Changes in calendar conventions from Julian to Gregorian dates
This article is about the 18th-century changes in calendar conventions used by Great Britain and its colonies, together with a brief explanation of usage of the term in other contexts. For a more general discussion of the equivalent transitions in other countries, see
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
.
Old Style
(
O.S.
) and
New Style
(
N.S.
) indicate dating systems before and after a calendar change, respectively. Usually, they refer to the change from the
Julian calendar
to the
Gregorian calendar
as enacted in various European countries between 1582 and 1923.
In
England
,
Wales
,
Ireland
and
Britain's American colonies
, there were two calendar changes, both in 1752. The first adjusted the start of a new year from 25 March (
Lady Day
, the
Feast of the Annunciation
) to 1 January, a change which
Scotland
had made in 1600. The second discarded the Julian calendar in favour of the Gregorian calendar, skipping 11 days in the month of September to do so.
[3]
To accommodate the two calendar changes, writers used
dual dating
to identify a given day by giving its date according to both styles of dating.
For countries such as
Russia
where no start-of-year adjustment took place,
[a]
O.S. and N.S. simply indicate the Julian and Gregorian dating systems respectively.
Britain and its colonies or possessions
[
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]
In the
Kingdom of Great Britain
and its possessions, the
Calendar (New Style) Act 1750
introduced two concurrent changes to the calendar. The first, which applied to England, Wales, Ireland and the British colonies, changed the start of the year from 25 March to 1 January, with effect from "the day after 31 December 1751".
[6]
[b]
(Scotland had already made this aspect of the changes, on 1 January 1600.)
[8]
The second (in effect
[c]
) adopted the Gregorian calendar in place of the Julian calendar. Thus "New Style" can refer to the
start-of-year adjustment
, to the
adoption of the Gregorian calendar
, or to the combination of the two.
Start-of-year adjustment
[
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]
When recording British history, it is usual to quote the date as originally recorded at the time of the event, but with the year number adjusted to start on 1 January.
[9]
The latter adjustment may be needed because the start of the
civil calendar
year had not always been 1 January and was altered at different times in different countries.
[d]
From 1155 to 1752, the civil or legal year in England began on 25 March (
Lady Day
);
[10]
so for example, the execution of
Charles I
was recorded at the time in Parliament as happening on 30 January 164
8
(Old Style).
[12]
In newer English-language texts, this date is usually shown as "30 January 164
9
" (New Style).
[13]
The corresponding date in the Gregorian calendar is 9 February 1649, the date by which his contemporaries in some parts of continental Europe would have recorded his execution.
The O.S./N.S. designation is particularly relevant for dates which fall between the start of the "historical year" (1 January) and the legal start date, where different. This was 25 March in England, Wales, Ireland and the colonies until 1752, and until 1600 in Scotland.
In Britain, 1 January was celebrated as the New Year festival from as early as the 13th century, despite the recorded (civil) year not incrementing until 25 March,
[14]
[e]
but the "year starting 25th March was called the Civil or Legal Year, although the phrase Old Style was more commonly used".
[3]
To reduce misunderstandings about the date, it was normal even in semi-official documents such as parish registers to place a statutory new-year heading after 24 March (for example "1661") and another heading from the end of the following December,
1661/62
, a form of
dual dating
to indicate that in the following twelve weeks or so, the year was 1661 Old Style but 1662 New Style.
[17]
Some more modern sources, often more academic ones (e.g. the
History of Parliament
) also use the
1661/62
style for the period between 1 January and 24 March for years before the introduction of the New Style calendar in England.
[18]
[9]
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar
[
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]
Through the enactment of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750, the
Kingdom of Great Britain
, the
Kingdom of Ireland
and the
British Empire
(including much of what is now the eastern part of the United States and Canada) adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752, by which time it was necessary to correct by 11 days. Wednesday, 2 September 1752, was followed by Thursday, 14 September 1752. Claims that
rioters demanded "Give us our eleven days"
grew out of a misinterpretation of a painting by
William Hogarth
.
