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January 13

January 13

January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. It is still celebrated as New Year's Eve by those on the Julian calendar. There are 352 days remaining (353 in a leap year).

Events

- 888 - Odo, Count of Paris becomes King of the Franks.
- 1099 - Crusaders set fire to Mara, Syria.
- 1328 - Edward III of England marries Philippa, daughter of the Count of Hainault.
- 1547 - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey sentenced to death
- 1559 - Elizabeth I crowned queen of England in Westminster Abbey.
- 1602 - William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor is published.
- 1605 - The controversial play Eastward Hoe by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston is performed, landing two of the authors in prison.
- 1607 - Bank of Genoa fails after announcement of national bankruptcy in Spain.
- 1610 - Galileo Galilei discovers Callisto, 4th satellite of Jupiter.
- 1622 - Work on the printing of the First Folio of William Shakespeare is suspended.
- 1625 - John Milton, 16, admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge.
- 1733 - James Oglethorpe and 130 colonists arrive in Charleston,South Carolina.
- 1785 - John Walter publishes first issue of the Daily Universal Register (later renamed The Times).
- 1830 - Great fire in New Orleans thought to be set by rebel slaves.
- 1832 - President Andrew Jackson wrote Vice President Martin Van Buren expressing his opposition to South Carolina's defiance of federal authority in the Nullification Crisis.
- 1834 - John Mason Cook, whom JMC Air is named after was born.
- 1840 - The steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast of Long Island with the loss of 139 lives.
- 1847 - The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the Mexican-American War in California.
- 1854 - The accordion is patented by Anthony Faas.
- 1869 - National convention of black leaders meets in Washington D.C.
- 1893 - The Independent Labour Party of the UK has its first meeting.
- US Marines land in Honolulu from the U.S.S. Boston to protect the king and stop the queen from abrogating the Bayonet Constitution.
- 1898 - Emile Zola's J'accuse exposes the Dreyfus affair.
- 1913 - Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Inc. founded. Currently the largest African-American women's organization
- 1915 - Earthquake in Avezzano, Italy kills 29,800
- 1930 - Mickey Mouse comic strip makes first appearance.
- 1935 - A plebiscite in Saarland shows that 90.3% of those voting wish to join Nazi Germany.
- 1942 - Henry Ford patents a plastic automobile, which is 30% lighter than a regular car.
- The United States begins the iternment of Japanese-Americans living on the American west coast.
- 1953 - Marshal Josip Broz Tito chosen President of Yugoslavia.
- 1957 - Wham-O Company produces the first Frisbee.
- 1958 - Moroccan Liberation Army ambushes Spanish patrol in the Battle of Edchera
- 1966 - Robert C. Weaver becomes the first African American Cabinet member by being appointed United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
- 1972 - Prime Minister Kofi Busia and President Edward Akufo-Addo of Ghana were ousted in a bloodless military coup by Col. Ignatius Kutu Acheampong.
- 1982 - Shortly after takeoff, Air Florida Flight 90 737 jet crashes into Washington, DC's 14th Street Bridge and falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 including four motorists. Plane was not properly de-iced. There were five survivors.
- 1986 - A month-long violent struggle began in Aden, South Yemen between supporters of Ali Nasir Muhammad and Abdul Fattah Ismail, resulting in thousands of casualties.
- 1989 - The final episode of the American soap opera Ryan's Hope is aired, ending a 14-year run on the network.
- 1990 - L. Douglas Wilder becomes the first elected African American governor as he takes office in Richmond, Virginia.
- 1991 - Soviet military troops attacked Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius.
- 1992 - Japan apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
- 1998 - ABC and ESPN negotiate a $1.15 billion a season contract to keep Monday Night Football.
- 1999 - Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls basketball team announces his retirement (for the second time -- he has since rescinded his retirement).
- 2001 - An earthquake hits El Salvador. More than 800 deaths.
- 2002 - US President George W. Bush faints after choking on a pretzel.

Births

1334 to 1899

- 1334 - King Henry II of Castile (d. 1379)
- 1562 - Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish poet (d. 1601)
- 1596 - Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter (d. 1656)
- 1610 - Maria Anna of Austria (d. 1665)
- 1616 - Antoinette Bourignon, Flemish mystic (d. 1680)
- 1635 - Philipp Jakob Spener, German theologian (d. 1705)
- 1651 - Henry Booth, 1st Earl of Warrington, English politician (d. 1694)
- 1720 - Richard Hurd, English bishop and writer (d. 1808)
- 1749 - Friedrich Müller, painter, narrator, lyricist and dramatist (d. 1825)
- 1805 - Thomas Dyer, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1862)
- 1808 - Salmon Chase, Secretary of the Treasury and Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1873)
- 1812 - Victor de Laprade, French poet and critic (d. 1883)
- 1832 - Horatio Alger, Jr., American minister and author (d. 1899)
- 1861 - Max Nonne, German neurologist (d. 1959)
- 1864 - Wilhelm Wien, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
- 1866 - Vasily Kalinnikov, Russian composer (d. 1901)
- 1879 - Melvin Jones, American founder of Lions Clubs International (d. 1961)
- 1884 - Sophie Tucker, Russian-born singer, comedienne, and vaudeville performer (d. 1966)
- 1893 - Clark Ashton Smith, American writer (d. 1961)
- 1899 - Kay Francis, American actress (d. 1968)

