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For a research project I have, I need to identify some important dates. In order to do that, I'd like to know which calendar was used by the Kingdom of Ireland, specifically during the Irish rebellion of 1641.

So, does anyone know which calendar it was? I'd rather have an answer with a reference, if possible.

If possible, I'd also be glad to have any information on this calendar - holidays, months and their synonyms, ...

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Ireland at the time was under British rule and Britain didn't adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752 so it would still officially be on the Julian calender and written records would use this.

Since Catholic countries adopted the Gregorian calender much sooner (it being introduced by pope Gregory) it's possible that Catholic church sources, especially those writing to people on continental Europe might have used Gregorian calender.

Rural areas and 'peasant' farmers (not technically accurate in Ireland) would probably have mostly used saint's days and religious feasts for everyday calender and quarter days for rents and official purposes.

The kingdom of Ireland was still run from Britain, Catholics were excluded from any official office and certainly weren't in charge of making any decisions about calenders. Remember that date/time was vital for navigation and so was controlled by naval observatories with the same sort of military security that GPS has today. Any written history, court proceedings, laws, etc will almost certainly be written using British standards.

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  • Thanks for the answer, but since the kingdom of ireland was catholic [correct me if I'm wrong], don't the two paragraphs of the answer contradict each other? Which was it? I'd also be happy if you can give reference for the answer specifically to ireland at that time, if it is possible. thanks again.
    – amit
    Apr 18, 2012 at 15:18
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    The kingdom of Ireland was still run from Britain, catholics were excluded from any official office and certainly weren't in charge of making any decisions about calenders. Remember that date/time was vital for navigation and so was controlled by naval observatories with the same sort of military security that GPS has today. Any written history, court proceedings, laws, etc will almost certainly be written using British standards
    – none
    Apr 18, 2012 at 15:23
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    Thanks for the answer. The comment is very informative and should be added to the answer IMO.
    – amit
    Apr 18, 2012 at 15:27
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    The majority of the population of Ireland at the time were Catholic, yes. However the government was not Catholic and excluded Catholics. Just think about South Africa in the 1980s. The majority of the people were black, but were excluded from government.
    – Amandasaurus
    May 28, 2012 at 14:32

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