|
January named after Janus, god of beginnings. Around 713
BC, the period between the 10th month (December) and the
first month (March) became Ianuarius and Februarius. In
45 BC, Julius Caesar invented the Julian Calendar, switching
some months around and basing it on a 365 day year, with
a leap day every four years.
It was a fairly good system, only off by 11 minutes a
year. Of course, that can really add up after a few centuries,
so, in 1582, Pope Gegory XIII created the Gregorian Calendar,
which is the calendar the western world uses today.
With the Protestant reformation, with Catholics and the
non-Catholic Christians each believing the other was a group
of heretics, not everyone jumped on to Gregory's calendar
right away. 170 years after most of the rest of the world
changed, in England, and its American colonies, the dates
jumped from Wednesday 2 September 1752 to Thursday 14 September
1752 within 24 hours.
Looking back, having been born on September 7, 1533, Queen
Elizabeth I missed her 19th birthday that year. Today Elizabeth
is best known as a founder of the Church of England and
a character played by Cate Blanchett in 'Elizabeth' and
'Elizabeth: The Golden Age.'
|
