Hamlet's "Time is out of joint" by 10 Gregorian days after October 4, 1582

On Instagram, botanicalshakespeare (whose posts I love) reminds us recently of the change in calendar required by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, which meant that on what would have been October 5, continental Europe leaped ahead by 10 days, making it, instead, October 15.

Shakespeare may have had this in mind (among many other things, like incest, usurpation, murder and corruption) when he decided to have Hamlet say,

“The time is out of joint”
(1.5)

botanicalshakespeare notes:

"…or at least it was in 1582 when the pontifical states switched calendars -from Julian to Gregorian (not Gregory I of chanting fame, this is Pope Gregory XIII) - and skipped ahead 10 days… but England decided to keep those extra days for a while 😉 — till 1752!"

This might be fodder for some who insist that Shakespeare was Catholic, and who might claim that a Catholic Shakespeare may have supported the "fixing" of an out-of-joint time by making Protestant England Catholic again.

But in fact, there are many other possibilities for how the time may have been out of joint, and how best it may have been fixed at the end of Elizabeth's reign.

The Gregorian calendar is still off by 0.1 days every 400 years, so every 4000 years, we will still have to fudge a day somewhere (maybe add or subtract a 29th of February?), but it's not making me lose sleep.  Yet. 😉

For now, let's celebrate and enjoy these 10 days of October that are no longer lost, after the Julian calendar was re-calibrated with the Gregorian.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
YOU CAN SUPPORT ME on a one-time "tip" basis on Ko-Fi:
https://ko-fi.com/pauladrianfried

IF YOU WOULD PREFER to support me on a REGULAR basis,
you may do so on Ko-Fi, or here on Patreon:
https://patreon.com/PaulAdrianFried
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Disclaimer: If and when I quote or paraphrase bible passages or mention religion in many of my blog posts, I do not intend to promote any religion over another, nor am I attempting to promote religious belief in general; only to explore how the Bible and religion influenced Shakespeare, his plays, and his age.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks for reading!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My current project is a book tentatively titled Hamlet’s Bible, about biblical allusions and plot echoes in Hamlet.

Below is a link to a list of some of my top posts (“greatest hits”), including a description of my book project (last item on the list):

https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/2019/12/top-20-hamlet-bible-posts.html

I post every week, so please visit as often as you like and consider FOLLOWING.
To find the FOLLOW button, go to the home page: https://pauladrianfried.blogspot.com/
see the = drop-down menu with three lines in the upper left.
From there you can click FOLLOW and see options.