DA'TARY, an assistant to the pope, sometimes called chancellor. To relieve the pope of unimportant business he has power to grant certain requests, in which he is assisted by a pro and a sub datary.
DATE (Lat. datum, given), the precise time at which a document was written, or an event happened. The importance of accurately ascertaining the date of an event or writing is very obvious, but the difficulty which there may be of doing so is not so appar ent. It might be thought, for example, that, at least in modern times, where the day of the month and year are authoritatively set down, there can be no room for any further question; but it is not so. If, for instance, we refer to a newspaper of the reign of queen Anne. we shall see the Amsterdam Gazette of the 22d Feb. translated in the Lon don Gazette of the 13th Feb., and abridged in the Edinburgh Courant of the 19th Feb., all of the same year, 1705. And this is but one of several seeming inconsistencies or contradictions of the same sort.
In the first place, the difference in the two styles by which dates are reckoned may cause a discrepancy of ten. of eleven, or of twelve days, according to the century to which the date belongs. Until 1582 there was but one style or calendar throughout Europe; but in that year Pope Gregory xm. introduced the " new style" or " Grego rian calendar," which at once corrected the long-accumulated errors of the old method of computing time, by declaring the 5th to be the 15th of Oct., 1582, or, in other words, by striking ten days out of the almanac of that year. The new style was adopted generally in Roman Catholic countries. Most Protestant countries, on the other hand, continued for a longer or shorter period to use the "old style," or "Julian calendar." It is necessary, therefore, in dealing critically with dates after 1582. to ascertain what " style" was in use at the time and place in question. This, in not a few cases, may call for some inquiry; but generally, the following table will serve to show when the chief states of Europe adopted the new style: Year. Country.
1582. Great part of Italy, France, Lorraine, Portugal, Spain, Holland, and the greater part of the Netherlands.
1584. The Roman Catholic parts of Germany and of Switzerland.
1596. Poland.
1587. Hungary.
1632. The city of tizeci by Microsoti Year. Country.
1700. The Protestant parts of Germany and of Switzerland, Guelders, phen. Utrecht, Friesland, Groningen, and Overyssel.
1749 or Tuscany. 1751.
1752. rent Britain and Ireland.
1753. Sweden.
In Russia and Greece the old style is still followed, and it obtains generally in the east. Thus, what was the 12th Jan. 1879 at Paris and London, was the 31st Dec. 1878 at Athens and St. Petersburg.
But difference of style is not the only cause of perplexity in dates. Countries using the same style, and therefore agreeing as to the day of the month, may differ as to the year to which they refer an event. Thus the beheading of king Charles I. was reckoned, both in England and in Scotland, to have taken place on the 30th of Jan. ; but while England held the year to be 1648, Scotland held it to be 1649. The cause of this discrep ancy was the difference which obtained as to the beginning of the year. By the English, the year was held to begin on the 25th of Mar. ; by the Scots, on the 1st of Jan. It becomes necessary, therefore, in considering dates, to keep in view not only the style which was used, but the day on which the year was accounted to commence. There was much variation in this respect, not only between one country and another, but even in the same country as between one time and another, as well as between its different provinces at the same time. The new years' days most commonly used were the Na tivity or Christmas (25th Dec.), the Circumcision (1st Jan.), the Annunciation or Lady Day (25th Mar.), and the Resurrection or Easter. The 1st of Jan. was adopted as the commencement of the year by France in 1563, by Scotland in 1600, by England in 1752. In this last country, the inconvenience of dating by a different year from most of the other great European states had been so generally felt that for some time before the new mode of computation was sanctioned by act of parliament, dates falling between 1st of Jan. and 24th Mar. were commonly expressed in both ways, thus: 2d Feb. 107, or 1706-7. the lower or last figure indicating the year according to the present reckoning.