As was to be expected, the countries of Europe which recognised
the authority of the bishop of Rome were not long in accepting the
reformation of the Kalendar. Spain, Portugal, and part of Italy made
the change on the same day as at Rome, that is on Oct. 15 (5), 1582.
In France and Lorraine the change was made on December 20 (10) in the
same year; in the Roman Catholic cantons of Switzerland in 1583 or
1584; in Poland in 1586; in Hungary in 1587. In Protestant countries
and countries where Protestants were numerous the alteration was more
slowly effected. But Denmark was an exception, for the New Style was
adopted in 1582. In Holland and the Low Countries the provinces were
divided in their acceptance of the New Style, and in some places the
change was not effected till the year 1700. In Germany we also find a
variety of usages: Austria and Roman Catholics in other parts accepted
the change in 1584, but Protestants did not yield till 1700, when they
adopted the Kalendar of the German astronomer, Erhard Weigel, which
differed from the Gregorian Kalendar only in the rule for determining
Easter. This variation brought about the result that the Protestants and
Roman Catholics sometimes celebrated Easter on different days. In 1778
Frederick the Great ordained that from that time Easter should be kept at
the time ascertained from the Gregorian Paschal moon. Weigel’s Kalendar
was also adopted in the Protestant cantons of Switzerland in 1700. In
Russia, Greece, and throughout the Christian East the Old Kalendar is
still in use[167].
Great Britain was the last of the countries of Western Europe to adopt
the New Style. It is true that as early as March 16, 1584-5, a bill was
introduced in the House of Lords under the title, ‘An Act giving her
Majesty [Queen Elizabeth] authority to alter and new make a Calendar
according to the Calendar used in other countries.’ The bill was read a
second time in the House of Lords, and proceeded no further.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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