Old Style and New Style dates

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Old Style or OS is a designation indicating that a date conforms to the Julian calendar, formerly in use in many countries, rather than the Gregorian calendar, currently in use in most countries.

"Old Style" (OS) and "New Style" (NS) are sometimes added to dates to identify which system is used in the British Empire and other countries that did not immediately change to the Gregorian calendar. In Britain it is usual to map most dates from the Julian year onto the Gregorian year without converting the day and month. However because the start of the Julian year was not always 1 January, (see New Year's Day section in the Julian calendar article), OS/NS is particularly relevant for dates which fall between the start of the Gregorian year, (1 January) and the start of the Julian year (which in England was 25 March). Great Britain did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 14 September 1752 and it was not until that year that England officially adopted 1 January as the start of the calendar year. Hence the execution of King Charles I is usually recorded as having taken place on 30 January 1649 (NS), but in contemporary documents it is recorded as having taken place on 30 January 1648.^[1]

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1 Possible date conflicts
2 Countries that used lunisolar calendars
3 See also
4 Further reading
5 Footnotes

[އުނިއިތުރު ގެންނަވާ] Possible date conflicts

For example, it is sometimes remarked that William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes died on the same date, 23 April 1616, but not on the same day. England was still using the Julian calendar in 1616, while Spain was using the Gregorian calendar. Cervantes actually died ten days before Shakespeare.

Because of the differences, English people and their correspondents often employed two dates, more or less automatically, as Benjamin Woolley observed in his biography of Dr. John Dee, The Queen's Conjurer. Dee fought unsuccessfully for England to embrace the 1583/4 date set for the change. It didn't. Wolley wrote because of "the decision, England remained outside the Gregorian system for a further 170 years, communications during that period customarily carrying two dates, one 'OS' or Old Style, the other 'NS' or New Style." (173) Thomas Jefferson, for example, lived during the time England eventually converted, so his tombstone bore his birthdate in the Old Style, and noted them as such, at his instruction. By then the difference was greater than ten days.

A further complication is that the start of the Julian year was not always 1 January but was altered at different times in different countries. For a long time the year in England began on 25 March (Lady Day), so for example Elizabeth I of England was recorded as having died on 24 March 1602 (Old Style); this would be written 24 March 1603 (New Style). Although this would correspond to 3 April 1603 if fully converted into the Gregorian calendar, the month and day of a British event are normally not converted. For complete avoidance of ambiguity, historians can write dates in the ambiguous part of the year in slashed format, for example "24 March/3 April 1602/1603".

Catholic countries such as Italy, Poland, Spain, and Portugal were first to change to the Gregorian calendar. Thursday, 4 October 1582 was followed by Friday, 15 October 1582, with ten days "missing". Countries that did not change until the 1700s observed an additional leap year, necessitating eleven "missing days". Some countries did not change until the 1800s or 1900s, necessitating one or two more "missing days".

France changed from Julian to Gregorian Calendar on 9 December 1582 JU where the next day was 20 December 1582 GR. France used the French Republican Calendar from 22 September 1792 GR to 31 December 1805 GR.

double-dated marriage certificate (1907, Warsaw^[2])

In Russia, the terms "Old Style" and "New Style" have the same significance as elsewhere. The start of the year was moved to January 1 in 1700, but the Gregorian calendar was introduced there much later—on February 14 1918 (Gregorian calendar). Hence the October Revolution of 1917 is so called, despite having started on November 7 under the Gregorian calendar, (October 25 (Julian calendar)). Articles about the October Revolution which mention this date difference tend to do a full conversion to the dates from Julian to the Gregorian calendar. For example the article "The October (November) Revolution" the Encyclopædia Britannica uses the format of "October 25 (November 7, New Style);" to describe the date of the start of the revolution. ^[3]

Occasionally using different calendars has caused confusion between contemporaries. For example one of the contributory factors for Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Austerlitz was the confusion between the Russians, who were using the Julian calendar, and the Austrians, who were using the Gregorian calendar, over the date that their forces should combine.^[4]