1900 to 1999

- 1909 - Marinus van der Lubbe, Dutch communist accused of setting fire to the Reichstag (d. 1934)
- 1911 - Joh Bjelke-Petersen, Premier of Queensland (d. 2005)
- 1919 - Robert Stack, American actor (d. 2003)
- 1924 - Paul Feyerabend, Austrian-born philosopher (d. 1994)
- 1925 - Gwen Verdon, American actress and dancer (d. 2000)
- 1926 - Michael Bond, British writer
- 1926 - Carolyn Gold Heilbrun, American feminist author (d. 2003)
- 1927 - Brock Adams, American politician (d. 2004)
- 1927 - Sydney Brenner, British biologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1930 - Liz Anderson, American singer
- 1930 - Frances Sternhagen, American actress
- 1931 - Charles Nelson Reilly, American actor
- 1934 - Rip Taylor, American actor
- 1938 - William B. Davis, Canadian actor
- 1938 - Tord Grip, Swedish football manager
- 1942 - Richard Moll, American actor
- 1943 - Carol Cleveland, English actress
- 1948 - Gaj Singh, Maharaja of Jodhpur
- 1949 - Brandon Tartikoff, American television executive (d. 1997)
- 1954 - Trevor Rabin, South African musician (Yes)
- 1955 - Jay McInerney, American writer
- 1958 - Andrew Stanton, American actor and director
- 1961 - Julia Louis-Dreyfus, American actress
- 1961 - Graham McPherson, English singer
- 1962 - Trace Adkins, American musician
- 1964 - Penelope Ann Miller, American actress
- 1966 - Patrick Dempsey, American actor
- 1969 - Stephen Hendry, Scottish snooker player
- 1970 - A. Onomen Asikele West African Born Writer, Poet & Filmmaker
- 1970 - Keith Coogan, American actor
- 1970 - Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (d. 2004)
- 1972 - Nicole Eggert, American actress
- 1973 - Nikolai Khabibulin, Russian hockey player
- 1977 - Orlando Bloom, English actor
- 1980 - Krzysztof Czerwinski, Polish conductor and organist
- 1982 - Guillermo Coria, Argentine tennis player
- 1983 - William Hung, Hong Kong-born singer

Deaths

85 BC to 1899

- 85 BC - Gaius Marius, Roman general and politician
- 703 - Empress Jitō of Japan (b. 645)
- 858 - King Ethelwulf of Wessex
- 888 - Charles the Fat, Holy Roman Emperor
- 1138 - Simon I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1076)
- 1151 - Abbot Suger, French statesman and historian
- 1177 - Henry II of Austria (b. 1107)
- 1330 - Duke Frederick I of Austria (b. 1286)
- 1363 - Meinhard III, Count of Tyrol
- 1547 - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, English poet (b. 1517)
- 1599 - Edmund Spenser, English poet (b. 1552)
- 1658 - Edward Sexby, English Puritan soldier (b. 1616)
- 1691 - George Fox, English founder of the Quakers (b. 1624)
- 1762 - Leonhard Trautsch, German composer (b. 1694)
- 1766 - King Frederick V of Denmark (b. 1723)
- 1775 - Johann Georg Walch, German theologian (b. 1693)
- 1790 - Luc Urbain de Bouexic, comte de Guichen, French admiral (b. 1712)
- 1796 - John H. D. Anderson, Scottish scientist and inventor (b. 1726)
- 1797 - Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Bevern, queen of Frederick II of Prussia (b. 1715)
- 1852 - Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian explorer (b. 1778)
- 1864 - Stephen Foster, American composer (b. 1826)

1900 to 1999

- 1923 - Alexandre Ribot, French statesman (b. 1842)
- 1929 - Wyatt Earp, Western lawman (b. 1848)
- 1941 - James Joyce, Irish writer (b. 1882)
- 1962 - Ernie Kovacs, American actor and comedian (b. 1919)
- 1974 - Salvador Novo, Mexican writer and poet (b. 1904)
- 1978 - Hubert H. Humphrey, Vice President of the United States and Senator from Minnesota (b. 1911)
- 1978 - Joe McCarthy, baseball manager (b. 1908)
- 1979 - Donny Hathaway, American musician (b. 1945)
- 1988 - Chiang Ching-kuo, President of the Republic of China (b. 1910)

2000 onwards

- 2001 - Michael Cuccione, Canadian actor and singer (b. 1985)
- 2002 - Ted Demme, American film and television director (b. 1963)
- 2002 - Frank Shuster, Canadian comedian (b. 1916)
- 2003 - Norman Panama, American screenwriter and director (b. 1914)
- 2004 - Arne Næss Jr., Norwegian mountain climber and businessman (b. 1937)
- 2004 - Harold Shipman, British serial killer (b. 1946)
- 2005 - Earl Cameron, Canadian broadcaster (b. 1915)
- 2005 - Nell Rankin, American mezzo-soprano (b. 1924)

Holidays and observances

- National Vocation Awareness Week
- Liberation Day in Togo
- In Sweden, Christmas ends on the 20th day, St. Knut's Day. Children celebrate a party throwing out the Christmas tree (julgransplundring)

External links

- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/13 BBC: On This Day] ---- January 12 - January 14 - December 13 - February 13 — listing of all days ko:1월 13일 ms:13 Januari ja:1月13日 simple:January 13 th:13 มกราคม

January 13

January 13 is the 13th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. It is still celebrated as New Year's Eve by those on the Julian calendar. There are 352 days remaining (353 in a leap year).

