ECLIPSES OF THE SUN MENTIONED IN HISTORY.--
MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN.
One of the most celebrated eclipses of mediæval times was that of August
2, 1133, visible as a total eclipse in Scotland. It was considered a
presage of misfortune to Henry I. and was thus referred to by William of
Malmesbury[80]:--
"The elements manifested their sorrow at this great man's last departure
from England. For the Sun on that day at the 6th hour shrouded his
glorious face, as the poets say, in hideous darkness agitating the
hearts of men by an eclipse; and on the 6th day of the week early in the
morning there was so great an earthquake that the ground appeared
absolutely to sink down; an horrid noise being first heard beneath the
surface."
This eclipse is also alluded to in the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ though
the year is wrongly given as 1135 instead of 1133 as it certainly was.
The _Chronicle_ says:--"In this year King Henry went over sea at Lammas,
and the second day as he lay and slept on the ship the day darkened over
all lands; and the Sun became as it were a three-night-old Moon, and the
stars about it at mid-day. Men were greatly wonder-stricken and
affrighted, and said that a great thing should come hereafter. So it
did, for the same year the king died on the following day after St.
Andrew's Mass day, Dec. 2, in Normandy." The king did die in 1135, but
there was no eclipse of the August new Moon, and without doubt the
writer has muddled up the year of the eclipse and of the king's
departure from England (to which he never returned) and the year of his
death. Calvisius states that this eclipse was observed in Flanders and
that the stars appeared.
Respecting the above-mentioned discrepancy Mrs. Todd aptly remarks:--"So
Henry must have died in 1133, which he _did not_; or else there must
have been an eclipse in 1135, which there _was not_. But this is not the
only labyrinth into which chronology and old eclipses, imagination, and
computation, lead the unwary searcher." Professor Freeman's explanation
fairly clears up the difficulty:--"The fact that he never came back to
England, together with the circumstances of his voyage, seems to have
made a deep impression on men's minds. In popular belief the signs and
wonders which marked his last voyage were transferred to the Lammas-tide
before his death two years later."[81] The central line of this eclipse
traversed Scotland from Ross to Forfar and the eclipse was of course
large in every part of the country. The totality lasted 4m. 20s. in
Forfarshire.
Hind has furnished some further information respecting this eclipse. It
appears that during the existence of the Kingdom of Jerusalem created by
the Crusaders an eclipse occurred which would appear to have been total
at Jerusalem or in its immediate neighbourhood. No date is given and a
date can only be guessed, and Hind guessed that the eclipse of 1133 was
the one referred to. He found that after leaving Scotland and crossing
Europe the central line of the 1133 eclipse entered Palestine near Jaffa
and passed over Jerusalem where the Sun was hidden for 4¼ minutes at
about 3h. p.m. From Nablous on the N. to Ascalon on the S. the country
was in darkness for nearly the same period of time. The alternative
eclipses to this one would be those of Sept. 4, 1187, magnitude at
Jerusalem 9/10ths of the Sun's diameter; or June 23, 1191, magnitude at
the same place about 7/10ths; but these do not seem to harmonise so well
with the accounts handed down to us as does the eclipse of 1133.
In 1140, on March 20, there happened a total eclipse of the Sun visible
in England which is thus referred to by William of Malmesbury[82]:--
"During this year, in Lent, on the 13th of the Calends of April, at the
9th hour of the 4th day of the week, there was an eclipse, throughout
England, as I have heard. With us, indeed, and with all our neighbours,
the obscuration of the Sun also was so remarkable, that persons sitting
at table, as it then happened almost everywhere, for it was Lent, at
first feared that Chaos was come again: afterwards, learning the cause,
they went out and beheld the stars around the Sun. It was thought and
said by many, not untruly, that the King [Stephen] would not continue a
year in the government."
The same eclipse is also thus mentioned in the _Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle_:--"Afterwards in Lent the Sun and the day darkened about the
noontide of the day, when men were eating, and they lighted candles to
eat by; and that was the 13th of the Calends of April, March 20. Men
were greatly wonder-stricken." The greatest obscuration at London took
place at 2h. 36m. p.m., but it is not quite clear whether the line of
totality did actually pass over London.