Other countries
[
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]
Beginning in October 1582, the Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian in
Catholic
countries. This change was implemented subsequently in
Protestant
and
Eastern Orthodox
countries, usually at much later dates and, in the latter case, only as the civil calendar. Consequently, when Old Style and New Style notation is encountered, the British adoption date is not necessarily intended. The start-of-the-year change and the calendar system change were not always adopted concurrently. Similarly, civil and religious adoption may not have happened at the same time or even at all. In the
case of Eastern Europe
, for example, all of those assumptions would be incorrect. Most nations of Europe and their colonies officially adopted 1 January as
New Year's Day
somewhat before they
adopted the Gregorian calendar
.
Bulgaria
[
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]
Bulgaria
officially adopted the Gregorian calendar on 1 April 1916, which became 14 April 1916. The
Bulgarian Orthodox Church
adopted the
New Julian calendar
on 20 December 1968.
France
[
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]
France adopted the Gregorian calendar in December 1582.
[19]
France changed New Year's Day to 1 January from 1564. Previously, France had counted various days as New Year's Day:
Christmas
, Easter-eve, 25 March (Lady Day).
[20]
Greece
[
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]
Other countries in
Eastern Orthodoxy
eventually adopted Gregorian (or New Style) dating for their
civil calendars
, but most of these continue to use the Julian calendar for religious purposes. Greece was the last European country to change to Gregorian dating for civil purpose, in 1923.
[22]
There is a 13-day difference between Old Style and New Style dates in modern Greek history.
Romania
[
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]
Romania
officially adopted the Gregorian calendar on 1 April 1919, which became 14 April 1919. This was commemorated in 2019 by the
National Bank of Romania
through the release of a
commemorative coin
of 10
silver
lei
.
[23]
Russia
[
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]
In
Russia
, Gregorian calendar dating came into use in early 1918, when 31 January 1918 was followed by 14 February 1918.
[24]
(There had been a 13-day difference between Julian calendar and Gregorian calendar dates since 1 March 1900.)
It is common in English-language publications to use the familiar Old Style and/or New Style terms to discuss events and personalities in other countries, especially with reference to the
Russian Empire
and the very beginning of
Soviet Russia
. For example, in the article "The October (November) Revolution", the
Encyclopædia Britannica
uses the format of "25 October (7 November, New Style)" to describe the date of the start of the revolution.
Sweden and Finland
[
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]
In Sweden (and Finland, then part of Sweden) the Gregorian calendar was introduced with effect from 1
March 1753. For practical purposes, the Julian calendar applied until 17
February 1753. The difference between the two calendars was then 11 days, so the next day after 17
February was designated 1
March and thus the eleven days from 18 to 28
February 1753 have never legally existed in Sweden.
In 1700, there was an attempt to gradually introduce the Gregorian calendar in Sweden. The plan was to disregard all leap days from 1700 to 1740 and thereby to reduce the difference between the calendars every four years. However, despite a good start in 1700, the Swedish authorities – due to the
Great Northern War
– neglected to skip the leap days in 1704 and 1708. As a result, Sweden had its own calendar during that period, called the
Swedish calendar
and, according to this plan, it would not be until 1748 that the Swedish calendar would coincide with the Gregorian calendar. All of this caused
Charles XII
to decide, in 1711, that in February 1712 the country would return to the old calendar. This was done by inserting an extra leap day after the regular one that year: Friday, 30 February 1712, the so-called
tillokningsdag
(supernumerary day). It was to be another 41 years before Sweden attempted the task again.
When, as a result of the
Treaty of Fredrikshamn
, the
Grand Duchy of Finland
became part of the
Russian Empire
on 17 September 1809, Finland reverted to the Julian calendar in compliance with Russian norms. As a result, dates in certain contexts were often entered with both the Old and the New Style.
The Americas
[
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]
The European colonies of
the Americas
adopted the New Style calendar when their mother countries did. In what is now the continental United States, the French and Spanish possessions did so about 130 years earlier than the British colonies. In practice, however, most surviving written records of what is now Canada and the United States are from the 20 mainland British colonies, where the
Calendar (New Style) Act 1750
[f]
was applied, twenty-four years before the United States declared independence. Canadian records also include documents of
New France
that reflect the New Style, as France adopted it in 1582. The language used in the record is likely to be a good indicator of which calendar was being used for the dates given. The same logic applies to the Caribbean islands.
