Last day of Julian calendar in ItalyIn 1582, this Thursday was the last day of the use of the Julian calendar in Italy and three other Catholic states (Spain, Portugal, and the Poland). Tomorrow, Friday would be 15 Oct 1582, the beginning of the Gregorian calendar, established by Pope Gregory XIII. Ten days had been skipped to realign the calendar, and Easter, with the equinoxes. The Julian calendar, and its leap years as introduced by Julius Caesar did not quite fit the solar year. An error of one day accumulated for each 128 years. In addition to skipping ten days to compemsate for most of the error, the Gregorian plan refined how leap years were to be calculated in certain centuries. Britain resisted this Popish change until 2 Sep 1752. Russia held on to its old calendar until 31 Jan 1918. The formal full adoption in China was not until 1929.« |
