Letter: When the Glorious Twelfth was actually the Glorious 1st

The pope in question being Gregory XIII who introduced in his decree Inter Gravissimas of 1582 a revision of the Julian calendar (introduced by Julius Caesar in 46 BC).

The revision became known as the Gregorian calendar. It still is. Over the centuries, due to a slight inaccuracy, the Julian had become increasingly discordant with the seasons.

The Gregorian version of 1582 introduced many changes with which we are familiar today, among them the start of the year. The Julian observed March 25, the vernal equinox. The Gregorian changed that to January 1.

Another change was made to fix the increasing discrepancy over centuries between the Julian and the actual solar year. To make up for the then 10-day discrepancy, it was decided to elide 10 days in October 1582. The Gregorian calendar was accepted immediately by the then Catholic world, not by the emerging Protestant world but these countries gradually acquiesced until by 1750 there were two Christian redoubts, Britain and Sweden (which changed in 1753).

In 1750, when legislation was made for the ‘new style’ calendar, the year 1751 was cut short to end on December 31 and the new style calendar began on January 1, 1752.

To make up for the Julian discrepancy with the actual solar year which now extended to 11 days, the Act of 1750 provided for September 2, 1752 to be followed by September 14.

The ‘new style’ calendar was met by protests at the introduction of a popish calendar and in London by those believing 11 days of their lives had been taken from them. Thus retrospectively, the Glorious 1st became the Glorious 12th.

The calendar revision caused practical date problems for the niche of historians researching and writing on mid18thc history, of whom I was one.

I do not recall now if The News Letter reported the calendar changes and events of 1751/52. I do recall seeing in Malahide Castle some years ago the great panorama, painted by Jan Wyck in 1693, of the Battle of the Boyne, then on loan from the National Gallery in Dublin. The frame bore the legend Battle of the Boyne 1 July 1690.

The oil painting was probably based on a drawing of the battle by a Dutch contemporary, Dirk Maes, who was an eyewitness commissioned by King William, also a patron of Jan Wyck. It is not surprising that the scene is depicted from King William's vantage point.

The painting has since undergone several years of painstaking conservation and is back in the National Gallery Dublin where it may be viewed. Worth a visit.

Declan O'Donovan, Dalkey, Co Dublin