Events

Births

1334 to 1899

1900 to 1999

Deaths

85 BC to 1899

1900 to 1999

2000 onwards

Holidays and observances

External links

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar was introduced in 46 BC by Julius Caesar and took force in 45 BC (709 ab urbe condita). It was chosen after consultation with the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year, known at least since Hipparchus. It has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months, and a leap day is added to February every four years. Hence the Julian year is on average 365.25 days long. The Julian calendar remained in use into the 20th century in some countries and is still used by many national Orthodox churches. However, too many leap days are added with respect to the astronomical seasons on this scheme. On average, the astronomical solstices and the equinoxes advance by about 11 minutes per year against the Julian year, causing the calendar to gain a day about every 134 years. While Hipparchus and presumably Sosigenes were aware of the discrepancy, although not of its correct value, it was evidently felt to be of little importance. However, it accumulated significantly over time, and eventually led to the reform of 1582, which replaced the Julian calendar with the more accurate Gregorian calendar. The notation "Old Style" (OS) is sometimes used to indicate a date in the Julian calendar, as opposed to "New Style", which indicates a date in the Gregorian Calendar. This notation is used when there might otherwise be confusion about which date is found in a text.

From Roman to Julian

The ordinary year in the previous Roman calendar consisted of 12 months, for a total of 355 days. In addition, an intercalary month, the Mensis Intercalaris, was sometimes inserted between February and March. This intercalary month was formed by inserting 22 days before the last five days of February, creating a 27-day month. It began after a truncated February having 23 or 24 days, so that it had the effect of adding 22 or 23 days to the year, forming an intercalary year of 377 or 378 days. According to the later writers Censorinus and Macrobius, the ideal intercalary cycle consisted of ordinary years of 355 days alternating with intercalary years, which were alternately 377 and 378 days long. On this system, the average Roman year would have had 366¼ days over four years, giving it an average drift of one day per year relative to any solstice or equinox. Macrobius describes a further refinement wherein, for 8 years out of 24, there were only three intercalary years each of 377 days. This refinement averages the length of the year to 365¼ days over 24 years. In practice, intercalations did not occur schematically according to these ideal systems, but were determined by the pontifices. So far as can be determined from the historical evidence, they were much less regular than these ideal schemes suggest. They usually occurred every second or third year, but were sometimes omitted for much longer, and occasionally occurred in two consecutive years. If managed correctly this system allowed the Roman year, on average, to stay roughly aligned to a tropical year. However, if too many intercalations were omitted, as happened after the Second Punic War and during the Civil Wars, the calendar would drift rapidly out of alignment with the tropical year. Moreover, since intercalations were often determined quite late, the average Roman citizen often did not know the date, particularly if he were some distance from the city. For these reasons, the last years of the pre-Julian calendar were later known as years of confusion. The problems became particularly acute during Julius Caesar's pontificate, 63 BC to 46 BC, when there were only five intercalary months, whereas there should have been eight, and none at all during the five Roman years before 46 BC. The Julian reform was intended to correct this problem permanently. Before it took effect, the missed intercalations during Julius Caesar's pontificate were made up by inserting 67 days (22+23+22) between November and December of 46 BC in the form of two months, in addition to 23 days which had already been added to February. Thus 90 days were added to this last year of the Roman Republican calendar, giving it 445 days. Because it was the last of a series of irregular years, this extra-long year was, and is, referred to as the last year of confusion. The first year of operation of the new calendar was 45 BC.

Leap years error

Despite the new calendar being much simpler than the Roman calendar, the pontifices apparently misunderstood the algorithm. They added a leap day every three years, instead of every four years. According to Macrobius, the error was the result of counting inclusively, so that the four year cycle was considered as including both the first and fourth years. This resulted in too many leap days. Caesar Augustus remedied this discrepancy by restoring the correct frequency after 36 years of this mistake. He also skipped several leap days in order to realign the year. The historic sequence of leap years (i.e. years with a leap day) in this period is not given explicitly by any ancient source, although the existence of the triennial leap year cycle is confirmed by an inscription that dates from 9 or 8 BC. The chronologist Joseph Scaliger established in 1583 that the Augustan reform was instituted in 8 BC, and inferred that the sequence of leap years was 42, 39, 36, 33, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9 BC, AD 8, 12 etc. This proposal is still the most widely accepted solution. It has also sometimes been suggested that 45 BC was a leap year. Other solutions have been proposed from time to time. Kepler proposed in 1614 that the correct sequence of leap years was 43, 40, 37, 34, 31, 28, 25, 22, 19, 16, 13, 10 BC, AD 8, 12 etc. In 1883 the German chronologist Matzat proposed 44, 41, 38, 35, 32, 29, 26, 23, 20, 17, 14, 11 BC, AD 4, 8, 12 etc., based on a passage in Dio Cassius that mentions a leap day in 41 BC that was said to be contrary to (Caesar's) rule. In the 1960s Radke argued the reform was actually instituted when Augustus became pontifex maximus in 12 BC, suggesting the sequence 45, 42, 39, 36, 33, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12 BC, AD 4, 8, 12 etc. In 1999, an Egyptian papyrus was published which gives an ephemeris table for 24 BC with both Roman and Egyptian dates. From this it can be shown that the most likely sequence was in fact 44, 41, 38, 35, 32, 29, 26, 23, 20, 17, 14, 11, 8 BC, AD 4, 8, 12 etc, very close to that proposed by Matzat. This sequence shows that the standard Julian leap year sequence began in AD 4, the twelfth year of the Augustan reform. Also, under this sequence the actual Roman year coincided with the proleptic Julian year between 32 and 26 BC. This suggests that one aim of the realignment portion of the Augustan reform was to ensure that key dates of his career, notably the fall of Alexandria on 1 August 30 BC, were unaffected by his correction. Roman dates before 32 BC were typically a day or two before the day with the same Julian date, so 1 January in the Roman calendar of the first year of the Julian reform actually fell on 31 December 46 BC (Julian date). A curious effect of this is that Caesar's assassination on the Ides (15th day) of March in 44 BC fell on 14 March 44 BC in the Julian calendar.

