Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Indiction
1.
Declaration; proclamation; public notice or appointment.
[Obs.]
“Indiction of a war.” Bacon.
Secular princes did use to indict, or permit the
indiction
of, synods of bishops. Jer. Taylor.
2.
A cycle of fifteen years.
☞ This mode of reckoning time is said to have been introduced by Constantine the Great, in connection with the payment of tribute. It was adopted at various times by the Greek emperors of Constantinople, the popes, and the parliaments of France. Through the influence of the popes, it was extensively used in the ecclesiastical chronology of the Middle Ages. The number of indictions was reckoned at first from 312
a. d.
, but since the twelfth century it has been reckoned from the birth of Christ. The papal indiction is the only one ever used at the present day. To find the indiction and year of the indiction by the first method, subtract 312 from the given year a. d.
, and divide by 15; by the second method, add 3 to the given year a. d.
, and the divide by 15. In either case, the quotient is the number of the current indiction, and the remainder the year of the indiction. See Cycle of indiction
, under Cycle
. Webster 1828 Edition
Indiction
INDIC'TION
,Noun.
1.
Declaration; proclamation.2.
In chronology, a cycle of fifteen years, instituted by Constantine the Great; originally, a period of taxation. Constantine having reduced the time which the Romans were obliged to serve in the army to fifteen years, imposed a tax or tribute at the end of that term, to pay the troops discharged. This practice introduced the keeping of accounts by this period. But, as it is said, in honor of the great victory of Constantine over Mezentius, Sep. 24, A.D. 312, by which christianity was more effectually established, the council of Nice ordained that accounts of years should no longer be kept by Olympiads, but that the indiction should be used as the point from which to reckon and date years. This was begun Jan.1, A.D. 313.Definition 2024
indiction
indiction
English
Noun
indiction (plural indictions)
- (historical) A fiscal period of fifteen years, instituted by Constantine in 313 CE (but counting from 1st September 312), used throughout the Middle Ages as a way of dating events, documents etc.
- A declaration or official announcement.
- (historical) The decree made by Roman Emperors which fixed the property tax for the next fifteen years.
Old French
Noun
indiction f (oblique plural indictions, nominative singular indiction, nominative plural indictions)
- imposition (condition which is imposed)
- indiction (historical fiscal period)
Descendants
References
- (fr) Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (indicion)