The Revolutionary calendar was established in October 1793, but Year I was made effective on Septem(both the autumnal equinox and the anniversary of some event of the Revolution Im not sure exactly which). It may have been intended as a teaching aid in the classroom, or as a practical tool for converting dates between the French calendar and the Gregorian calendar used everywhere else in Europe.įor more information on the Revolutionary calendar, see the detailed Wikipedia entry. During the French Revolution, the French invented and put into use a new Revolutionary calendar. It was evidently prepared in 1804 and was projected for use between 18. Our calendar (now French MS 147) measures 48 x 34 cms (metrication proved more successful than the Revolutionary calendar). The entire calendar system was abolished by an act dated 22 Fructidor an XIII (9 September 1805), with effect from 1 January 1806, although it was briefly reinstated during the Paris Commune of 1871.
FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY CALENDAR DATES FULL
Décades proved unpopular, as workers had only one full day’s rest in ten, and were abandoned in April 1802 (Floréal an X). Thus Brumaire, starting in late October, derived from the French brume (fog), while Messidor, starting on 19 or 20 June, took its name from the Latin word messis, (harvest).Įach month was divided into three décades or ‘weeks’ of ten days each. Months were given new names based on the cycle of nature. The Convention decreed that Year 1 of the Republic began on 22 September 1792, the day of the autumn equinox in Paris. Thereafter each year would contain twelve months of thirty days each (with provision for leap years). Find the French Republican year for the date you are converting at the top of one of the four calendars. Each calendar has the French Republican months across the top, and thirty days on the left column. It was part of a larger endeavour to systematize units of measurement, including metrication and decimalization. Four calendars are on the following pages. The revolutionary system was instituted in 1792, in order to eradicate all religious and royalist influences from the calendar. French Revolutionary calendar, 1804, French MS 147 The trouble with Carlyle and his daft made-up words, though, is that he wasn’t joking! Frostarious, indeed.Today is Bastille Day, and we celebrate by announcing the recent acquisition of a fascinating manuscript French Revolutionary calendar, or calendrier universel. Thomas Carlyle, in his vivid (some would say histrionic) three-volume account of the French Revolution called them: Vintagearious, Fogarious, Frostarious, Snowous, Rainous, Windous, Buddal, Floweral, Meadowal, Reapidor, Heatidor, and Fruitidor. Some legal texts that were adopted when the Republican Calendar was official are still in force in France and have kept their original dates for citation. Meanwhile, another Briton had a go at translating the new month names, too. One 19th-century book tentatively attributes it to author and wit Sydney Smith. You’d think it would be comparatively easy to identify the British joker who so efficiently sent up the ideals (or pretensions, if you prefer) of the Republic’s new calendar, but it turns out not to be that easy. The same Enlightenment-era thinking also gave France (and later much of Europe) a new legal code, and of course, the metric system. Napoleon’s ‘Coup of 18 Brumaire’.Ĭalendar reform was one of the least successful planks in the programme of changes unleashed by the revolution.
It’s also remembered by historians who still usually refer to major events during this period by their Republican dates, e.g. Apparently, a handful of French folks, including historical re-enactors, still informally use the calendar to this day. The modern French navy’s six Floréal-class frigates are also named after months in the calendar. It was also briefly revived in the 1848 revolution and the 1871 Paris Commune. The ‘Republican Calendar’ was a short-lived experiment, lasting from 1793 to 1805, when it was done away with by Napoleon.
Thermidor – from the Greek for the sun’s heatīack in cynical old England, some wag quickly translated these as: Wheezy, Sneezy, Freezy Slippy, Drippy, Nippy Showery, Flowery, Bowery Wheaty, Heaty and Sweety The truth Messidor – from the Latin for corn harvest Prairial – from the French for prairie or grazing land Germinal – from the Latin for germination Vendémiaire – from the Latin for grape harvest