Naming of the months

Immediately after the Julian reform, the twelve months of the Roman calendar were named Ianuarius, Februarius, Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December, just as they were before the reform. Their lengths were set to their modern values. The old intercalary month, the Mensis Intercalaris, was abolished and replaced with an single intercalary day at the same point (i.e. five days before the end of Februarius). The first month of the year continued to be Ianuarius, as it had been since 153 BC. The Romans later renamed months after Caesar and Augustus, renaming Quintilis (originally, "the Fifth month", with March = month 1) as Iulius (July) in 44 BC and Sextilis ("Sixth month") as Augustus (August) in 8 BC. (Note that the letter J was not invented until the 17th century). Quintilis was renamed to honour Caesar because it was the month of his birth. According to a senatusconsultum quoted by Macrobius, Sextilis was renamed to honour Augustus because several of the most significant events in his rise to power, culminating in the fall of Alexandria, fell in that month. Other months were renamed by other emperors, but apparently none of the later changes survived their deaths. Caligula renamed September ("Seventh month") as Germanicus; Nero renamed Aprilis (April) as Neroneus, Maius (May) as Claudius and Iunius (June) as Germanicus; and Domitian renamed September as Germanicus and October ("Eighth month") as Domitianus. At other times, September was also renamed as Antoninus and Tacitus, and November ("Ninth month") was renamed Faustina and Romanus. Commodus was unique in renaming all twelve months after his own adopted names (January to December): Amazonius, Invictus, Felix, Pius, Lucius, Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, Augustus, Herculeus, Romanus, and Exsuperatorius. Much more lasting than the ephemeral month names of the post-Augustan Roman emperors were the names introduced by Charlemagne. He renamed all of the months agriculturally into Old High German. They were used until the 15th century, and with some modifications until the late 18th century in Germany and in the Netherlands (January-December): Wintarmanoth (winter month), Hornung (spring), Lentzinmanoth (Lent month), Ostarmanoth (Easter month), Winnemanoth (grazing month), Brachmanoth (plowing month), Heuvimanoth (hay month), Aranmanoth (harvest month), Witumanoth (wood month), Windumemanoth (vintage month), Herbistmanoth (autumn/harvest month), and Heilagmanoth (holy month). Translations of these month names are still used to this day in some Slavic languages, such as Polish.

Lengths of the months

According to the 13th century scholar Sacrobosco, the original scheme for the months in the Julian Calendar was very regular, alternately long and short. From January through December, the month lengths according to Sacrobosco for the Roman Republican calendar were: :30, 29, 30, 29, 30, 29, 30, 29, 30, 29, 30, and 29, totaling 354 days. He then thought that Julius Caesar added one day to every month except February, a total of 11 more days, giving the year 365 days. A leap day could now be added to the extra short February: :31, 29 (30), 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, and 30 He then said Augustus changed this to: :31, 28 (29), 31, 30, 31, 30, 31, 31, 30, 31, 30, and 31 giving us the irregular month lengths which we still use today, so that the length of Augustus would not be shorter than (and therefore inferior to) the length of Iulius. Although this theory is still widely repeated, it is certainly wrong. First, a wall painting of a Roman Republican calendar has survived [http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/w/x/wxk116/RomanCalendar/Fasti4.gif] which confirms the literary accounts that the months were already irregular before Julius Caesar reformed it: :29, 28, 31, 29, 31, 29, 31, 29, 29, 31, 29, and 29 Also, the Julian reform did not change the dates of the Nones and Ides. In particular, the Ides are late (on the 15th rather than 13th) in March, May, July and October, showing that these months always had 31 days in the Roman calendar, whereas Sacrobosco's theory requires that the length of October was changed. Further, Sacrobosco's theory is explicitly contradicted by the third and fifth century authors Censorinus and Macrobius, and, finally, it is inconsistent with seasonal lengths given by Varro, writing in 37 BC, before the Augustan reform, with the 31-day Sextilis given by the new Egyptian papyrus from 24 BC, and with the 28-day February shown in the Fasti Caeretani, which is dated before 12 BC.

Year numbering

The dominant method that the Romans used to identify a year for dating purposes was to name it after the two consuls who took office in it. Since 153 BC, they had taken office on 1 January, and Julius Caesar did not change the beginning of the year. Thus this consular year was an eponymous or named year. Roman years were named this way until the last consul was appointed in 541. Only rarely did the Romans number the year from the founding of the city (of Rome), ab urbe condita (AUC). This method was used by Roman historians to determine the number of years from one event to another, not to date a year. Different historians had several different dates for the founding. The Fasti Capitolini, an inscription containing an official list of the consuls which was published by Augustus, used an epoch of 752 BC. The epoch used by Varro, 753 BC, has been adopted by modern historians. Indeed, Renaissance editors often added it to the manuscripts that they published, giving the false impression that the Romans numbered their years. Most modern historians tacitly assume that it began on the day the consuls took office, and ancient documents such as the Fasti Capitolini which use other AUC systems do so in the same way. However, the Varronian AUC year did not formally begin on 1 January, but on Founder's Day, 21 April. This prevented the early Roman church from celebrating Easter after 21 April because the festivities associated with Founder's Day conflicted with the solemnity of Lent, which was observed until the Saturday before Easter Sunday. In addition to consular years, the Romans sometimes used the regnal year of the emperor. Anno Diocletiani, named after Diocletian, was often used by the Alexandrian Christians to number their Easters during the fourth and fifth centuries. In AD 537, Justinian required that henceforth the date must include the name of the emperor, in addition to the indiction and the consul (the latter ending only four years later). The indiction caused the Byzantine year to begin on 1 September, which is still used in the Eastern Orthodox Church for the beginning of the liturgical year. In AD 525 Dionysius Exiguus proposed the system of anno Domini, which gradually spread through the western Christian world, once the system was adopted by Bede. Years were numbered from the supposed date of the incarnation or annunciation of Jesus on 25 March, although this soon changed to Christmas, then back to Annunciation Day in Britain, and the numbered year even began on Easter in France.

