In the Church of the Jesuits was a bell with this inscription, brought from England:
"Facta fuit A. Dom. 1400, Die vi Mēsis Septēbris.
Sancta Barbara, ora pro nobis."
Roccha, who published his Commentary 1612, says:
"In multis Campanis fit mentio de Anno, in quo facta est Campana, necnon de ipsius Ecclesiæ Rectore, vel optime merito, et Campanæ artifice, ut ego ipse vidi Romæ, ubi præcipuarum Ecclesiarum, et Basilicarum inscriptiones Campanis incisas perlegi."—P. 55.
So that it would appear that the practice of inscribing dates on bells was usual on the Continent, though for some reason or other it did not generally obtain in England till after the Reformation. I have a Note of another foreign bell or two with an early date.
At Strasburg:
"
O Rex gloriæ Christe, veni cum pace! MCCCLXXV. tertio Nonas Augusti."