In
Alaska
, the change took place after the United States
purchased Alaska
from Russia. Friday, 6 October 1867, was followed by Friday, 18 October. Instead of 12 days, only 11 were skipped, and the day of the week was repeated on successive days, because at the same time the
International Date Line
was moved, from following Alaska's eastern border with
Yukon
to following its new western border, now with Russia.
[26]
Transposition of historical event dates and possible date conflicts
[
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]
Usually, the mapping of New Style dates onto Old Style dates with a start-of-year adjustment works well with little confusion for events before the introduction of the Gregorian calendar. For example, the
Battle of Agincourt
is well known to have been fought on 25 October 1415, which is
Saint Crispin's Day
. However, for the period between the first introduction of the Gregorian calendar on 15 October 1582 and its introduction in Britain on 14 September 1752, there can be considerable confusion between events in Continental Western Europe and in British domains. Events in Continental Western Europe are usually reported in English-language histories by using the Gregorian calendar. For example, the
Battle of Blenheim
is always given as 13 August 1704. However, confusion occurs when an event involves both. For example,
William III of England
arrived at
Brixham
in England on 5 November (Julian calendar), after he had set sail from the Netherlands on 11 November (Gregorian calendar) 1688.
[27]
The
Battle of the Boyne
in Ireland took place a few months later on 1 July 1690 (Julian calendar). That maps to 11 July (Gregorian calendar), conveniently close to the Julian date of the subsequent (and more decisive)
Battle of Aughrim
on 12 July 1691 (Julian). The latter battle was commemorated annually throughout the 18th century on 12 July,
[28]
following the usual historical convention of commemorating events of that period within Great Britain and Ireland by mapping the Julian date directly onto the modern Gregorian calendar date (as happens, for example, with
Guy Fawkes Night
on 5 November). The Battle of the Boyne was commemorated with smaller parades on 1 July. However, both events were combined in the late 18th century,
[28]
and continue to be celebrated as "
The Twelfth
".
Because of the differences, British writers and their correspondents often employed two dates, a practice called
dual dating
, more or less automatically. Letters concerning diplomacy and international trade thus sometimes bore both Julian and Gregorian dates to prevent confusion. For example, Sir
William Boswell
wrote to Sir
John Coke
from
The Hague
a letter dated "12/22 Dec. 1635".
[27]
In his biography of
John Dee
,
The Queen's Conjurer
, Benjamin Woolley surmises that because Dee fought unsuccessfully for England to embrace the 1583/84 date set for the change, "England remained outside the Gregorian system for a further 170 years, communications during that period customarily carrying two dates".
[29]
In contrast,
Thomas Jefferson
, who lived while the British Isles and colonies converted to the Gregorian calendar, instructed that his tombstone bear his date of birth by using the Julian calendar (notated O.S. for Old Style) and his date of death by using the Gregorian calendar.
[30]
At Jefferson's birth, the difference was eleven days between the Julian and Gregorian calendars and so his birthday of 2 April in the Julian calendar is 13 April in the Gregorian calendar. Similarly,
George Washington
is now officially reported as having been born on 22 February 1732, rather than on 11 February 1731/32 (Julian calendar).
[31]
The philosopher
Jeremy Bentham
, born on 4 February 1747/8 (Julian calendar), in later life celebrated his birthday on 15 February.
[32]
There is some evidence that the calendar change was not easily accepted. Many British people continued to celebrate their holidays "Old Style" well into the 19th century,
[g]
a practice that the author Karen Bellenir considered to reveal a deep emotional resistance to calendar reform.
[33]
Differences between Julian and Gregorian dates
[
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]
The change arose from the realisation that the correct figure for the number of days in a year is not 365.25 (365 days 6 hours) as assumed by the Julian calendar but
slightly less
(c. 365.242 days): The Julian calendar has too many
leap years
. The consequence was that the basis for the calculation of the
date of Easter
, as
decided in the 4th century
, had drifted from
reality
. The Gregorian calendar reform also dealt with the accumulated difference between these figures, between the years 325 and 1582, by skipping 10 days to set the
ecclesiastical date of the equinox
to be 21 March, the median date of its occurrence at the time of the
First Council of Nicea
in 325.