From Julian to Gregorian

The Julian calendar was in general use in Europe from the times of the Roman Empire until 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII promulgated the Gregorian Calendar, which was soon adopted by most Catholic countries. The Protestant countries followed later, and the countries of Eastern Europe even later. Great Britain had Thursday 14 September 1752 follow Wednesday 2 September 1752. Sweden adopted the new style calendar in 1753, but also for a twelve-year period starting in 1700 used a modified Julian Calendar. Russia remained on the Julian calendar until after the Russian Revolution (which is thus called the 'October Revolution' but occurred in November according to the Gregorian calendar), in 1917, while Greece continued to use it until 1923. Although all Eastern European countries had adopted the Gregorian calendar on or before 1923, their national Eastern Orthodox churches had not. A revised Julian calendar was proposed during a synod in Constantinople in May of 1923, consisting of a solar part which was and will be identical to the Gregorian calendar until the year 2800, and a lunar part which calculated Easter astronomically at Jerusalem. All Orthodox churches refused to accept the lunar part, so almost all Orthodox churches continue to celebrate Easter according to the Julian calendar (the Finnish Orthodox Church uses the Gregorian Easter). The solar part was only accepted by some Orthodox churches, those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria (in 1963), and the Orthodox Church in America (although some OCA parishes are permitted to use the Julian calendar). Thus, these churches celebrate the Nativity on the same day that Western Christians do, 25 December Gregorian until 2800. The Orthodox churches of Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, and the Greek Old Calendarists continue to use the Julian calendar for their fixed dates, thus they celebrate the Nativity on 25 December Julian (7 January Gregorian until 2100).

External links

- [http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.html Julian-Gregorian Converter]
- [http://webexhibits.org/calendars/index.html Calendars through the ages] on WebExhibits.
- [http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Egypt/ptolemies/chron/roman/chron_rom_cal.htm Roman Dates]
- [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/romancalendar.html The Roman Calendar]
- [http://5ko.free.fr/jul-greg.php?e=en Synoptical Julian-Gregorian Calendar] - compare the Julian and Gregorian calendars for any date between 1582 and 2100 using this side-by-side reference. Category:Ancient Rome Category:Specific calendars als:Julianischer Kalender ko:율리우스력 ja:ユリウス暦 simple:Julian calendar th:ปฏิทินจูเลียน

Leap year

A leap year (or intercalary year) is a year containing an extra day or month in order to keep the calendar year in sync with an astronomical or seasonal year. Seasons and astronomical events do not repeat at an exact number of days, so a calendar which had the same number of days in each year would over time drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. Leap years (which keep the calendar in sync with the year) should not be confused with leap seconds (which keep clock time in sync with the day).

Gregorian calendar

The Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, adds a 29th day to February in all years evenly divisible by 4, except for century years (those ending in -00), which receive the extra day only if they are evenly divisible by 400. Thus 1996 was a leap year whereas 1999 was not, and 1600, 2000 and 2400 are leap years but 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2100 are not. The reasoning behind this rule is as follows:
- The Gregorian calendar is designed to keep the vernal equinox on or close to March 21, so that the date of Easter (celebrated on the Sunday after the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after 21 March) remains correct with respect to the vernal equinox.
- The vernal equinox year is currently about 365.242375 days long.
- The Gregorian leap year rule gives an average year length of 365.2425 days. This difference of a little over 0.0001 days means that in around 8,000 years, the calendar will be about one day behind where it should be. But in 8,000 years' time the length of the vernal equinox year will have changed by an amount we can't accurately predict (see below). So the Gregorian leap year rule does a good enough job. Image:Gregoriancalendarleap.png

Which day is the leap day?

The Gregorian calendar is a modification of the Julian calendar first used by the Romans. The Roman calendar originated as a lunar calendar (though from the 5th century BC it no longer followed the real moon) and named its days after three of the phases of the moon: the new moon (calends, hence "calendar"), the first quarter (nones) and the full moon (ides). Days were counted down (inclusively) to the next named day, so 24 February was ante diem sextum calendas martii ("the sixth day before the calends of March"). Since 45 BC, February in a leap year had two days called "the sixth day before the calends of March". The extra day was originally the second of these, but since the third century it was the first. Hence the term bissextile day for 24 February in a bissextile year. Where this custom is followed, anniversaries after the inserted day are moved in leap years. For example, the former feast day of Saint Matthias, 24 February in ordinary years, would be 25 February in leap years. This historical nicety is, however, in the process of being discarded: The European Union declared that, starting in 2000, 29 February rather than 24 February would be leap day, and the Roman Catholic Church also now uses 29 February as leap day. The only tangible difference is felt in countries that celebrate feast days.

