Gregorian calendar

The error of the Julian calendar led to the fact that the actual time of the vernal equinox no longer coincided with the calendar. The moment of equality of day and night passed to ever earlier numbers: first on March 20, then on March 19, 18, etc. As a result, by the second half of the XVI century. this discrepancy was 10 days: according to the Julian calendar, the equinox was supposed to occur on March 21, but in reality it already occurred on March 11. This was the reason for additional corrections and clarifications of the calendar.

The inaccuracy was discovered as early as the beginning of the 14th century. In 1324, the Byzantine scholar Nicephorus Gregoras drew the attention of Emperor Andronicus II to the fact that the spring equinox no longer falls on March 21, which means that Easter will gradually move to a later time. Therefore, he considered it necessary to correct the calendar and, along with it, the calculation of Paschal. However, the emperor rejected the proposal to correct the calendar, believing that this would cause disagreement between the individual Orthodox Churches.

Other Byzantine scholars, Matthew Vlastar and Isaac Argir, also pointed out the inaccuracy of the calendar, but the Byzantine Church refused to carry out a calendar reform. Moreover, the Church even saw some advantage in the "delay" of the calendar, believing that such a discrepancy would only save the Christian Pascha from coincidence in time with the Jewish Pascha. And their simultaneous celebration was strictly forbidden by the Council rules.

Many representatives of the Western Church also understood the need to reform the Julian calendar. In the XIV century. Pope Clement VI spoke out for correcting the calendar. The shortcomings of the calendar and the inaccuracy of the existing Paschals were the subject of discussion at the Basel Council (1437), where the outstanding philosopher and scientist of the Renaissance Nicholas of Cusa presented his project. In 1475, Pope Sixtus IV began preparations for a reform of the calendar and invited the outstanding German astronomer and mathematician Regiomontanus to Rome, but the unexpected death of the scientist forced the Pope to postpone the reform. In the XVI century. the question of calendar reform was considered at the Lateran (1512-1517) and Trent (1545-1563) Councils. In 1514, the Lateran Council invited the already well-known in Europe Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus to Rome to participate in the calendar commission. But Copernicus declined to participate in the commission and pointed out the prematureness of such a reform, since he believed that by this time the length of the tropical year had not been established accurately enough.

By the middle of the XVI century. the question of reforming the calendar becomes so urgent that postponing its decision was considered undesirable. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII created a special calendar commission, which was charged with drafting a revised calendar. As a result, the commission proposed for approval the project of the Italian mathematician and physician Luigi Lilio, a teacher of medicine at the University of Perugia.

On February 24, 1582, the Lilio project was officially approved by Pope Gregory XIII with a bull? Inter gra-issimas. error accumulated since the Council of Nicaea, and the spring equinox again fell on March 21. The reformed calendar was called Gregorian, or "new style".

By the time of the calendar reform, the difference between the old and new styles was 10 days. This amendment remained the same in the 17th century, since 1600 was a leap year both in the new style and in the old one. But in the XVIII century. the amendment increased to 11 days, in the XIX century. - up to 12 days and, finally, in the twentieth century. - up to 13 days.

The reason for changing the correction value depends on the fact that in the Julian calendar 1700 1800 and 1900 are leap years, i.e. in February they contain 29 days, and in the Gregorian they are not leap years and have only 28 days in February. For translation julian date any event that occurred after the reform of 1582, on new style you can use the following table:

The Gregorian calendar did not immediately become widespread. In Catholic countries (France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, etc.) it was introduced in 1582, or somewhat later. Protestant states have long been guided by the adage that "it is better to part ways with the Sun than with the Pope." The Orthodox Church opposed the new style even longer.

In a number of countries, the introduction of the Gregorian calendar even became an occasion for popular unrest. The largest performance in history was the "calendar riots" in Riga in 1584-1589. They were caused by the decree of the Polish king Stefan Batory on the introduction of a new calendar not only in Poland, but also in the Duchy of Zadvinsk, which at that time was under Polish-Lithuanian domination.

In England, the introduction of the new calendar was accompanied by the transfer of the beginning of the new year from March 25 to January 1. Thus, the year 1751 in England consisted of only 282 days.

In the 19th century attempts were made to introduce the Gregorian calendar in Russia, but each time they failed due to the opposition of the Russian Orthodox Church and the government. The calendar reform was carried out in Russia in 1918, after the establishment of Soviet power. But the Russian Orthodox Church has retained its adherence to the old style.

From the beginning of the 20s of the XX century. The Gregorian calendar was adopted by the majority of the Orthodox Churches. However, while celebrating fixed holidays according to the Gregorian calendar, the Orthodox Churches continue to use the Julian calendar when calculating Paschalia, the principles of which have become somewhat different from the Gregorian Paschalia used by the Western Church after the calendar reform.

At present, only four Orthodox Churches - Russian, Georgian, Serbian and Jerusalem - continue to adhere entirely to the Julian calendar.

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Gregorian calendar- a time calculation system based on the cyclic revolution of the Earth around the Sun; the duration of the year is taken equal to 365.2425 days; contains 97 leap years per 400 years.

For the first time, the Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in Catholic countries on October 4, 1582, replacing the previous Julian: the next day after Thursday, October 4, was Friday, October 15.

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Structure of the Gregorian calendar

In the Gregorian calendar, the length of a year is 365.2425 days. The duration of a non-leap year is 365 days, a leap year is 366.

365.242 5 = 365 + 0 , 25 - 0 , 01 + 0.002 5 = 365 + 1 4 - 1100 + 1400 . (\displaystyle 365(,)2425=365+0(,)25-0(,)01+0(,)0025=365+(\frac (1)(4))-(\frac (1)(100 ))+(\frac (1)(400)).)

