This is a list of selected solar eclipses in the Middle Ages, in particular those with historical significance.
Historically significant solar eclipses Date ofeclipse Time (UTC) Type Central Duration Eclipse Path Notes Start Mid End January 27, 632 - 06:38 - annular 01m40s Arabian Peninsula, India, China Occurred at the time of the death of Ibrahim, a 21-month-old son of MuhammadEclipse Wise July 5, 810 - - Probably observable only in the Southern HemisphereBruce S. Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens: Roman Astronomy and Cosmology in the Carolingian Renaissance (Brill, 2007), pp. 46-47 The solar eclipse of July 5 (sometimes erroneously reported as June 7),Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens, pp. 46-47 as well as the eclipse of November 30 a few months later, caused Charlemagne to write a letter in 811 to Waldo, abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Denis in Paris, asking the Irish monk Dungal, then resident at the abbey, to analyze the eclipses; he did so, relying on Roman astronomy authorities such as Pliny the Elder's Natural History and Macrobiuss Commentary on the Dream of Scipi.Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens, pp. 17, 31, 46-47, 175-76. Charlemagne had learned of the July 810 eclipse from a visiting bishop from Constantinople.Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens, pp. 46, 175-76. Charlemagne may have been disturbed by the July 810 eclipse's coincidence with the death of his son Pepin of Italy, on July 8, 810.Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens, pp. 175. November 30, 810 - 12:02 - total 01m08s Western EuropeFrank Close, Eclipses: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2019), p. 106. Some scholars posit that the Rök runestone inscriptions were influenced by the 810 solar eclipses (as well as other events, such as the solar storm in 775 and an unusually cold summer that year, in addition to the memory of the volcanic winter of 536), and interpret the runestone as predicting a climate crisis of extreme winter, perhaps the fimbulvetr, which the Norse believed to presage Ragnarök, the end of the world. July 19, 939 - - - total 03m28s Southern Eurasia The eclipse began in the Atlantic, crossed the Iberian Peninsula from Cape San Vicente to Cape Rosas to enter Principality of Hungary, Sea of Azov, Greater Khorasan and North Indian, ending in Nusantara. The chronicle of the eclipse is not because of the eclipse itself, but because of the surprise it provokes in the two opposing sides in the Battle of Simancas July 20, 966 - 17:15 - total 02m55s Arctic, Scandinavia, PolandPartially visible across Western Europe. Andrew of Wyntoun connected the eclipse with the assassination of Dub, King of Scotland. August 2, 1133 - 12:08 - total 04m38s Canada, Greenland, Scotland, Netherlands, Germany, Byzantium, Israel Also referred to as King Henry's Eclipse. Believed to be a bad omen for several political events and disasters. Mentioned in the Peterborough Chronicle, the Annales Halesbrunnenses and the Codex diplomaticus Falkensteinensis. August 22, 1142 - 20:14 - total 03m36s North America Visible over Pre-Columbian New York, happened during the formation of the Iroquois confederacy. April 21, 1186 - 05:32 - partial Bulgaria, Hungary This eclipse allowed the Byzantines, led by Isaac II Angelos, to make a counteroffensive against rebels attacking Thrace.* Also recorded in the Laurentian Codex; the description there is the first record of solar prominences. March 3, 1337 - "fourth to the seventh hour" - Black Sea This eclipse terrified the inhabitants of Trebizond, inciting them to rebel against their emperor Basil, throwing rocks at the citadel of the Emperor.Panaretos, ch. 22. Greek text and English translation in Scott Kennedy, Two Works on Trebizond, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 52 (Cambridge: Harvard University, 2019), pp. 11ff May 5, 1361 - "fifth hour of the day" - total "an hour and a half" Black Sea This eclipse was so full that an eye-witness claimed he could see the stars in the sky. The Emperor Alexios III and his retinue were induced to make a pilgrimage to Soumela Monastery, where they performed "many supplications and prayers."Panaretos, ch. 45. Greek text and English translation in Scott Kennedy, Two Works on Trebizond, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 52 (Cambridge: Harvard University, 2019), pp. 33ff
Statistics Longest total eclipses Below is a list of all total eclipses longer than 7 minutes that occurred between the 5th and 15th centuries. Date of eclipseCentral Duration Reference 23 May 681 07m10s 3 June 699 07m17s 13 June 717 07m15s 25 June 735 07m02s 29 May 1044 07m12s 9 June 1062 07m20s 20 June 1080 07m18s 1 July 1098 07m05s
Solar eclipses by century Century Eclipse type Longest eclipse Two-eclipse months Partial (P) Annular (A) Total (T) Hybrid (H) Length Date 5th 233 80 84 67 2 10m43s 12 November 486 August 463 6th 251 93 87 65 6 10m41s 22 November 504 August 528, July 539, May 542 7th 251 90 90 67 4 10m31s 17 December 689 April 618, March 629 8th 233 77 88 66 2 10m35s 18 December 716 9th 222 78 74 64 6 08m35s 21 December 884 10th 227 76 84 66 1 10m14s 1 November 989 11th 241 84 90 61 6 11m29s 14 December 1061 May 1063 12th 250 92 82 61 15 10m27s 16 January 1116 March 1150 13th 246 87 81 60 18 11m44s 29 December 1274 March 1215 14th 229 76 75 54 24 11m18s 20 January 1311 15th 222 77 65 61 19 09m31s 1 December 1415
References