{"id":5595,"date":"2025-10-13T21:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T20:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/?p=5595"},"modified":"2025-10-13T21:30:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-13T20:30:04","slug":"michaelmas-old-style-october-11th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chr.org.uk\/anddidthosefeet\/michaelmas-old-style-october-11th\/","title":{"rendered":"Michaelmas Old Style – October 11th"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Michaelmas Old Style. St. Michael weighing souls during the Last Judgement<\/a><\/em>, Antiphonale Cisterciense<\/em> (15th century), Abbey Bibliotheca, Rein Abbey, Austria<\/a> (Wikimedia by Dnalor_01<\/a><\/strong> license (CC-BY-SA 3.0))<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I am catching up as I have been away. So I’m a little behind in my days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

October 11th is the day that the Devil fell out of heaven and landed in a Blackberry Bush. So. you are, therefore, not wise to eat them after October 11th. St Michael’s Day is now celebrated on September 29th (see my post here<\/a>). But before September 1752, it was celebrated on what is now October 11th, now styled ‘Michaelmas Old Style’. The change of date is due to the introduction in the UK of the Gregorian Calendar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saint Michael is the chief of the archangels. Saint Gabriel was celebrated on the eve of the Annunciation on 24 March (see my post here<\/a>). St Raphael on the 24th October, But more recently the Churches celebrate all the Archangels at Michaelmas. It is now called the celebration of St Michael and All Angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Terms. Colleges, Lawyers<\/strong> and Quarterdays<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Apart from its religious significance, St Michael’s Mass was an important date on the civic calendar. Terms began, rent fell due, and work contracts ran out. It was the end of the ploughman’s year, and the day when Hiring Festivals or Mop Festivals took place. Look at my post on the Stratford Mop festival<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So in Oxford, the autumn term is called Michaelmas. The Spring Term Hilary on St Hilary’s Festival of January 14th. The third term is called Trinity, which takes place on Trinity Sunday <\/strong>the first Sunday after Pentecost. The law courts also have a Michaelmas term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is one of the Quarter Day’s of the year, close to the Solstices and the Equinox into which the medieval and early modern world was divided:<\/p>\n\n\n\n