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Years and days haven’t always been recorded the same way in every country. C. R. Cheney’s Handbook of Dates for Students of English History (CUP, 2000) lists all old forms of dating, including by saints’ days and popes’ and kings’ regnal years.

Years were often counted from the date of a sovereign’s accession, so, for example, the first day of the first year of the reign of Elizabeth II started on 6 February 1952, the day she succeeded her father.

The book also provides a calendar for looking up which day of the week fell in what date in a given year. So, if someone wrote a letter dated 25 May 1657 saying their father died ‘last Monday’ you can find out that 25 May 1657 was a Friday, so ‘last Monday’ must have been 20 May.