Countries that adopted the Gregorian calendar after 1699 needed to skip an additional day for each subsequent new century that the Julian calendar had added since then. When the British Empire did so in 1752, the gap had grown to eleven days;
[h]
when Russia did so (as its
civil calendar
) in 1918, thirteen days needed to be skipped.
Other notations
[
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]
The Latin equivalents, which are used in many languages, are, on the one hand,
stili veteris
(genitive) or
stilo vetere
(ablative), abbreviated
st.v.
, and meaning
"(of/in) old style"
; and, on the other,
stili novi
or
stilo novo
, abbreviated
st.n.
and meaning
"(of/in) new style".
[34]
The Latin abbreviations may be capitalised differently by different users, e.g.,
St.n.
or
St.N.
for
stili novi
.
[34]
There are equivalents for these terms in other languages as well, such as the German
a.St.
("
alter Stil
" for O.S.).
See also
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
By decrees (1735, 1736) of
Peter the Great
in December 1699 (with effect from 1 January 1700), Russia changed its start of year from September to January and adopted the AD era in place of
Anno Mundi
.
[4]
[5]
However, that event is outside the scope of this article.
- ^
The Act has to use this formulation since "1 January 1752" was still ambiguous.
- ^
The Calendar Act does not mention Pope Gregory
- ^
British official legal documents of the 16th and 17th centuries were usually dated by the
regnal year
of the monarch. As these commence on the day and date of the monarch's accession, they normally span two consecutive calendar years and have to be calculated accordingly, but the resultant dates should be unambiguous.
- ^
For example, see the
Diary of Samuel Pepys
for 31
December 1661: "I sat down to end my journell for this year, ...",
[15]
which is immediately followed by an entry dated "1
January 1661/62".
[16]
This is an example of the
dual dating
system which had become common at the time.
- ^
Known in the US as the "British Calendar Act of 1751"
- ^
See also
Little Christmas
.
- ^
Because 1600 was a leap year in both calendars, only one extra leap day (in 1700) needed to be added to the reckoning
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"The London Gazette | From Tuesday September 1 O.S. to Saturday September 16 N.S. 1752"
.
London Gazette
(9198): 1. 1 September 1752.
- ^
a
b
Spathaky, Mike.
"Old Style and New Style Dates and the change to the Gregorian Calendar"
. Retrieved
19 August
2023
.
. "Before 1752, parish registers, in addition to a new year heading after 24th March showing, for example '1733', had another heading at the end of the following December indicating '1733/4'. This showed where the Historical Year 1734 started even though the Civil Year 1733 continued until 24th March. ... We as historians have no excuse for creating ambiguity and must keep to the notation described above in one of its forms. It is no good writing simply 20th January 1745, for a reader is left wondering whether we have used the Civil or the Historical Year. The date should either be written 20th January 1745 OS (if indeed it was Old Style) or as 20th January 1745/6. The hyphen (1745-6) is best avoided as it can be interpreted as indicating a period of time."
- ^
"Ukase No. 1735"
.
Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Том III
[
Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Volume III.
]. 10 December 1699. p. 682.
- ^
"Ukase No. 1736"
.
Полное собрание законов Российской империи. Том III
[
Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Volume III.
]. 20 December 1699. p. 683.
- ^
Bond 1875
,
page 91
.
- ^
Bond 1875
,
xvii
?xviii: original text of the Scottish decree.
- ^
a
b
e.g.
Woolf, Daniel
(2003).
The Social Circulation of the Past: English Historical Culture 1500?1730
. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. xiii.
ISBN
0-19-925778-7
.
Dates are Old Style, but the year is calculated from 1 January. On occasion, where clarity requires it, dates are written 1687/8.
- ^
Nørby, Toke.
The Perpetual Calendar: What about England?
Version 29 February 2000.
- ^
"House of Commons Journal Volume 8, 9 June 1660 (Regicides)"
. British History Online
. Retrieved
18 March
2007
.
- ^
Death warrant of Charles I
web page of the
UK National Archives
. A demonstration of New Style, meaning Julian calendar with a start of year adjustment.
- ^
Pollard, A. F.
(1940).
"New Year's Day and Leap Year in English History"
.
The English Historical Review
.
55
(218).
