1. Some Simple Questions What is the first day of spring? How do you mark a date on a sundial? The real answer is much more complex. The problem of the unique assignment of a date to a solar declination changed the course of history! The facile answers: -Spring starts on 21 March, the vernal equinox -Use a declination line

2. Calendar Reform? The calendar organizes days, months and years Our current Gregorian calendar is a poor approximation, with Spring starting on any of four days A much better calendar was proposed by a Persian polymath almost 1000 years ago This is actually a story of science and mysticism, history and politics, religion and war, colonies and empires and the birth of America

3. God s Longitude and the Lost Colony of Virginia Roger Bailey and Fred Sawyer NASS Virginia 2007 Dr John Dee

4. What is the first day of Spring? This year, 2007, the Vernal Equinox is 21 March at 00:07 UT 2006 20 March 18:26 UT 2008 20 March 05:48 UT Difference ~5:41 Date varies from 19 March to 22 March Gains almost 6 hours a year, but leaps back a day ever four years more or less Plot the results: Frank Kings as Blob Chart

5. Julian Error Leap Year Cycle

6. Fitting Days to the Year Julian Calendar: 365.25 days per year –One leap year in four –Real year is shorter ~365.2422 days per year –Gains almost 8 days per millennium –Out by 10 or 11 days by 1582, 12 by 1752 Gregorian Calendar: 365.2425 days per year –Same one leap year in four except centuries are not leap years unless divisible by four like 2000 –Date of Easter is complex –Dates can vary for events like the equinox by 4 days –No 21 March dates for the spring equinox until 2102

7. Omar Khayyams 33 Year Calendar Omar Khayyam: Persian polymath –11 th Century Poet, Philosopher Rubaiyat quatrains Celebrated wine, women and song A loaf of bread, a flask of wine and thou –Mathematician, Astronomer 33 Year Calendar cycle –Divide year by 33 –Leap year if remainder is not zero and is divisible by 4 –Reduces date spread to 24 hours –Basis of Persian Jalāli calendar

8. Is it a Dee Leap Year? "February will have 29 days whenever the A.D. year- number, reduced modulo 33, is non-zero and is divisible by 4." But dividing by 33 is difficult Add 1 st two digits (centuries) to the 2 nd two 2007: 20+07=27 not evenly divisible by 4 – no Leap 1996 1582

9. Is it a Dee Leap Year? "February will have 29 days whenever the A.D. year- number, reduced modulo 33, is non-zero and is divisible by 4." But dividing by 33 is difficult Add 1 st two digits (centuries) to the 2 nd two 2007: 20+07=27 not evenly divisible by 4 – no Leap Do twice and subtract 33 or 66 as required 1996: 19+96=115, 1+15=16, divisible by 4 – Leap Year 1582: 15+82=97, 97-66=31, not divisible by 4 - no Leap

10. Is it a Dee Leap Year? "February will have 29 days whenever the A.D. year- number, reduced modulo 33, is non-zero and is divisible by 4." But dividing by 33 is difficult Add 1 st two digits (centuries) to the 2 nd two 2007: 20+07=27 not evenly divisible by 4 - no Leap Do twice and subtract 33 or 66 as required 1996: 19+96=115, 1+15=16, divisible by 4 – Leap Year 1582: 15+82=97, 97-66=31, not divisible by 4 - no Leap 1583: 15+83=98, 98-66=32, divisible by 4 – Leap Year 1584: 15+84=99, 99-66=33, not divisible by 4 – no Leap

11. 16 th Century Europe Religious reformation and counter-reformation –Lutheran, Huguenot and Anglican north vs Catholic south, with Orthodox and Moslems to the east Renaissance: the birth of Science –Science indistinguishable from magic –Astronomy vs Astrology, Newtons alchemy –Keplers Platonic solids and Harmonia Mundi vs 3 laws Exploration and Empires Calendar Reform

12. Pope Gregorys Calendar 1582 Gregorian Calendar Commission 1579-82 was led by Christopher Clavius S.J. –Jesuit Astronomer –"Commentarius in Sphaeram Joannis de Sacro Bosco" –Led Gregorian calendar reform Prime function –Set the correct date of Easter Correct the accumulated Julian errors 10-11 days Khayyams 33 year cycle was presented by Na'amat Allah, the Syrian Patriarch on the calendar Commission

13. Gregorian Calendar Reform Promulgated by Pope Gregory in 1582 Adopted by most Catholic countries in 1584 Reviewed in England by Dr John Dee, science advisor and astrologer for Queen Elizabeth Dee recommended adoption of a modified version dropping 11 days rather than 10 Dees secret agenda: Implement the Khayyam 33 year calendar, not stated in his recommendation Recommendation not accepted by the Anglican church even using the 10 day correction England remained on the Julian Calendar to 1752 and had to drop 12 days to get in sync

14. Dr. John Dee: Science and Magic John Dee (1527-1609) was a noted Elizabethan scientist: astronomer astrologer alchemist geographer cartographer and mystic Arrested and imprisoned for calculating in 1555 Science advisor, astrologer for Queen Elizabeth I Traveled widely gathering intelligence (spying?) The Perfect Art of Navigation Taught Drake, Frobisher, Harriot