Julian calendar

The Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4. This rule gives an average year length of 365.25 days. The excess of about 0.0076 days with respect to the vernal equinox year means that the vernal equinox moves a day earlier in the calendar every 130 years or so.

Revised Julian Calendar

The Revised Julian calendar adds an extra day to February in years divisible by 4, except for years divisible by 100 that do not leave a remainder of 200 or 600 when divided by 900. This rule agrees with the rule for the Gregorian calendar until 2799. The first year that dates in the Revised Julian calendar will not agree with the those in the Gregorian calendar will be 2800, because it will be a leap year in the Gregorian calendar but not in the Revised Julian calendar. This rule gives an average year length of 365.242222… days. This is a very good approximation to the mean tropical year, but because the vernal equinox tropical year is slightly longer, the Revised Julian calendar does not do as good a job as the Gregorian calendar of keeping the vernal equinox on or close to 21 March.

Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, so a leap year has an extra month, often called an embolismic month after the Greek word for it. In the Chinese calendar the leap month is added according to a complicated rule, which ensures that month 11 is always the month that contains the northern winter solstice. The intercalary month takes the same number as the preceding month; for example, if it follows the second month then it is simply called "leap second month".

Hebrew calendar

The Hebrew calendar is also lunisolar with an embolistic month. In the Hebrew calendar the extra month is called Adar Alef (first Adar) and is added before Adar, which then becomes Adar Sheni (second Adar). According to the Metonic cycle, this is done seven times every nineteen years, specifically, in years, 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19. In addition, the Hebrew calendar has postponement rules that postpone the start of the year by one or two days. The year before the postponement gets one or two extra days, and the year whose start is postponed loses one or two days. These postponement rules reduce the number of different combinations of year length and starting day of the week from 28 to 14, and regulate the location of certain religious holidays in relation to the Sabbath.

Hindu Calendar

In the Hindu calendar, which is a lunisolar calendar, the embolismic month is called adhika maas (extra month). It is the month in which the sun is in the same sign of the stellar zodiac on two consecutive dark moons.

Iranian calendar

The Iranian calendar also has a single intercalated day once in every four years, but every 33 years or so the leap years will be five years apart instead of four years apart. The system used is more accurate and more complicated, and is based on the time of the March equinox as observed from Teheran. The 33-year period is not completely regular; every so often the 33-year cycle will be broken by a cycle of 29 or 37 years.

Long term leap year rules

The accumulated difference between the Gregorian calendar and the vernal equinoctial year amounts to 1 day in about 8,000 years. This suggests that the calendar needs to be improved by another refinement to the leap year rule: perhaps by avoiding leap years in years divisible by 8,000. (The most common such proposal is to avoid leap years in years divisible by 4,000 [http://www.google.com/search?q=%22gregorian+calendar%22+error+%22leap+year%22+4000]. This is based on the difference between the Gregorian calendar and the mean tropical year. Others claim, erroneously, that the Gregorian calendar itself already contains a refinement of this kind [http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mleapyr.html].) However, there is little point in planning a calendar so far ahead because over a timescale of tens of thousands of years the number of days in a year will change for a number of reasons, most notably: #Precession of the equinoxes moves the position of the vernal equinox with respect to perihelion and so changes the length of the vernal equinoctial year. #Tidal acceleration from the sun and moon slows the rotation of the earth, making the day longer. In particular, the second component of change depends on such things as post-glacial rebound and sea level rise due to climate change. We can't predict these changes accurately enough to be able to make a calendar that will be accurate to a day in tens of thousands of years.

Marriage proposal

There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may only make marriage proposals in leap years.

Saint Patrick and the leap year

:Saint Patrick, having driven the frogs out of the bogs was walking along the shores of Lough Neagh, when he was accosted by Saint Bridget in tears, and was told that a mutiny had broken out in the nunnery over which she presided, the ladies claiming the right of popping the question. :Saint Patrick said he would concede them the right every seventh year, when Saint Bridget threw her arms round his neck, and exclaimed, "Arrah, Pathrick, jewel, I daurn't go back to the girls wid such a proposal. Make it one year in four." Saint Patrick replied, "Bridget, acushla, squeeze me that way again, an' I'll give ye leap-year, the longest of the lot." Saint Bridget, upon this, popped the question to St Patrick himself, who, of course, could not marry: so he patched up the difficulty as best he could with a kiss and a silk gown. (Source: Evans, Ivor H, Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, Cassell, London, 1988) According to a 1288 law in Scotland, fines were levied if the proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown to soften the blow. Because men felt that put them at too great a risk, the tradition was in some places tightened to restricting female proposals to 29 February.

Birthdays

A person who was born on 29 February may be called a "leapling". In non-leap years they usually celebrate their birthday on 28 February or 1 March. There are many instances in children's literature where a person's claim to be only a quarter of their actual age turns out be based on counting their leap-year birthdays. A similar device is used in the plot of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance. Category:Calendars Category:Units of time als:Schaltjahr ko:윤년 ja:閏年 simple:Leap year th:ปีอธิกสุรทิน

888

Events

- January 13: With the death of Charles the Fat, the Frankish kingdom is split again, and this time permanently. Odo, Count of Paris becomes king of the western Franks.
- Abdallah ibn Mohammed succeeds al-Mundhir as emir of Cordoba.
- Shaftesbury abbey is founded.

