The significance of chronology in the Chronica of Iohannes Biclarensis

The first part of the paper deals with the literary genre of chronica in late Antiquity and its basic characteristics, paying special attention to the chronological aspects in these works. In the second part the author Iohannes Biclarensis is introduced. He lived in the 6th and 7th century in the Visigothic kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula and his only surviving work, the Chronica, is a one-of-a-kind source for the turbulent reigns of Leovigild and Reccared at the end of the 6th century AD. In the third part I focus on the significance of chronology in this opus, I present an analysis of all the dating formulas he uses and in the conclusion I demonstrate on some examples the shift in Iohannes’ perspective through the chronicle