Are dates of historical events systematically inaccurate prior to the 17th Century?

Question

In 2007, Vyacheslav Alekseevich Lopatin wrote The Scaliger Matrix [Russian]. (Full Russian title: Вячеслав Алексеевич Лопатин: Матрица Скалигера. Вся мировая история насквозь фальшивая! [On the book cover: "Scaliger's Matrix. All of world history is completely false!" on the title page subtitled as: (Как сочинялась история) (How history was made up)], OLMA Media Group: Moscow, 2007.)

He argues that history was re-written around the the early 19th century, and the dates for even before around the 17th Century are incorrect. He provides an alternative history, perhaps in the tradition of Fomenko's new chronology.

The author uses numerology to show that the dates of similar events in different times are linked.

For example:

Alexei Mikhailovich - Ivan the Terrible (page 60)

Year 1	Event 1	Year 2	Event 2	Difference in years
1629	Birth of Alexei	1530	Ivan's birth	99
1634	The death of the famous boyar and governor Mikhail Shein	1544	The death of the boyar and roundabout Yuri Shein	90
1646	The wedding of Alexei to the kingdom	1547	Ivan's wedding to the kingdom	99
1648	Convocation of the Zemsky Sobor	1549	Convocation of the first Zemsky Sobor	99
1649	Publication of the Code - a new set of laws	1550	Publication of "Sudebnik"	99
1651	Death of son Dmitry	1553	Death of son Dmitry	99
1654	The capture of Polotsk by Russian troops	1563	The capture of Polotsk by Russian troops	90
1654	Establishment of the Order of Secret Affairs	1565	Oprichnina institution	90
1654	The birth of Alexei's son Alexei	1554	The birth of Ivan's son Ivan	99
1656	The beginning of the war in Livonia with Sweden	1557	Beginning of the Livonian War	99
1658	Break with favorite Patriarch Nikon	1559	Break with favorite priest Sylvester	99
1670	Death of Tsarevich Alexei	1581	Death of Tsarevich Ivan	90
1671	The new marriage of Tsar Alexei	1572	The new marriage of Tsar Ivan	99
1671	The capture of Astrakhan by the tsarist troops	1554	The capture of Astrakhan by the tsarist troops	117
1671	Suppression of the Cossack rebellion by Stepan Razin	1572	Defeat of the Devlet Giray horde on the banks of Lopasna and Rozhai	99

Philip IV - Philip I (page 110)

Year 1	Event 1	Year 2	Event 2	Difference in years
1268	Birth of Philip	1052	Birth of Philip	216
1285	Philip becomes king of France	1060	Philip becomes king of France	225
1303	The pope excommunicates Philip from the church	1096	The pope excommunicates Philip from the church	207
1304	The French army invades Flanders	1071	The French army invades Flanders	234
1305	The beginning of the reign in Flanders of Robert III	1071	The beginning of the reign in Flanders of Robert I	234
1314	Philip's death	1108	Philip's death	207

The gap between similar events always has a numerological indicator of 9 (99,9+9=18 and 1+8=9 , 117, 1+1+7=9)

The author presents numerous other examples between numerous other monarchs.

The author denies archaeology as a complete fabrication, as well as radiocarbon dating and other scientific dating methods.

Are these claims true and what are the odds of getting these numerology results, given that the premise is false?

Answer 1

This is a sketch of an answer looking only at the Philips, and mostly relies upon facts and dates from Wikipedia, though I did check some details against C.M. Yonge's "History of France"

Are these claims true

The bald historical facts appear to be correct (e.g. there was both a Philip I and a Philip IV of France) although some of the dates are different, e.g. for Philip I:

• WP gives coronation as 1059, sole titular ruler from 1060 after his father's death but with his mother as regent, and full kingship only in 1066 when he turned 14. That gives three dates to pick from: the Lopatin book uses 1060.
• WP gives Philip I's excommunication as 1095 not 1096 with the notes "several times the ban was lifted as Philip promised to part with Bertrade, but he always returned to her",
• the table shows the difference of 1071 and 1304 as 234, but also 1071 and 1305 as 234. One could conjecture that the author was rounding the days or months to get this result but since the event "invading Flanders" is imprecisely described (first scout crosses border? main army? formal declaration of war? battle joined?)

and what are the odds of this happening ?

The numerology used gives better than a one-in-nine chance of "significance". Add a variation of +/- one year to the end points and the odds would improve to better than five-in-nine. The choice of events measured is also a factor: for the Philips only six events are presented including birth and death, chosen somehow from their rich lives (Philip I had six children by a wife and mistress, Philip IV seven by his wife, both were involved in multiple military campaigns including crusades and papal spats). One might conjecture that none of this appears because Lopatin couldn't get an interesting numerological result.