How can I find out what weekday a certain date fell on?

There are three main options: calendars on software packages, newspapers and directories or the Handbook of Dates.

Calendars on software packages

Some personal organiser packages for computers include calendar or diary functions which are back-dated by several centuries. However, these simply extend the current (Gregorian) calendar back to the earliest date in the package. This means that the calendar on your computer diverges from the calendar which operated in Scotland prior to 14 September 1752. For dates prior to 14 September 1752, you will need to consult Handbook of Dates for Students of English History ed. by C. R. Cheney (Cambridge University Press, 1995).

Newspapers and directories

If it is a date in the 19th or 20th centuries you should look at the back copy of a newspaper for that date. Many newspapers are now available through the British Newspaper Archive website (available free of charge in the National Library of Scotland or with a subscription elsewhere) https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

Alternatively, you could consult a Post Office Directory for the year in question. Post Office Directories include calendars for the year of publication, and these also include the dates of local holidays. Runs of Post Office Directories from the late 18th century to the 1970s are held by large reference libraries, such as Edinburgh City Libraries and the Mitchell Library, Glasgow.

Handbook of Dates

Handbook of Dates for Students of English History ed. by C.R. Cheney (Cambridge University Press, 1995) is one of the most useful books for historians in Britain. Pages 83-160 allow you to work out a calendar for any year using fixed tables for all possible dates for Easter. Cheney’s tables will also allow the calculation of any date from 500AD onwards, but pay attention to discrepancies in the calendars of different parts of Europe between the 16th and 20th centuries.

How can I find out what national and local events happened on someone’s birthday?

National and local newspapers for the day in question (and the days following) should provide news reports on contemporary events. Some national newspapers can supply back issues, or facsimiles of front pages on a commercial basis. Many newspapers are now available through the British Newspaper Archive website (available free of charge in the National Library of Scotland or with a subscription elsewhere) https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/

What were the Scottish quarter days?

Quarter days were the four days dividing the legal year, when rent and interest on loans were due, and when contracts and leases often began or ended.

In Scotland the quarter days were Candlemas (2 February); Whitsun (15 May); Lammas (1 August); and Martinmas (11 November).

The names recall saints’ days and festivals which pervaded medieval life. Candlemas was the feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary, which was celebrated with the lighting of candles. Whitsunday is the seventh Sunday after Easter, but in Scotland the legal Whitsun was fixed on 15 May. Lammas was a harvest festival day, the name comes from the Old English hlafmaesse, meaning ‘loaf mass’. Martinmas was the feast of St Martin of Tours.

For a discussion of the use of saints’ days and festivals to date medieval documents see Handbook of Dates for Students of English History ed. by C.R. Cheney (Cambridge University Press, 1995). Some of the quarter days, and other feast days, were important occasions for markets, sports and popular entertainments. For more information about this see John Burnett, Riot, Revelry and Rout: sport in Scotland before 1860 (East Linton, 2000).

How can I decipher a date written in the form beginning ‘Jaj . . .’ in a 17th or 18th century document?

these are sometimes referred to by palaeographers as ‘Jaj dates’. The ‘Jaj’ part is a corruption of the Latin ‘i m’, meaning ‘1000’, the ‘vj’ is the Latin numeral for ‘6’, the ‘C†’ is an abbreviation of the Latin word ‘centum’ (‘one hundred’). Hence,

Jaj = 1000 vjC† = 600 and threttie twa yeiris = 32

= 1632

In image 3 the date 1663 is rendered: the year of God Jajvj C& saxti three

Jaj dates were still being written in the first decades of the eighteenth century, as image 4 shows: Jajvijc and eight yeares

Note that, in this case, the C is not capitalised and does not have a mark of abbreviation for ‘centum’.

This form of dating is easy to learn by breaking it down into component parts:

The Jaj part (= 1000)
The v, or vj, or vij part (remember that the last i is usually a j)

The abbreviation for Centum and, which might appear as ‘C† and’ or ‘C†&’ or ‘C&’ or ‘C and’
The rest of the year written longhand, usually in Scots