science · 25 December 0597 · 1427 years ago
In 597, England adopted the Julian calendar. In the year 46 BC, Julius Caesar reformed the Roman calendar, changing the number of days in the months to achieve a 365-day year. To keep the seasons aligned with the Julian calendar, Caesar added a leap day in every four years to make a 366-day leap year. The present Gregorian calendar was proposed by Aloysius Lilius, a physician from Naples, to amend a remaining small error in the Julian calendar by dropping a few days. Its use was decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and catholic countries began adopting it in Oct 1582. Other countries followed eventually but at greatly different time periods later. In Great Britain and its Dominions, 2 Sep 1752 was followed by 14 Sep 1752.
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