Amid nostalgia for the ancient Roman Republic, the theories of the Enlightenment were at their peak, and the devisers of the new systems looked to nature for their inspiration. The new Republican government sought to institute, among other reforms, a new social and legal system, a new system of weights and measures (which became the metric system), and a new calendar. The days of the French Revolution and Republic saw many efforts to sweep away various trappings of the Ancien Régime (the old feudal monarchy) some of these were more successful than others. HistoryĪ copy of the French Republican Calendar in the Historical Museum of Lausanne Later editions of the almanac would switch to the Republican Calendar. Individual days were assigned, instead of to the traditional saints, to noteworthy people. (The months of September through December are already numeric names, although their meanings do not match their positions in either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar since the Romans added the months January and February to the original ten-month March-to-December year of King Romulus.) The lengths of the months are the same as those in the Gregorian calendar however, the 10th, 20th, and 30th days are singled out of each month as the end of a décade (group of ten days). The first month in the almanac is 'Mars, ou Princeps' (March, or First), the last month is 'Février, ou Duodécembre' (February, or Twelfth). The prominent anticlerical atheist Sylvain Maréchal published the first edition of his Almanach des Honnêtes-gens (Almanac of Honest People) in 1788.

9 Famous dates and other cultural references.6 Converting from the Gregorian Calendar.

Medieval french revolutionary calendar