Usually in modern histories, to avoid confusion and to keep dates consistent, the OS dates are mapped onto NS dates with an adjustment for the start of the year to 1 January. For example modern histories all state that Charles I of England was executed on 30 January 1649. But Parliamentary documents investigating the regicide during the Restoration eleven years later all state that the event happened on 30 January 1648.^[5]

The mapping of new dates onto old dates with a start of year adjustment works well with little confusion for events which happened before the introduction of the Gregorian Calendar on 9 December 1582 (in France). For example the Battle of Agincourt is universally known to have been fought on 25 October 1415, which is Saint Crispin's Day. But for the period between the first introduction of the Gregorian calendar 4 October 1582 and its introduction in Britain on 14 September 1752, there can be considerable confusion between events in continental western Europe and in British domains. Events in continental western Europe are usually reported in English language histories as happening under the Gregorian calendar. For example the Battle of Blenheim is always given as 13 August 1704. However confusion occurs when an event affects both. For example William III of England arrived at Brixham in England on 5 November (Julian caledar), after setting sail from the Netherlands on 11 November (Gregorian calendar). To add to the confusion, the Battle of Boyne, which took place only a few months later in Ireland on 1 July "Old Style", is not mapped to 1 July "New Style" but is remembered as taking place on 12 July. The keeping of the recorded date (not a mapped date) for the anniversary of this battle has more to do with Protestants not at first recognising Gregorian dates, so they continued to celebrate the anniversary on their Protestant 1 July and now traditionally do so.

[އުނިއިތުރު ގެންނަވާ] Countries that used lunisolar calendars

Japan, Korea, and China started using the Gregorian calendar on 1 January of 1873, 1896, and 1912, respectively.^[6] They used lunisolar calendars previously. In these countries, the old style calendars were similar but not all the same. None of them used the Julian calendar. The Old Style and New Style dates in these countries usually mean the older lunisolar dates and the newer Gregorian calendar dates. Arabic numerals may be used for both calendar dates in modern Japanese and Korean languages, but not Chinese.

[އުނިއިތުރު ގެންނަވާ] Japan

Japan started using the Gregorian calendar on 1 January 1873,^[7] locally known as "the first day of the first month of Meiji 6" (明治6年1月1日). The preceding day, 31 December 1872, was "the second day of the twelfth month of Meiji 5" (明治5年12月2日).

The lunisolar Japanese calendar is no longer used except in very limited unofficial purposes, in which case 135° E of longitude is the modern reference point also used for Japan Standard Time (UTC+9), as opposed to Kyoto as the ancient reference point and the national capital until 1868.

[އުނިއިތުރު ގެންނަވާ] Korea

Korea started using the Gregorian calendar on 1 January 1896, which was the 17th day of the 11th lunar month^[8] in not only Korea but also in China that still used the lunisolar calendar. The lunisolar Korean calendar is now used in very limited unofficial purposes only.

[އުނިއިތުރު ގެންނަވާ] China

The Republic of China started using the Gregorian calendar on 1 January 1912, but the lunisolar Chinese calendar is still used along with the Gregorian calendar, especially when determining certain traditional holidays. The reference has been a longitude of 120°E since 1929, which is also used for Chinese Standard Time (UTC+8). China, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, and Taiwan all have legal holidays based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar, with the most important one being the Chinese New Year.

To visually distinguish old and new style dates, GB/T 15835-1995, General rules for writing numerals in publications, which is a national standard of the People's Republic of China, requires writing new style dates with Arabic numerals but old style dates with Chinese characters, never Arabic numerals.

In Taiwan, even though new style dates are written in Chinese characters in very formal texts, it is now common to see Arabic numerals in new style dates in less formal texts. When writing old style dates, Chinese characters are usually used while Arabic numerals are considered very casual and strongly discouraged as in Mainland China.