The Calendar Change of 1752
England's Switch from the Julian to Gregorian Calendars
Ever wonder why certain dates are notated strangely, with two dates for the year, separated by a slash? The difference in the Julian and Gregorian calendars is to thank for the notation. Understanding the intricacies of the differences can be confusing, before one fully explores the reasons and mechanics behind the change.
Julian Calendar
The Julian calendar, commissioned by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C. was divided into twelve months, based on a solar year. The rotation for years seems very similar to the calendar used today: three years contained 365 days, with every fourth year possessing 366 days, a leap year. The large difference between the Julian calendar and that of today was New Years Day which fell on March 1, rather than January 1 on the Julian calendar.
Christian Changes to the Julian Calendar
After the Roman Empire fell, in A.D. 5, New Years was set for Christmas Day. New Years was once more reset, in the ninth century, for March 25 to correspond to Annunciation Day, nine months prior to Christmas Day and the date for the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary, informing her that she would be the mother of Christ. Some of the names of modern months reflect their numerical placement in the Julian year. For example, September was the seventh month, October the eighth, November the ninth and December the tenth, all reflecting the Latin numerical prefixes for their placement.
Gregorian Calendar
In the middle ages, it was discovered that the Julian calendar miscalculated leap years to count an extra day for each one hundred twenty-eight years. So, by 1582, great problems regarding Christian holidays were occurring, with some falling outside of their proscribed seasons and inaccuracies of up to nearly two weeks occurred for the equinoxes.
Therefore, in 1582, Pope Gregory XIII authorized the new calendar, appropriately name the Gregorian calendar, which involved a great many confusing changes for the transition to occur.
- First, ten days were dropped from October.
- Secondly, leap years were recalculated to occur on those years only exactly divisible by four. The exception is any year which is divisible by one hundred, for these are only leap years if they are exactly divisible by four themselves. This very confusing calculation repeats exactly every four years, but does not add an extra day as the Julian calendar did.
- Thirdly, the Gregorian calendar reset New Years to fall on January 1.
While all Catholic countries immediately adopted the calendar set forth by Pope Gregory XIII, Protestant European countries were slow to transition. In fact, between the years of 1582 and 1752, two calendars were in use in Europe and England. There were legal years and calendar years which make for a confusing job for today’s student of history. To note the date properly, the old style (Julian) date and the new style (Gregorian) date are often noted together, separated by a slash mark. For example: 1678/9 or 1678/79.
England Adopts the Greogorian Calendar
In 1750, an Act of Parliament finally resolved the adoption of the Gregorian calendar for England and its colonies, thereby streamlining the calendar system in Europe entirely. England’s adjustment, though, was more confusing than the original Julian to Gregorian change over. In 1752, England had to greatly modify its calendar in the following ways:
- December 31, 1750 was followed by January 1, 1750 seemingly going back in time. January 1 was also set as New Years Day with this calendar.
- March 24, 1750 was followed by March 25, 1751 to match up with the rest of Europe’s current year.
- December 31, 1751 was followed by January 1, 1752
- Finally, September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752, taking eleven days from the month.
The result was a streamlined, consistent calendar for all of Europe and the colonies in the New World. However, today’s historians are left with the interesting notation of two years for dates in the years preceding 1752. What may be confused by some as an uncertainty in dates is actually a compensation for England’s slow response to the transition from the Julian to Gregorian calendars.
Sources:
Doggett, L.E. “Calendars,” from Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac. Edited by P. Kenneth Seidelman, Sausalito: University Science Books, 1992.
“The 1752 Calendar Change” from Connecticut State Library, History and Genealogy Unit, 2008.
Pope Gregory XIII
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