I've been reading an article about about the Serrata of the Great Council of Venice and came upon this:
Presented for the third time on 28 February 1296 Venetian blackberries (corresponding to 28 February 1297 in the calendar of the rest of Europe), the law was finally approved.
I vaguely remember seeing different dates being mentioned in connection to Venice before, but I can't find anything about a different calendar being used in Venice or about "Venetian blackberries".
Anybody here familiar with this?
This actually comes up in opera history a lot! This is a confused translation of "more veneto," which just means "in the custom of the Venetians." It's kinda like dealing with "fiscal year" nonsense in business, in this calendar the new year rolled over on March 1st, so you just have to do a little math to figure out what year it was everywhere else for the first few months of the year. This lines up with Carnival, which was the season for opera in late 1600s Venice, so if you're reading opera libretti you have to stay on your toes!
"Double dating" at the start of a year is common through the 1700s. There were different standards for what the first month of the year was, and the first months were often recorded with both years. "Double dating" in records becomes more obvious and recorded more frequently after the calendar reforms in the 1500s to 1700s.