Florentine calendar
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The Florentine calendar, also referred to as the ''stylus Florentinus'' ("Florentine style"), was the calendar used in the
Republic of Florence The Republic of Florence, officially the Florentine Republic ( it, Repubblica Fiorentina, , or ), was a medieval and early modern state that was centered on the Italian city of Florence in Tuscany. The republic originated in 1115, when the Flo ...
in Italy during the Middle Ages. Unusually, both the beginning of the day and the beginning of the year differed from the traditional
Julian calendar The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
.


Beginning of the day

The Florentine day began at sunset and ended at the following sunset, such that the whole day was shifted forwards by (up to) several hours when compared to the modern day (running from midnight to midnight). As such, a reference to an event at "two hours into the day" meant two hours after sunset, and occurred on the previous day by modern reckoning. By way of example, 10 August in the Florentine calendar covers the period from sunset on 9 August in the modern calendar until sunset on 10 August. Conversely, 10 August in the modern calendar runs from midnight (several hours into the day) on 10 August in the Florentine calendar until midnight on 11 August.


Beginning of the year

The Florentine year began on 25 March, and not on 1 January, with the apparent year lagging behind the traditional Julian calendar.. Thus, 31 December 1200 was followed by 1 January 1200 (not 1201, as it would become in the Julian calendar), and the year remained the same until 24 March 1200. This was then followed by 25 March 1201, the day on which the two calendars synchronised. This is the reason that some dates have an apparent discrepancy of one year. For example, a birth date of 10 March 1552 in Florentine reckoning translates to 10 March 1553 in the Julian calendar, setting aside any discrepancy due to the differing start of the day. Beginning the year on a date other than 1 January was common during the mediaeval period. The first day of the year falling on 25 March meant that the Florentine calendar was in the ''stile dell'Annunciazione'' ("style of the Annunciation") or ''stile dell'Incarnazione'' ("style of the Incarnation") - also styled in Latin as ''ab ominicaincarnatione'' ("from the ord'sIncarnation") - by reference to the Solemnity of the Annunciation, which also saw use in the
Sienese Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...
,
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
and Scottish calendars. The
Pisan calendar The Pisan calendar, also referred to as the ''stile pisano'' ("Pisan style") or the ''calculus Pisanus'' ("Pisan calculation"), was the calendar used in the Republic of Pisa in Italy during the Middle Ages, which differed from the traditional Jul ...
, as well as those of Cortona and Pistoia, were also in this style, but confusingly ran ahead of the Julian calendar rather than behind, resulting in them lying exactly one year ahead of the Florentine calendar. By contrast, calendars in the ''stile della Natività'' ("style of the Nativity") as in Arezzo, Assisi and
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began on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) on 25 December, the Venetian calendar began on 1 March until the
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, and the French year on
Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
day until 1564. The traditional Julian calendar was sometimes said to be in the ''stile della Circoncisione'' ("style of the Circumcision"). See beginning of the year.


End of use

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
was one of the few regions to immediately convert from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian: 4 October 1582 was followed by 15 October 1582, the latter being the first day of the new Gregorian calendar. Not until 1749, however, were the ancient calendars definitively outlawed in
Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...
: in that year the recently appointed Grand Duke and Holy Roman Emperor,
Francis I Francis I or Francis the First may refer to: * Francesco I Gonzaga (1366–1407) * Francis I, Duke of Brittany (1414–1450), reigned 1442–1450 * Francis I of France (1494–1547), King of France, reigned 1515–1547 * Francis I, Duke of Saxe-Lau ...
, ordered that, starting from 1750, the first of January should become the first day of the year, thus having the "peoples of Tuscia" conform to all the others. A plaque in Latin commemorating the grand ducal/imperial decree is affixed to the west wall of the
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, in
Piazza della Signoria Piazza della Signoria () is a w-shaped square in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. It was named after the Palazzo della Signoria, also called Palazzo Vecchio. It is the main point of the origin and history of the Florentine Republ ...
.


Notes


References


Further reading

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See also

*
Pisan calendar The Pisan calendar, also referred to as the ''stile pisano'' ("Pisan style") or the ''calculus Pisanus'' ("Pisan calculation"), was the calendar used in the Republic of Pisa in Italy during the Middle Ages, which differed from the traditional Jul ...
*
Roman calendar The Roman calendar was the calendar used by the Roman Kingdom and Roman Republic. The term often includes the Julian calendar established by the reforms of the dictator Julius Caesar and emperor Augustus in the late 1stcenturyBC and sometim ...
*
More veneto {{Short description, Calendar used in the Venetian republic until 1757 ''More veneto'' (Latin for 'according to the customs of Venice') is a designation of the peculiar calendar used in the Republic of Venice, resulting from the delayed adoption of ...
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Florentine Calendar Obsolete calendars Medieval Italy Calendar Time in Italy