It was long supposed that this eclipse was total at London, an idea
which seems to have arisen from Halley having told the Royal Society
anent the total eclipse of May 3, 1715, that he could not find that any
total eclipse had been visible at London since March 20, 1140. In
consequence of this statement of Halley's, Hind carefully investigated
the circumstances of this eclipse, and found that it had _not_ been
total at London. The central line entered our island at Aberystwith, and
passing near Shrewsbury, Stafford, Derby, Nottingham, and Lincoln,
reached the German Ocean, 10 miles S. of Saltfleet. The southern limit
of the zone of totality passed through the South Midland counties, and
the nearest point of approach to London was a point on the borders of
Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire. For a position on the central line
near Stafford, Hind found that the totality began at 2h. 36m. p.m. local
mean time, the duration being 3m. 26s., and the Sun's altitude being
more than 30°. The stars seen were probably the planets Mercury and
Venus, then within a degree of each other, and 10° W. of the Sun, and
perhaps the stars forming the well-known "Square of Pegasus." Mars and
Saturn were also, at that time, within a degree of each other, but very
near the western horizon. It is therefore necessary to look further back
than 1140 to find a total solar eclipse visible in London.[83]
A solar eclipse seems to have been alluded to by certain historians as
having happened in A.D. 1153. We have the obscure statement that
"something singular happened to the Sun the day after the Conversion of
St. Paul." A somewhat large eclipse having been visible at Augsburg in
Germany, on January 26, this may have been the "something" referred to.
It would seem that about 11/12ths of the Sun's diameter was covered.
On May 14, A.D. 1230, there happened a great eclipse of the Sun, thus
described by Roger of Wendover[84]:--"On the 14th of May, which was the
Tuesday in Rogation Week, an unusual eclipse of the Sun took place very
early in the morning, immediately after sunrise; and it became so dark
that the labourers, who had commenced their morning's work, were obliged
to leave it, and returned again to their beds to sleep; but in about an
hour's time, to the astonishment of many, the Sun regained its usual
brightness." This eclipse, as regards its total phase, is said by
Johnston to have begun in the horizon, a little to the N. of London, in
the early morning.
On June 3, A.D. 1239, and October 6, 1241, there occurred total eclipses
of the Sun, which have been very carefully discussed by Professor
Celoria of Milan, with the view of using them in investigations into the
Moon's mean motion.[85] The second of these eclipses is mentioned by
Tycho Brahe.[86] He states that "a few stars appeared about noonday, and
the Sun was hidden from sight in a clear sky." The eclipse was total in
Eastern Europe.
Dr. Lingard,[87] the well-known Roman Catholic historian, speaking of
the battle of Cressy, which was fought on August 26, 1346, says:--"Never,
perhaps, were preparations for battle made under circumstances so truly
awful. On that very day the Sun suffered a partial eclipse: birds in
clouds, precursors of a storm, flew screaming over the two armies; and
the rain fell in torrents, accompanied with incessant thunder and
lightning. About 5 in the afternoon, the weather cleared up, the Sun in
full splendour darted his rays in the eyes of the enemy; and the
Genoese, setting up their shouts, discharged their quarrels." This was
not an eclipse, for none was due to take place; and the phenomenon could
only have been meteorological--dense clouds or something of that sort in
the sky.
On June 16, 1406, there was a large eclipse of the Sun, 9/10ths of its
diameter being covered at London; but on the Continent it seems to have
been total. It is stated that the darkness was such that people could
hardly recognise one another.
One of the most celebrated eclipses during the Middle Ages was
undoubtedly that of June 17, 1433. This was long remembered in Scotland
as the "Black Hour," and its circumstances were fully investigated some
years ago by Hind. It was a remarkable eclipse in that the Moon was
within 13° of perigee and the Sun only 2° from apogee. The central line
traversed Scotland in a south-easterly direction from Ross to Forfar,
passing near Inverness and Dundee. Maclaurin[88] who lived in the early
part of the last century mentions that in his time a manuscript account
of this eclipse was preserved in the library of the University of
Edinburgh wherein the darkness is said to have come on at about 3 p.m.,
and to have been very profound. The duration of the totality at
Inverness was 4m. 32s.; at Edinburgh 3m. 41s. The central line passed
from Britain to the N. of Frankfort-on-the-Maine, through Bavaria, to
the Dardanelles, to the S. of Aleppo and thence nearly parallel to the
river Euphrates to the N.-E. border of Arabia. In Turkey, according to
Calvisius, "near evening the light of the Sun was so overpowered that
darkness covered the land."
In 1544, on Jan. 24, there occurred an eclipse of the Sun which was
nearly but not quite total. The chief interest arises from the fact that
it was one of the first observed by professed astronomers: Gemma Frisius
saw it at Louvain.
Kepler says[89] that the day became dark like the twilight of evening
and that the birds which from the break of day had been singing became
mute. The middle of the eclipse was at about 9 a.m.
In 1560 an eclipse of the Sun took place which was total in Spain and
Portugal. Clavius who observed it at Coimbra says[90] that "the Sun
remained obscured for no little time: there was darkness greater than
that of night, no one could see where he trod and the stars shone very
brightly in the sky: the birds moreover, wonderful to say, fell down to
the ground in fright at such startling darkness." Kepler is responsible
for the statement that Tycho Brahe did not believe this, and wrote to
Clavius to that effect 40 years afterwards.