Births

Deaths

- January 13 - Charles the Fat, King of France
- Abu Da'ud, hadith compiler Category:888 ko:888년

Odo, Count of Paris

:For the Duke of Burgundy (956-965), please see Odo, Duke of Burgundy. Odo (or Eudes) (c. 860 - January 1, 898) was a king of the Franks (888 - 898). He was a son of Robert the Strong, count of Anjou, and is sometimes referred to as duke of France and also as count of Paris. For his skill and bravery in resisting the attacks of the Normans, Odo was chosen king by the western Franks when the emperor Charles the Fat was deposed in 887, and was crowned at Compiègne in February 888. He continued to battle against the Normans, whom he defeated at Montfaucon and elsewhere, but was soon involved in a struggle with some powerful nobles, who supported the claim of Charles, afterwards King Charles III, to the Frankish kingdom. To gain prestige and support Odo owned himself a vassal of the Germanic king, Arnulf of Carinthia, but in 894 Arnulf declared for Charles. Eventually, after a struggle which lasted for three years, Odo was compelled to come to terms with his rival, and to surrender to him a district north of the Seine. He died at La Fère on January 1, 898. See E Lavisse, Histoire de France, tome ii. (Paris, 1903); and E Favre, Eudes, comte de Paris et roi de France (Paris, 1893).
References

- Category:860s births Category:898 deaths Category:Frankish kings ja:ウード (西フランク王)

Franks

:Francia redirects here. For the Bolognese artist, see Francesco Raibolini. The Franks or the Frankish people were one of several west Germanic tribes who entered the late Roman Empire from Frisia as foederati and established a lasting realm (sometimes referred to as Francia) in an area that covers most of modern-day France and the western regions of Germany (Franconia, Rhineland, Hesse), forming the historic kernel of both these two modern countries. The conversion to Christianity of the pagan Frankish king Clovis was a crucial event in the history of Europe. The Frankish realm underwent many partitions and repartitions, since the Franks divided their property among surviving sons, and lacking a broad sense of a res publica, they conceived of the realm as a large extent of private property. This practice explains in part the difficulty of describing precisely the dates and physical boundaries of any of the Frankish kingdoms and who ruled the various sections. The contraction of literacy while the Franks ruled compounds the problem: they produced few written records. In essence however, two dynasties of leaders succeeded each other, first the Merovingians and then the Carolingians. The Merovingian kings claimed descent of their dynasty from the Sicambri, a Scythian or Cimmerian tribe, asserting that this tribe had changed their name to "Franks" in 11 BC, following their defeat and relocation by Drusus, under the leadership of a certain chieftain called Franko. The ethnonym has also been traced to a
- frankon "javelin, lance" (Old English franca, compare the Saxons, named after the seax, and the Lombards, named after the battle-axe; the throwing axe of the Franks is known as the Francisca), but conversely, the weapon may also have been named after the tribe. The meaning of "free" (English frank, frankly) arose because after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks had the status of freemen. Initially two main subdivisions existed within the Franks: the Salian ("salty") and the Ripuarian ("river") Franks. By the 9th century, if not earlier, this division had in practice become virtually non-existent, but continued for some time to have implications for the legal system under which a person could go on trial.

The earliest records of the Franks

9th century, Germany.]] The earliest Frankish history remains relatively unclear. Our main source, the Gallo-Roman chronicler Gregory of Tours, whose Historia Francorum (History of the Franks) covers the period up to 594, quotes from otherwise lost sources like Sulpicius Alexander and Frigeridus and profits from Gregory's personal contact with many Frankish notables. Apart from Gregory's History there exist some earlier Roman sources, such as Ammianus and Sidonius Apollinaris. Gregory states that the Franks originally lived in Pannonia, but later settled on the banks of the Rhine. Additional early sources likewise relate that the Franks migrated in prehistoric times from the mouth of the Danube on the Black Sea, to the Rhine, where they adopted their name (circa. 11 BC) in honour of a hereditary chieftain called Franko – replacing the earlier tribal name Sicambri (or Sugambri) – said to be an offshoot of the Cimmerians or Scythians. This legend of a Scythian or Cimmerian background is thus consistent with the origin legends of nearly all other European nations as well. Modern scholars of the period of the migrations have similarly suggested that the Frankish Confederacy emerged from the unification of various earlier, smaller Germanic groups (including the Sugambri, Usipeti, Tencteri, and Bructeri) who inhabited the Rhine valley and lands immediately to the east – a social development perhaps accelerated by increasing upheaval in the area arising from the war between Rome and the Marcomanni beginning in 166, and subsequent conflicts of the late 2nd century and the 3rd century. A region in the north-east of the modern-day Netherlands – north of the erstwhile Roman border – bears the name Salland, and may have received that name from the Salians – likewise, the island of Sjælland in Denmark. Around 250, one group of Franks, taking advantage of a weakened Roman Empire, penetrated as far as Tarragona in present-day Spain, plaguing this region for about a decade before Roman forces subdued them and expelled them from Roman territory. About forty years later, the Franks had the Scheldt region under control and interfered with the waterways to Britain; Roman forces pacified the region, but did not expel the Franks.

Foundation of the Frankish kingdom

In 355–358, the later Emperor Julian once again found the shipping lanes on the Rhine under control of the Franks and again pacified them. Rome granted a considerable part of Gallia Belgica to the Franks. From this time on they became foederati of the Roman Empire. A region roughly corresponding to present-day Flanders and the Netherlands south of the rivers remains a Germanic-speaking region to this day. (The West Germanic language known as Dutch predominates there now.) The Franks thus became the first Germanic people who permanently settled within Roman territory. See this [http://www.roman-emperors.org/nouest4.htm external map]. From their heartland, the Franks gradually conquered most of Roman Gaul north of the Loire valley and east of Visigothic Aquitaine. At first they helped defend the border as allies; for example, when a major invasion of mostly East Germanic tribes crossed the Rhine in 406, the Franks fought against these invaders. The major thrust of the invasion passed south of the Loire river. (In the region of Paris, Roman control persisted until 486, a decade after the fall of the emperors of Ravenna, in part due to alliances with the Franks.)

