Of 17thCentury Dates
All dates on this site have been adjusted to the Gregorian calendar, with the year running January to December, sometimes called New Style (NS). Why is this important?
During the period of William Savage, the English year ran from April to March 25th and was on the Julian calendar. This results in dates written by English being approximately 10 days behind the rest of Europe and in sometimes in different years. To add to the confusion, English writers in Holland could use European dates and years or English or a mix of both. Some writers indicate NS, but still use the old English year.
For example, Sunday 12th February 1681, could be the 2nd February 1681 or the 12th February 1682. Only by cross checking with other events, or other writers, can you guess that the date is the new style, new year. This has tripped up many historians, and still does. Therefore, converting dates based on third hand accounts is very hard. Through research these memoirs and journals of William Savage, I have discovered many duplicated date errors (along with duplicated false truths).
This is why, even today, the British Tax year is April to March (add 10 day and get 5th April), as it was too complex to change accounting systems even in the Seventeenth century