From here follows the distribution of leap years:

• a year whose number is a multiple of 400 is a leap year;
• other years - the year, the number of which is a multiple of 100 - non-leap year;
• other years - the year, the number of which is a multiple of 4 - is a leap year.

Thus, 1600 and 2000 were leap years, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not leap years.

An error of one day compared to the year of the equinoxes in the Gregorian calendar will accumulate in about 10,000 years (in the Julian - in about 128 years). A frequently encountered estimate, leading to a value of the order of 3000 years, is obtained if we do not take into account that the number of days in a tropical year changes with time and, in addition, the ratio between the lengths of the seasons changes.

In the Gregorian calendar, there are leap and non-leap years; the year can begin on any of the seven days of the week. In total, this gives 2 × 7 = 14 calendar options.

Months

According to the Gregorian calendar, the year is divided into 12 months, lasting from 28 to 31 days:

Rule for remembering the number of days in a month

There is a simple rule for remembering the number of days in a month - " knuckle rule».

If you put your fists together in front of you so as to see the backs of the palms, then by the “knuckles” (knuckles) on the edge of the palm and the spaces between them you can determine whether any month is “long” (31 days) or “short” (30 days except February). To do this, you need to start counting the months from January, counting the knuckles and gaps. January will correspond to the first knuckle (long month - 31 days), February - the gap between the first and second knuckles (short month), March - knuckle, etc. The next two long months in a row - July and August - fall exactly on the neighboring knuckles of different hands (the gap between the fists is not considered).

There is also a mnemonic rule "Ap-yun-sen-no". The syllables of this word indicate the names of the months, consisting of 30 days. It is known that February, depending on the specific year, contains 28 or 29 days. All other months contain 31 days. The convenience of this mnemonic rule is that there is no need to “count” the knuckles.

Also, to remember the number of days in months, there is an English-language school saying: Thirty days have september, april, june and november. Analog to German: Dreissig Tage hat September, April, June and November.

The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars

At the time of the introduction of the Gregorian calendar, the difference between it and the Julian calendar was 10 days. However, this difference is gradually increasing due to the different number of leap years - in the Gregorian calendar, the final year of the century, if it is not divisible by 400, is not a leap year (see Leap year) - and today is 13 days.

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Prerequisites for the transition to the Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar is much more accurate than the Julian calendar: it gives a much better approximation to the tropical year. The reason for the adoption of the new calendar was the gradual shift in relation to the Julian calendar of the day of the vernal equinox, according to which the date of Easter was determined, and the mismatch of the Easter full moons with astronomical ones. Before Gregory XIII, Popes Paul III and Pius IV tried to implement the project, but they did not achieve success. The preparation of the reform at the direction of Gregory XIII was carried out by the astronomers Christopher Clavius ​​and Aloysius Lily. The results of their labors were recorded in a papal bull, signed by the pontiff at Villa Mondragon and named after the first line. Inter gravissimas("Among the most important").

The transition to the Gregorian calendar resulted in the following changes:

As time passes, the Julian and Gregorian calendars diverge more and more at a rate of approximately one day per century, unless the number of the previous century is divisible by 4.

Dates for countries to switch to the Gregorian calendar

Transition history

In 1582, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Commonwealth (Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Poland), France, Lorraine switched to the Gregorian calendar.

By the end of 1583 they were joined by Holland, Belgium, Brabant, Flanders, Liège, Augsburg, Trier, Bavaria, Salzburg, Regensburg, part of Austria and Tyrol. There were no curiosities. For example, in Belgium and Holland, January 1, 1583 came immediately after December 21, 1582, and the entire population was left that year without Christmas.

In some cases, the transition to the Gregorian calendar was accompanied by serious unrest. For example, when the Polish king Stefan Batory introduced in Riga new calendar in 1584, local merchants rebelled, claiming that a 10-day shift would disrupt their delivery schedules and result in significant losses. The rebels destroyed the Riga church and killed several municipal employees. It was only in the summer of 1589 that the "calendar disturbances" were dealt with.

In some countries that switched to the Gregorian calendar, the Julian chronology was subsequently resumed as a result of their accession to other states. In connection with the transition of countries to the Gregorian calendar at different times, factual errors of perception may occur: for example, it is known that Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616. In fact, these events took place with a difference of 10 days, since in Catholic Spain the new style was in effect from the very introduction of it by the pope, and Great Britain switched to the new calendar only in 1752.

The introduction of the new calendar also had serious financial consequences for tax collectors. In 1753 - the first full year according to the Gregorian calendar, the bankers refused to pay taxes, waiting for the required 11 days after the usual due date - March 25th. As a result, the financial year in the UK did not start until 6 April. This date has survived to this day, as a symbol of great changes that occurred 250 years ago.

Sweden decided to abolish leap days from 1700 to 1740. In 1700, the first leap day was abolished. Then the war started and they forgot about the translation. Thus, the country lived according to its own Swedish calendar. In 1711, Charles XII recognized this as impractical and decided to return to the old style and add 2 days in February. Therefore, in Sweden it was February 30, 1712. Only in 1753 a new style was introduced. At the same time, February 17 was immediately followed by March 1 [ ] .

The transition to the Gregorian calendar in Alaska was unusual, since there it was combined with the transfer of the line change date. Therefore, after Friday, October 5, 1867, according to the old style, another Friday, October 18, 1867, according to the new style, followed.

So far, Ethiopia and Thailand have not switched to the Gregorian calendar.

Since 1923, most of the local Orthodox churches, with the exception of