The Merovingians

:Main article: Merovingian. The reigns of earlier Frankish chieftains – Pharamond (about 419 until about 427) and Clodio (Chlodio) (about 427 until about 447) – seem to owe more to myth than fact, and their relationship to the Merovingian line remains uncertain. Gregory mentions Chlodio as the first king who started the conquest of Gaul by taking Camaracum (Cambrai) and expanding the border of frankish territory south to the Somme. This probably took some time; Sidonius relates that Aëtius surprised the Franks and drove them back (probably around 431). This period marks the beginning of a situation that would endure for many centuries: the Germanic Franks became rulers over an increasing number of Gallo-Roman subjects. In 451, Aëtius called upon his Germanic allies on Roman soil to help fight off an invasion by the Huns. The Salian Franks answered the call, the Ripuarians fought on both sides as some of them lived outside the Empire. Gregory's sources tentatively identify Meroveus (Merovech) as king of the Franks and possibly a son of Chlodio. Meroveus was succeeded by Childeric I, whose grave, rediscovered in 1653, contained a ring that identified him as king of the Franks.

Clovis

:Main article: Clovis I Childeric's son Clovis engaged in a campaign of consolidating the various Frankish kingdoms in Gaul and the Rhineland, which included defeating Syagrius in 486. This victory ended Roman control in the Paris region. In the Battle of Vouillé (507), Clovis, with the help of the Burgundians, defeated the Visigoths, expanding his realm eastwards down to the Pyrenees mountains. The conversion of Clovis to Trinitarian Roman Christianity, after his marriage to the Catholic Burgundian princess Clothilde in 493, may have helped to increase his standing in the eyes of the Pope and the other orthodox Christian rulers. Clovis' conversion signalled the conversion of the rest of the Franks. Because they were able to worship with their Catholic neighbours, the newly-Christianized Franks found much easier acceptance from the local Gallo-Roman population than did the Arian Visigoths, Vandals or Burgundians. The Merovingians thus built what eventually proved the most stable of the successor-kingdoms in the west. :Main article: Merovingian Stability, however, did not feature day-to-day in the Merovingian era. While casual violence existed to a degree in late Roman times, the introduction of the Germanic practice of the blood-feud to obtain personal justice led to a perception of increased lawlessness. Disruptions to trade occurred, and civic life became increasingly difficult, which led to an increasingly localized and fragmented society based on self-sufficient villas. Literacy practically disappeared outside of churches and monasteries. The Merovingian chieftains adhered to the Germanic practice of dividing their lands among their sons, and the frequent division, reunification and redivision of territories often resulted in murder and warfare within the leading families. So though Clovis drove the Visigoths out of Gaul, at his death in 511, his four sons divided his realm between themselves, and over the next two centuries his descendants shared the kingship. The Frankish area expanded further under Clovis' sons, eventually covering most of present-day France, but including areas east of the Rhine river as well, such as Alamannia (today's southwestern Germany) and Thuringia (from 531). Saxony, however, remained outside the Frankish realm until conquered by Charlemagne centuries later. After a temporary reunification of the separate kingdoms under Clotaire I, the Frankish lands split once again in 561 into Neustria, Austrasia, and Burgundy, which had been absorbed into the Frankish realms through a combination of political marriage and force of arms. In each Frankish kingdom the Mayor of the Palace served as the chief officer of state. A series of premature deaths beginning with that of Dagobert I in 639 led to a series of under age kings. By the turn of the 8th century, this had allowed the Austrasian Mayors to consolidate power in their own hereditary regency, laying the foundation for a new dynasty: their descendants the Carolingians.

The Carolingians

:Main articles: Carolingian, Carolingian Empire The Carolingian kingship traditionally begins with the deposition of the last Merovingian king, with papal assent, and the accession in 751 of Pippin the Short, father of Charlemagne. Pippin had succeeded his own father, Charles Martel, as Mayor of the Palace of a reunited and re-erected Frankish kingdom comprised of the formerly independent parts. Pippin reigned as an elected king. Although such elections happened infrequently, a general rule in Germanic law stated that the king relied on the support of his leading men. These men reserved the right to choose a new "kingworthy" leader out of the ruling clan if they felt tha

January 13

Events

Births

1334 to 1899

1900 to 1999

Deaths

85 BC to 1899

1900 to 1999

2000 onwards

Holidays and observances

External links

January 13

Events

Births

1334 to 1899

1900 to 1999

Deaths

85 BC to 1899

1900 to 1999

2000 onwards

Holidays and observances

External links

Julian calendar

From Roman to Julian

Leap years error

Naming of the months

Lengths of the months

Year numbering

From Julian to Gregorian

See also

External links

Leap year

Gregorian calendar

Which day is the leap day?

Julian calendar

Revised Julian Calendar

Chinese calendar

Hebrew calendar

Hindu Calendar

Iranian calendar

Long term leap year rules

Marriage proposal

Saint Patrick and the leap year

Birthdays

888

Events

Births

Deaths

Odo, Count of Paris

References

Franks

The earliest records of the Franks

Foundation of the Frankish kingdom

The Merovingians

Clovis

The Carolingians