiction" from Wikipedia:
An indiction is any of the years in a 15-year cycle used to date medieval documents throughout Europe, both East and West. Each year of a cycle was numbered: first indiction, second indiction, etc. However, the cycles were not numbered, thus other information is needed to identify the specific year.
When the term began to be used, it referred only to the full cycle, and individual years were referred to as being Year 1 of the indiction, Year 2 of the indiction, etc. But usage changed, and it gradually became common to talk of the 1st indiction, the 2nd indiction, and so on.
Indictions originally referred to the periodic reassessment for an agricultural or land tax in late third-century Roman Egypt. .... The indiction was first used to date documents unrelated to tax collection in the mid-fourth century. By the late fourth century it was being used to date documents throughout the Mediterranean. In the Eastern Roman Empire outside of Egypt, the first day of its year was September 23, the birthday of Augustus. During the last half of the fifth century, probably 462, this shifted to September 1, where it remained throughout the rest of the Byzantine Empire. In 537 Justinian decreed that all dates must include the indiction via Novella 47, which eventually caused the Byzantine year to begin on September 1. But in the western Mediterranean, its first day was September 24 according to Bede, or the following December 25 or January 1, called the papal indiction. An indictio Senensis beginning September 8 is sometimes mentioned.
