Genealogy in France: Republican Calendar

Version française

Also known as " French Revolutionaly Calendar ", this calendar was in used in France from 1793 to 1805, and 1871 (only in Paris). The 2 tables of this page will help you to local the equivalent date in the Gregorian Calendar (used in France from 1582 to 1792 and 1805 to nowadays) which is the universal modern calendar. The Julian Calendar, used before 1582, was still in use by many other countries, particularly by United Kingdom (including American colonies and Ireland) until 1752 and in some countries until 1900's years.

Thanks to Erik Laforce for this helpful tool.

(following explanation by: Yves Le Bloch)

The french revolutionnar calendar was institued form december 1793 to september 1805, either year II to year XIV (year I, corresponding to 1792, was already passed when the calendar came into force. The republican year was divided in 12 months of 30 days (3 "dicades") and came to an end with 5 complementary days (named "sans-culottides" until 24th August 1794.

Names of months had similar end for each season: 

Spring     :  Summer    :  Automn      : Winter
Germinal   : Messidor   : Vendémiaire  : Nivôse
Florial    : Thermidor  : Brumaire     : Pluviôse
Prairial   : Fructidor  : Frimaire     : Ventôse

Meaning of month's names

Germinal : mois où les plantes germent : month when plants germinate
Florial : mois des fleurs : month of flowers
Prairial : mois des prés : month of prairies
Messidor : mois des moissons : month of harvest
Thermidor : mois des chaleurs : month when weather is hot
Fructidor : mois des fruits : month of fruits
Vendémiaire : mois des vendanges : month of vintage
Brumaire : mois des brumes : month of fog
Frimaire : mois des frimas : month of hoar-frost
Nivôse : mois des neiges : month of snow
Pluviôse : mois des pluies : month of rain
Ventôse : mois des vents : month of wind

Table 1: 1st day of each Republican Day

Corresponding years and dates of the first day of the french month.

Use the letters to look up the day of the month in the next table. 

  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
  |           |  I     1792|   IV   1795|   VIII 1799|  XII   1803|
  |           |  II    1793|            |   IX   1800|            |
  |           |  III   1794|            |    X   1801|            |
  |           |  V     1796|            |   XI   1802|            |
  |           |  VI    1797|            | XIII   1804|            |
  |           |  VII   1798|            | XIV    1805|            |
  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
  |Vendémiaire| 22 Sept O  |  23 Sept Q | 23 Sept Q  | 24 Sept S  |
  |Brumaire   | 22 Oct  L  |  23 Oct  P | 23 Oct  P  | 24 Oct  R  |
  |Frimaire   | 21 Nov  K  |  22 Nov  O | 22 Nov  O  | 23 Nov  Q  |
  |Nivôse     | 21 Dec  G  |  22 Dec  L | 22 Dec  L  | 23 Dec  P  |
  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+

  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
  |           |            |            |            |            |
  |           |  I     1793|  IV   1796 |  VIII  1800|  XII   1804|
  |           |  II    1794|            |  IX    1801|            |
  |           |  III   1795|            |  X     1802|            |
  |           |  V     1797|            |  XI    1803|            |
  |           |  VI    1798|            |  XIII  1805|            |
  |           |  VII   1799|            |            |            |
  |           |  VII   1799|            |            |            |
  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
  |Pluviose   | 20 Jan  E  | 21 Jan  G  | 21 Jan  G  | 22 Jan  L  |
  |Ventose    | 19 Feb  H  | 20 Feb  J  | 20 Feb  M  | 21 Feb  N  |
  |Germinal   | 21 Mar  G  | 21 Mar  G  | 22 Mar  L  | 22 Mar  L  |
  |Floréal    | 20 Apr  F  | 20 Apr  F  | 21 Apr  K  | 21 Apr  K  |
  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
  |Prairial   | 20 May  E  | 20 May  E  | 21 May  G  | 21 May  G  |
  |Messidor   | 19 June D  | 19 June D  | 20 June F  | 20 June F  |
  |Thermidor  | 19 July C  | 19 July C  | 20 July E  | 20 July E  |
  |Fructidor  | 18 Aug  B  | 18 Aug  B  | 19 Aug  C  | 19 Aug  C  |
  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+

