Double
Dating Double dating came about when the new Gregorian Calendar was introduced to correct the growing error in the old Julian Calendar. There was a fear that before long, Easter would be celebrated during the winter, rather than during the spring. Pope Gregory XIII issued a papal bull declaring that Thursday October 4, 1582 would be followed by Friday October 15, 1582, and that centennial years would only be a leap year if they were a multiple of 400. This shortened the year by 3 days per 400 years, giving a year of 365.2425 days. Alas, Gregory was the pope of the Roman Catholic Church, and Protestants would not accept the new calendar despite the fact that it was a wonderful improvement. The longer they waited to convert to the Gregorian Calendar, the greater was the error in the Julian Calendar. Different places in the world had a different year date for the same day. In fact, sometimes the same places used both the Julian and Gregorian calendars, as discussed below..
These dates are also seen as Dates written in this manner are not a range of possible years. 1695/6, 1695/96, 1695-96, 1695 O. S., 1696 N. S. are all the same year date from two different calendars.. If this is confusing you, imagine how it was for the people who had to live with two different calendars! This is what was known as double dating. The first date, Old Style (O. S.), is from the Julian Calendar, and the second date, New Style (N. S.), is from the Gregorian Calendar. The year dates on the two calendars overlapped between January 1 and March 25. March 25 was the first day of the year on the Julian Calendar and January 1 was the first day of the year on the Gregorian Calendar. During those months in the American Colonies, for the British government it was 1716, Old Style, and for the common people it was 1717, New Style. The British government didn't switch to the Gregorian Calendar until 1752, when Great Britain finally changed. Most of the people in the American Colonies had already been using the Gregorian Calendar for decades. Due to the fact that one group followed the Julian Calendar, and the other had accepted the new Gregorian Calendar, both dates were sometimes recorded. If you want to record only one year for dates between January 1 and March 25, you must write "1710 O. S." or "1711 N. S." in order to be accurate. George Washington was really born with two different year dates, but of course on the same day: February 22, 1731 O. S. for those who followed the Julian Calendar, February 22, 1732 N. S. for those who followed the Gregorian Calendar, and February 22, 1731/32 to use both systems. This is why it is important to indicate which calendar you are using, or use double dating to show both. This discrepancy between the two calendars is the reason some dates in the contemporary literature apparently conflict. Different countries accepted the Gregorian Calendar much later than others. In Great Britain and Dominions, including the American Colonies, September 2, 1752 was followed by September 14, 1752 to compensate for the increased error. In Russia, January 31, 1918 was followed by February 14, 1918, when the conversion was made to the Gregorian Calendar. Double dating is more complicated than this brief outline. The
Problem of Dates Google
Search |
, 
, and 
,