A Note on Dates

The dates given are by no means the earliest possible dates. Rather, they are the earliest date that the name appears in the source I used. Even at that, the date is rarely a birth date. Usually the reference is some letter or legal document known to have been written in the middle of that person's life, or eulogical comment marking that person's death. Names gleaned from seals are still harder to pinpoint, and will generally be given in terms of centuries. Dates given in parentheses are known by me to have existed during the given time, but are awaiting confirmation from a citable source. Similarly, those with no dates are given in the listed source, but without an afixed date.

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