  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
  |           |  I     1793| III   1795 |  VIII  1800|  XI    1803|
  |           |  II    1794| VII   1799 |  IX    1801|            |
  |           |  IV    1796|            |   X    1802|            |
  |           |  V     1797|            | XII    1804|            |
  |           |  VI    1798|            | XIII   1805|            |
  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+
  | Complement|            |            |            |            |
  |        day| 17 Sept A  | 17 Sept A  | 18 Sept B  | 18 Sept B  |
  +-----------+------------+------------+------------+------------+

Table 2: Days of each Republican Month

Day of the month. Take into account the change of the month 
   -----+-----------------------------------------------------+
  FRENCH|                letter from the first table          |
     day| A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H| J   K  L  M  N  O P  Q  R S |
    ----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+-+--+--+--+
      1 |17 18 19 19 20 20 21 19| 20 21 22 20 21 22 23 23 24 24
      2 |18 19 20 20 21 21 22 20| 21 22 23 21 22 23 24 24 25 25
      3 |19 20 21 21 22 22 23 21| 22 23 24 22 23 24 25 25 26 26
      4 |20 21 22 22 23 23 24 22| 23 24 25 23 24 25 26 26 27 27
      5 |21 22 23 23 24 24 25 23| 24 25 26 24 25 26 27 27 28 28
    ----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
      6 |22 23 24 24 25 25 26 24| 25 26 27 25 26 27 28 28 29 29
      7 |__ 24 25 25 26 26 27 25| 26 27 28 26 27 28 29 29 30 30
      8 |   25 26 26 27 27 28 26| 27 28 29 27 28 29 30 30 31  1
      9 |   26 27 27 28 28 29 27| 28 29 30 28 29 30 31  1  1  2
     10 |   27 28 28 29 29 30 28| 29 30 31  1  1  1  1  2  2  3
    ----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
     11 |   28 29 29 30 30 31  1|  1  1  1  2  2  2  2  3  3  4
     12 |   29 30 30 31  1  1  2|  2  2  2  3  3  3  3  4  4  5
     13 |   30 31  1  1  2  2  3|  3  3  3  4  4  4  4  5  5  6
     14 |   31  1  2  2  3  3  4|  4  4  4  5  5  5  5  6  6  7
     15 |    1  2  3  3  4  4  5|  5  5  5  6  6  6  6  7  7  8
    ----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
     16 |    2  3  4  4  5  5  6|  6  6  6  7  7  7  7  8  8  9
     17 |    3  4  5  5  6  6  7|  7  7  7  8  8  8  8  9  9 10
     18 |    4  5  6  6  7  7  8|  8  8  8  9  9  9  9 10 10 11
     19 |    5  6  7  7  8  8  9|  9  9  9 10 10 10 10 11 11 12
     20 |    6  7  8  8  9  9 10| 10 10 10 11 11 11 11 12 12 13
    ----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
     21 |    7  8  9  9 10 10 11| 11 11 11 12 12 12 12 13 13 14
     22 |    8  9 10 10 11 11 12| 12 12 12 13 13 13 13 14 14 15
     23 |    9 10 11 11 12 12 13| 13 13 13 14 14 14 14 15 15 16
     24 |   10 11 12 12 13 13 14| 14 14 14 15 15 15 15 16 16 17
     25 |   11 12 13 13 14 14 15| 15 15 15 16 16 16 16 17 17 18
    ----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
     26 |   12 13 14 14 15 15 16| 16 16 16 17 17 17 17 18 18 19
     27 |   13 14 15 15 16 16 17| 17 17 17 18 18 18 18 19 19 20
     28 |   14 15 16 16 17 17 18| 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 20 20 21
     29 |   15 16 17 17 18 18 19| 19 19 19 20 20 20 20 21 21 22
     30 |   16 17 18 18 19 19 20| 20 20 20 21 21 21 21 22 22 23
     30 |   16 17 18 18 19 19 20| 20 20 20 21 21 21 21 22 22 23
    ----+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+

To find more about Calendars

[Calendar page]

Thanks to Erik Laforce for his precious help.

Last update: November 14th 1996

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