In 1567 there was an annular eclipse visible at Rome on April 9. Clavius
says[91] that "the whole Sun was not eclipsed but that there was left a
bright circle all round." This in set terms is a description of an
annular eclipse, but Johnston who calculated that at Rome the greatest
obscuration took place at 20m. past noon points out that the
augmentation of the Moon's semi-diameter would almost have produced
totality. Tycho tells us that he saw this eclipse on the shores of the
Baltic when a young man about 20 years of age.
The total eclipse of February 25, 1598, long left a special mark on the
memories of the people of Scotland. The day was spoken of as "Black
Saturday." Maclaurin states[92]:--"There is a tradition that some persons
in the North lost their way in the time of this eclipse, and perished in
the snow"--a statement which Hind discredits. The central line passed
from near Stranraer, over Dalkeith, and therefore Edinburgh was within
the zone of totality. Totality came on at Edinburgh at 10h. 15m. and
lasted 1m. 30s. From the rapid motion of the Moon in declination, the
course of the central line was a quickly ascending one in latitude on
the Earth's surface, the totality passing off within the Arctic circle.
Kepler in his account of the new star in the constellation Ophiuchus[93]
refers to the total eclipse of the Sun of October 12, 1605, as having
been observed at Naples, and that the "Red Flames" were visible as a rim
of red light round the Sun's disc: at least this seems to be the
construction which may fairly be put upon the Latin of the original
description.
The partial eclipse of the Sun of May 30, 1612, is recorded to have been
seen "through a tube." No doubt this is an allusion to the
newly-invented instrument which we now call the telescope. Seemingly
this is the first eclipse of the Sun so observed, but it is on record
that an eclipse of the Moon had been previously observed through a
telescope. This was the lunar eclipse of July 6, 1610, though the
observer's name has not been handed down to us.
The eclipse of April 8, 1652, is another of those Scotch eclipses, as we
may call them, which left their mark on the people of that country.
Maclaurin[94] speaks of it in his time (he died in 1746) as one of the
two central eclipses which are "still famous among the populace in this
country" [Scotland], and "known amongst them by the appellation of Mirk
Monday." The central line passed over the S.E. of Ireland, near Wexford
and Wicklow, and reaching Scotland near Burrow Head in Wigtownshire, and
passing not far from Edinburgh, Montrose and Aberdeen, quitted Scotland
at Peterhead. Greenock and Elgin were near the northern limit of the
zone of totality, and the Cheviots and Berwick upon the southern limit.
The eclipse was observed at Carrickfergus by Dr. Wyberd.[95] Hind found
that its duration there was but 44s. This short duration, he suggested,
may partly explain the curious remark of Dr. Wyberd that when the Sun
was reduced to "a very slender crescent of light, the Moon all at once
threw herself within the margin of the solar disc with such agility that
she seemed to revolve like an upper millstone, affording a pleasant
spectacle of rotatory motion." Wyberd's further description clearly
applies to the Corona. A Scotch account says that "the country people
tilling, loosed their ploughs. The birds dropped to the ground."
The eclipse of November 4, 1668, visible as a partial one in England,
was of no particular interest in itself but deserves notice as having
been observed by Flamsteed,[96] who gives a few diagrams of his
observations at Derby. He states that the eclipse came on much earlier
than had been predicted. It was well known at this time that the tables
of the Sun and Moon then in use were very defective, and it was a
recognition of this fact which eventually led to the foundation of the
Greenwich Observatory in 1675.
On September 23, 1699, an eclipse of the Sun occurred which was total to
the N. of Caithness for the very brief space of 10-15 secs. At
Edinburgh, about 11/12ths of the Sun's diameter was obscured. In the
Appendix to Pepys's _Diary_[97] there is a letter from Dr. Wallis
mentioning that his daughter's attention was called to it by noticing
"the light of the Sun look somewhat dim" at about 9 a.m., whilst she
was writing a letter, she knowing nothing of the eclipse.
An eclipse of the Sun occurred on May 12, 1706, which was visible as a
partial eclipse in England and was total on the Continent, especially in
Switzerland. A certain Captain Stannyan who made observations at Berne,
writes thus to Flamsteed[98]:--"That the Sun was totally darkened there
for four and a half minutes of time; that a fixed star and a planet
appeared very bright; _and that his getting out of his eclipse was
preceded by a blood-red streak of light from its left limb, which
continued not longer than six or seven seconds of time_; then part of
the Sun's disc appeared all of a sudden as bright as Venus was ever seen
in the night; nay, brighter; and in that very instant gave a light and
shadow to things as strong as the Moon uses to do."
