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Old Style and New Style Dates and the Change to the Gregorian Calendar
Mike Spathaky writes:
If you see a date written as 2nd March 1735/6 you might think it means the year is uncertain even though the date is known. Wrong! This way of writing a date has a special meaning which all historians need to know about. My article at www.genfair.com/dates.htm explains how this apparent vagueness is actually a means of specifying a date with precision and without ambiguity, and why we need, not only to understand the notation used, but also to use it ourselves if we are to avoid being misunderstood.
There are two elements of our modern calendar that were not always the same as they are now. One is the starting day of the year; the other is the rule for working out leap years. The article explains both changes and seeks to dispel the many myths surrounding these changes.
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