15. Dees Secret 33 Year Calendar History vs alt History Reform the calendar and drop 11 days to return spring to 21 March Adopt a different cycle for leap years Calendar reform but with an improvement over the Gregorian calendar Reform the calendar but use the 33 year Khayyam cycle Equinox time spread reduced to < 24 hours Simplifies Easter calculations Based on life of Jesus, 33 year cycle from year 1 Defines Gods Longitude, where the equinox is always on the same day Calendars were the same from 1584 to 1620 Quod defertur non aufertur

16. Julian Error Century Correction Gregorian Error 400 Year Correction

20. Elizabethan Adventurer Walter Raleigh Favorite of the Queen Military commander Charter to colonize Virginia

21. Columbus 1492 Raleigh 1585 –1589 Roanoke Island Cabot 1497 Cortez 1520 Cartier 1541 77º W Exploration of America Leon 1513 Menendez 1565 Ribaut 1564 Gilbert 1583

22. Raleighs Virginia 1584 Target 77º W

23. Raleighs Virginia 1585

24. Raleighs Virginia 1586 Grenvilles re-supply ships arrived three weeks late Roanoke colony was temporarily abandoned Men had returned to England on Drakes ships Grenville left 15 good men

26. Raleighs Virginia 1587 Major expedition in 1587 led by John White Three ships with 150 colonists including planters, craftsmen and a few women and children Destination: Chesapeake Bay, at least 50 miles farther inland (77º?) Men left at Roanoke in 1586 had disappeared Chesapeake Bay destination abandoned Second colony established at Roanoke Island White returned to England to obtain more support and supplies

27. Raleighs Virginia 1588-89 Spanish Armada attacked England Although the Armada was defeated, supply ships unavailable until too late Two small ships set out but did not get to Virginia 1589 no ships and supplies available to White and London partners Frustration for White, disaster for the colony

28. Lost Colony 1590 1590 White and London partners had difficulty obtaining ships and supplies Arrived at Roanoke Island in August No signs of life, but evidence of attacks CROATAN carved in tree: tribe or island? Wattes unable to stop and explore Croatan Island but sailed for West Indies and England Roanoke Island colony was Lost! Indian hostility, starvation?

29. Jamestown Colony 1607 Searches for Lost Colony were delayed until 1607 –Dynasty change in England: King James Stuart –Raleigh in prison, White and Dee destitute New Virginia colonization charter: –John Smith to Jamestown –Same secret agenda? Perhaps not, but… –…

30. Jamestown Colony 1607 Searches for Lost Colony were delayed until 1607 –Dynasty change in England: King James Stuart –Raleigh in prison, White and Dee destitute New Virginia colonization charter: –John Smith to Jamestown –Same secret agenda? Perhaps not, but… –Jamestown is at 76º 47 West

32. Gods Longitude: Reality Check The blob charts show the benefit of mod 33 calendar and the 77º base longitude Results depend on inputs: I used –Year length 365.2424 days and constant –VE 21 March 1582, 23:58:10 Dee would have known long term average year length and date of vernal equinox Exact time is difficult to determine These inputs are reasonable for Dees time but reality is more complex

33. In Elizabethan times, navigation and explorations were state secrets Ref: The Secret Voyage of Sir Fancais Drake by S. Bawlf Dees recommendation is a historical fact –What is delayed is not abandoned –Poetry with 33 year and life of Jesus theme But eighty foure, the Pattern is Of Christ's birth yere: and so for ay Eche Bissext shall fall little mys, To shew the sun of Christ birth day. Evidence for Gods Longitude

34. Fixation on moving west a bit from Roanoke Hariots use of 33 year cycle In Elizabethan times, navigation and explorations were state secrets Ref: The Secret Voyage of Sir Fancais Drake by S. Bawlf Dees recommendation is a historical fact –What is delayed is not abandoned –Poetry with 33 year and life of Jesus theme Evidence for Gods Longitude

35. In Elizabethan times, navigation and explorations were state secrets Ref: The Secret Voyage of Sir Fancais Drake by S. Bawlf Dees writings –What is delayed is not abandoned –Poetry with 33 year and life of Jesus theme

36. Gods Longitude: Truth or Fiction ? Gods Longitude is plausible but speculative … a modern interpretation Selected facts support premise but there were many other more important factors for English settlement to focus on Virginia

37. Washington D.C. 77º

38. Washington D.C. Welcome to Gods Country 77º

39. Acknowledgements Frank King : Inspiration and advice Simon Cassidy : original historical and mathematical research on Gods Longitude, web info and advice Duncan Steel : publicizing the idea in Marking Time: The Quest for the Perfect Calendar and nominating the Dees Calendar as the greatest invention in two millennia Derek Hayes : Historical Atlas of the United States Samuel Bawlf :The Secret Voyage of Francis Drake Wikipedia and other web resources for pictures and historical background information