On 14/03/2016 15:52, Asha Santon wrote:

Disclaimer: This is a serious question which has everything to do with
how to count and nothing to do with religious beliefs. I ask it here
because some wise heads are present.

The date 1AD refers to the year a man I will call Yesus was born. It is
irrelevant whether it actually happened or not. Most of the world did
not know about it at the time anyway.

News of the event did not reach the British Isles for a very long time
so my question is this:

In the British Isles during the year we now call 1AD, what was the date
(year only)?

I don't even know how to look it up.
I am aware of the Gregorian, Julian, and AUC calendars but I don't want
to know what the date was in Rome.

The simple answer would be that at that time years would not be numbered
at all. The indigenous population would have had no need to know what
the year was, although they may have had some concept of their own age
or that of relatives. Ages would probably be related to 'x summers'.
The pre-Roman population can be characterised as Iron Age Britons
(mostly Celts). They are estimated to have numbered between 3 & 4
million (1stC BC).

Tribal elders may have kept some form of record which may have been
related to the number of years since an important event happened -
possibly when a village or tribal leader (or king) assumed 'office'.
Britain's tribal kings had mostly been allied to Rome since Caesars
so-called invasions over 50 years earlier, and might have used the Roman
calendar (revised by Julias Caesar in 46BC, hence the Julian Calendar),
but again the years were not numbered in the old BC style.

At that time the Romans identifed years by naming them after the two
consuls who took office during the year. This was known as the consular
year. They also used the regnal year of the Emperor. Occasionally they
might have used the number of years since the founding of Rome, or ab
urba condita (AUC).

In Britain though, the year usually began on December 25 - the winter
solstice, as it had from pagan times. In Anglo-Saxon times the year
was generally deemed to start on September 24. It was only after the
Norman Conquest (in 1087) that the year started on Jan 1st as it had
in the Roman Calendar for centuries.