Dates

One of the more complicated things about studying the seventeenth century is that different European countries (and their American colonies) used different calendars. By this point many countries had accepted the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582 and therefore used the Gregorian calendar that we use today. The only one of these countries that this blog will deal with is Spain, but I have set the dates of the posts using the Gregorian calendar to preserve continuity with the present. This means that the events taking place in Spanish colonies were recorded as being on the dates on which the posts describing them are published.

Unlike Spain, England still used the old Julian calendar in the seventeenth century. Events in English colonies during 1692 were therefore recorded as happening on Julian (Old Style) dates, which I have indicated in the titles of the posts describing them in parentheses after the corresponding Gregorian dates. The difference between the two calendars at this point was ten days, so Old Style dates are consistently ten days earlier than the equivalent New Style (Gregorian) dates. Since I am putting up these posts by Gregorian dates, posts describing events in the English colonies will go up on the days, rather than the dates, when they occurred.

Another wrinkle in the calendar used in seventeenth-century England is that the year began on March 25 rather than January 1, with the days between January 1 and March 25 technically considered part of the preceding year but often written with both years indicated. For example, February 1, 1692 would be written as either February 1, 1691 or February 1, 1691/2. Since I am using the Gregorian calendar for this blog, I am considering 1692 to run from January 1 through December 31 and therefore only include events that took place during this period.

For references to other dates in connection with particular events described in this blog, I use the calendar of the society in which the event takes place. Thus, dates referenced in connection with events in the English colonies are given in the Julian calendar, while those in connection with events in the Spanish ones are given in the Gregorian calendar.  References to specific other dates include links to the posts describing events on those dates to minimize confusion.