Oxford University Press
: 180?185.
doi
:
10.1093/ehr/lv.ccxviii.177
.
JSTOR
553864
.
Archived
from the original on 2 February 2021.
- ^
Pepys, Samuel (31 December 2004).
"Tuesday 31 December 1661"
.
www.pepysdiary.com
. Archived from
the original
on 24 November 2021.
- ^
Pepys, Samuel (January 2005).
"Wednesday 1 January 1661/62"
.
www.pepysdiary.com
. Archived from
the original
on 24 November 2021.
- ^
Spathaky, Mike
Old Style and New Style Dates and the change to the Gregorian Calendar
. "An
oblique stroke
is by far the most usual indicator, but sometimes the alternative final figures of the year are written above and below a horizontal line, as in a fraction, thus:
. Very occasionally a hyphen is used, as 1733-34."
- ^
See for example this biographical entry:
Lancaster, Henry (2010).
"Chocke, Alexander II (1593/4?1625), of Shalbourne, Wilts.; later of Hungerford Park, Berks"
. In Thrush, Andrew; Ferris, John P. (eds.).
The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604?1629
. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^
Wolfe, Brendan.
"The Gregorian Calendar"
.
Encyclopedia Virginia
. Retrieved
27 March
2023
.
- ^
"New Year's Day: Julian and Gregorian Calendars"
.
Sizes.com
. 8 May 2004
. Retrieved
7 January
2021
.
- ^
Blegen, Carl W. (25 December 2013) [n.d.]. Vogeikoff-Brogan, Natalia (ed.).
"An Odd Christmas"
. From the Archivist's Notebook
. Retrieved
1 April
2018
.
- ^
Alexander, Michael (3 April 2019).
"Romania: Centenary anniversary of adopting the Gregorian calendar depicted on new silver coins"
.
Coin Update
.
- ^
S. I. Seleschnikow:
Wieviel Monde hat ein Jahr?
(Aulis-Verlag, Leipzig/Jena/Berlin 1981, p. 149), which is a German translation of С. И. Селешников:
История календаря и хронология
(Издательство "Наука", Moscow 1977). The relevant chapter is available online here:
История календаря в России и в СССР (Calendar history in Russia and the USSR)
.
(in Russian)
- ^
Dershowitz, Nachum; Reingold, Edward M. (2008).
Calendrical Calculations
.
Cambridge
: Cambridge University Press. p. 47.
ISBN
9780521885409
.
- ^
a
b
Cheney & Jones 2000
, p. 19.
- ^
a
b
Lenihan, Padraig (2003).
1690 Battle of the Boyne
. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Tempus. pp. 258?259.
ISBN
0-7524-2597-8
.
- ^
Baker, John.
"Why Bacon, Oxford and Other's Weren't Shakespeare"
. Archived from
the original
on 4 April 2005.
) uses the quote by Benjamin Woolley and cites
The Queen's Conjurer, The Science and Magic of Dr. John Dee, Adviser to Queen Elizabeth I
, page 173.
- ^
"Old Style (O.S.)"
. monticello.org. June 1995
. Retrieved
6 May
2017
.
- ^
Engber, Daniel (18 January 2006).
"What's Benjamin Franklin's Birthday?"
.
Slate
. Retrieved
8 February
2013
.
(Both Franklin's and Washington's confusing birth dates are clearly explained.)
- ^
Sprigge, Timothy L. S.
, ed. (2017) [1968]. "Jeremy Bentham to
Samuel Bentham
, 15 Feb. 1776".
The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham: Volume I: 1752?76
(PDF)
. London: UCL Press. p. 294.
ISBN
978-1-911576-05-1
.
God's-daddikins! it is my birthday ? say something pretty to me on the occasion.
- ^
Bellenir, Karen (2004).
Religious Holidays and Calendars
. Detroit: Omnigraphics. p. 33.
- ^
a
b
Lenz, Rudolf; Uwe Bredehorn; Marek Winiarczyk (2002).
Abkurzungen aus Personalschriften des XVI. bis XVIII. Jahrhunderts
(3 ed.). Franz Steiner Verlag. p. 210.
ISBN
3-515-08152-6
.
Sources
[
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]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikisource
has original text related to this article: