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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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calendar
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Two important historical changes have affected the calendar in Britain. The first concerned the time of the new year. In the early Middle Ages the year began on Christmas Day, but in the 12C the English Church began to calculate the new year from *Lady Day (March 25). This meant that January, February and most of March fell within the same calendar year as the preceding December; the day after 31 December 1220 was therefore 1 January 1220. The potential for confusion is lessened in modern works of history by writing such a year 1220/1 for its first three months (e.g. 1 Jan. 1220/1). It was not until 1600 in Scotland and 1752 in the rest of Britain that the official start of the new year was established as January 1.
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The other great change was from the Julian calendar (introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC) to the Gregorian (brought in by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582). The Julian calendar was inaccurate by about 18 hours in a century; the Gregorian rectifies this by having a leap year only in those centennial years which are divisible by 400 (1900 was not a leap year, 2000 was). All Roman Catholic countries made this change in the 16C. Great Britain, suspicious of anything papist, delayed till 1752. By then the error had accumulated to 11 days. To remedy this, September 3 in that year was renamed September 14 (causing much indignation among those who felt they had been robbed of 11 days of life).
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Dates before 1752 are now described as New Style (NS) if they have been translated into the Gregorian calendar (to coincide with events abroad, or for anniversaries), or Old Style (OS) if they are left in the Julian calendar.
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