The calendar used today by most people throughout the world had its beginnings
in the ancient Roman calendar. In 46 B.C. the Roman leader Julius Caesar
decided that the old calendar, which had become wildly out of sequence with the
natural cycle, had to be revised. He introduced a calendar that had 365 days,
and he established the leap year system by adding an extra day every 4 years.
This new calendar became known as the Julian calendar, named for its inventor.
The Julian calendar was an important breakthrough, but it was not perfect. By
the Middle Ages it was out of step with the seasons and needed reform. In
1582, Pope Gregory XIII proposed certain changes. For one year he dropped 10
days from the calendar to make it correspond more closely with the seasons. He
also dropped leap years in "century" years, unless those years could be divided
by 400. Pope Gregory's calendar became known as the Gregorian or New Style
calendar. It was more precise than the Julian or Old Style calendar, but it
was not accepted immediately.
The Gregorian calendar was observed in Italy, Poland, Portugal, and Spain
almost immediately. Other Catholic countries followed shortly after, but
Protestant countries were reluctant to change, and the Greek orthodox countries
didn't change until the start of the 20th century.
The following list contains the dates for changes in a number of countries:
| Albania: | December 1912 |
| Austria: | Different regions on different dates |
| 5 Oct 1583 was followed by 16 Oct 1583 | |
| 14 Dec 1583 was followed by 25 Dec 1583 | |
| Belgium: | Different authorities say |
| 14 Dec 1582 was followed by 25 Dec 1582 | |
| 21 Dec 1582 was followed by 1 Jan 1583 | |
| Bulgaria: | Different authorities say |
| Sometime in 1912 | |
| Sometime in 1915 | |
| 18 Mar 1916 was followed by 1 Apr 1916 | |
| China: | Different authorities say |
| 18 Dec 1911 was followed by 1 Jan 1912 | |
| 18 Dec 1928 was followed by 1 Jan 1929 | |
| Czechoslovakia (i.e. Bohemia and Moravia): | 6 Jan 1584 was followed by 17 Jan 1584 |
| Denmark (including Norway): | 18 Feb 1700 was followed by 1 Mar 1700 |
| Egypt: | 1875 |
| Estonia: | January 1918 |
| Finland: Then part of Sweden. | |
| France: | 9 Dec 1582 was followed by 20 Dec 1582 |
| Germany: | Different states on different dates: |
| Catholic states on various dates in 1583-1585 | |
| Prussia: 22 Aug 1610 was followed by 2 Sep 1610 | |
| Protestant states: 18 Feb 1700 was followed by 1 Mar 1700 | |
| Great Britain and Dominions (including what is now the USA): | 2 Sep 1752 was followed by 14 Sep 1752 |
| Greece: | 9 Mar 1924 was followed by 23 Mar 1924 |
| Hungary: | 21 Oct 1587 was followed by 1 Nov 1587 |
| Italy: | 4 Oct 1582 was followed by 15 Oct 1582 |
| Japan: | Different authorities say: |
| 19 Dec 1872 was followed by 1 Jan 1873 | |
| 18 Dec 1918 was followed by 1 Jan 1919 | |
| Latvia: | During German occupation 1915 to 1918 |
| Lithuania: | 1915 |
| Luxembourg: | 14 Dec 1582 was followed by 25 Dec 1582 |
| Netherlands: | Brabant, Flanders, Holland, Artois, Hennegau: 14 Dec 1582 was followed by 25 Dec 1582 |
| Geldern, Friesland, Zeuthen, Groningen, Overysel: 30 Nov 1700 was followed by 12 Dec 1700 | |
| Norway: Then part of Denmark. | |
| Poland: | 4 Oct 1582 was followed by 15 Oct 1582 |
| Portugal: | 4 Oct 1582 was followed by 15 Oct 1582 |
| Prussia : | 22 Aug 1610 was followed by 2 Sept 1610 |
| Romania: | 31 Mar 1919 was followed by 14 Apr 1919 |
| Russia: | 31 Jan 1918 was followed by 14 Feb 1918 |
| Spain: | 4 Oct 1582 was followed by 15 Oct 1582 |
| Sweden (including Finland): | 17 Feb 1753 was followed by 1 Mar 1753 (see note below) |
| Switzerland: | Catholic cantons: 1583 or 1584 |
| Zurich, Bern, Basel, Schafhausen, Neuchatel, Geneva: 31 Dec 1700 was followed by 12 Jan 1701 | |
| St Gallen: 1724 | |
| Transylvania : | 14 Dec 1590 was followed by 25 Dec 1590 |
| Turkey: | 18 Dec 1926 was followed by 1 Jan 1927 |
| Tyrol : | 5 Oct 1583 was followed by 16 Oct 1583 |
| USA: See Great Britain, of which it was then a colony. | |
| Yugoslavia: | 14 January 1919 was followed by 28 January 1919 but parts of the country had changed over earlier. |
Sweden has a curious history. Sweden decided to make a gradual change from the
Julian to the Gregorian calendar. By dropping every leap year from 1700 through
1740 the eleven superfluous days would be omitted and from 1 Mar 1740 they
would be in sync with the Gregorian calendar. (But in the meantime they would
be in sync with nobody.)
So 1700 (which should have been a leap year in the Julian calendar) was not a
leap year in Sweden. However, by mistake 1704 and 1708 became leap years. This
left Sweden out of synchronisation with both the Julian and the Gregorian
world, so they decided to go �back� to the Julian calendar. In order to do
this, they inserted an extra day in 1712, making that year a double leap year.
So in 1712, February had 30 days in Sweden.
Later, in 1753, Sweden changed to the Gregorian calendar by dropping 11 days
like everyone else.
(Note, however, that Finland was a part of Sweden and later became part of
Russia, which then still used the Julian calendar. The Gregorian calendar
remained official in Finland, but some use of the Julian calendar was made.)
After 170 years of resistance Britain accepted the Gregorian calendar, but
obstinately named it the "Reformed" calendar. An act of Parliament (1750)
ordered that the eleven days following 2 September 1752, were to be omitted
from the "New Style"; that 3 September was to be called 14 September; that the
legal year should thereafter begin not on 25 March but on 1 January.
Prior to 1752, "first month" referred to March, not January, "twelveth month"
to February, not December, and other months were numbered accordingly, which
practice followed the Old Style calendar used in Britain and her colonies.
Consequently, the pre-1752 numbering system found in Quaker records poses a
special problem for genealogists. The Quakers recorded their dates by using
the numbers of the days, months, and years (ie., 4d 2m 1699 [4 April 1699]).
Additionally, all dates falling between 1 January and 25 March (the first day
of the year under the Old Style calendar) have a double year date connoting the
Old Style vs. New Style (ie., 27d 12m 1704 [27 February 1704/1705]). This
double year date is presently used for all pre-1752 English records, not just
Quaker records. (GWP)