On this communication Flamsteed remarks:--"The Captain is the first man I
ever heard of that took notice of a red streak preceding the emersion of
the Sun's body from a total eclipse, and I take notice of it to you [the
Royal Society], because it infers that the Moon has an atmosphere; and
its short continuance, if only six or seven seconds' time, tells us that
its height was not more than five or six hundredths part of her
diameter."
On the whole, perhaps, the most celebrated eclipse of the Sun ever
recorded in England was that of May 3, 1715. The line of totality passed
right across England from Cornwall to Norfolk, and the phenomenon was
carefully observed and described by the most experienced astronomer of
the time, Dr. Edmund Halley. The line of totality passed over London
amongst other places, and as the maximum phase took place soon after 9
a.m. on a fine spring morning, the inhabitants of the Metropolis saw a
sight which their successors will not see again till many generations
have come and gone. Halley has left behind him an exceedingly
interesting account of this event, some allusions to which have already
been made.
He seems to have seen what we call the Corona, described by him however
as a "luminous ring," "of a pale whiteness, or rather pearl colour, a
little tinged with the colours of the Iris, and concentric with the
Moon." He speaks also of a dusky but strong red light which seemed to
colour the dark edge of the Moon just before the Sun emerged from
totality. Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, and the stars Capella and Aldebaran
were seen in London, whilst N. of London, more directly under the
central line, as many as twenty stars were seen.
The inhabitants of England who lived in the reign of George I. were
singularly fortunate in their chances of seeing total eclipses of the
Sun, for only nine years after[99] the one just described, namely, on
May 22, 1724, another total eclipse occurred. The central line crossed
some of the southern countries, and the phenomenon was well seen and
reported on by Dr. Stukeley,[100] who stationed himself on Haraden Hill,
near Salisbury. The Doctor says of the darkness that he seemed to "feel
it, as it were, drop upon us ... like a great dark mantle," and that
during the totality the spectacle presented to his view "was beyond all
that he had ever seen or could picture to his imagination the most
solemn." He could with difficulty discern the faces of his companions
which had a ghastly startling appearance. When the totality was ending
there appeared a small lucid spot, and from it ran a rim of faint
brightness. In about 3½ minutes from this appearance the hill-tops
changed from black to blue, the horizon gave out the grey streaks
previous to morning dawn, and the birds sprang joyously into the air.
This eclipse seems to have had royal observers. It was watched at
Kensington apparently by the King or some of the royal family of
England, and at Trianon (Paris) by the King of France,[101] under the
competent guidance of Maraldi, Cassini and De Louville. It was the last
which was visible as a total one in any part of England.
On May 2, 1733, there was an eclipse of the Sun, which was total in
Sweden and partial in England. In Sweden the total obscuration lasted
more than 3 minutes. Jupiter, the stars in Ursa Major, Capella, and
several other stars were visible to the naked eye, as also was a
luminous ring round the Sun. Three or four spots of reddish colour were
also perceived near the limb of the Moon, but not in immediate contact
with it. These so-called red "spots" were doubtless the Red Flames of
the present century, and the luminous ring the Corona.
On March 1, 1737, a good annular eclipse was observed at Edinburgh by
Maclaurin.[102] In his account he says:--"A little before the annulus was
complete a remarkable point or speck of pale light appeared near the
middle of the part of the Moon's circumference that was not yet come
upon the disc of the Sun.... During the appearance of the annulus the
direct light of the Sun was still very considerable, but the places that
were shaded from his light appeared gloomy. There was a dusk in the
atmosphere, especially towards the N. and E. In those chambers which had
not their lights westwards the obscurity was considerable. Venus
appeared plainly, and continued visible long after the annulus was
dissolved, and I am told that other stars were seen by some." Lord
Aberdour mentions a narrow streak of dusky red light on the dark edge of
the Moon immediately before the ring was completed, and after it was
dissolved. No doubt this is a record of the "Red Flames."
In 1748 Scotland was again favoured with a central eclipse, but it was
only annular. The Earl of Morton[103] and James Short, the optician, who
observed the phenomenon at Aberdour Castle, 10 miles N.-W. of Edinburgh,
just outside the line of annularity, saw a brown coloured light
stretching along the circumference of the Moon from each of the cusps.
A "star" (probably the planet Venus) was seen to the E. of the Sun.
The annular eclipse of April 1, 1764, visible as such in North Kent, was
the subject of the following quaint letter by the Rev. Dr. Stukeley:--
"To the Printer of _Whitehall Evening Post_,--
"In regard to the approaching solar eclipse of Sunday, April 1, I
think it advisable to remark that, it happening in the time of
divine service, it is desired you would insert this caution in your
public paper. The eclipse begins soon after 9, the middle a little
before 11, the end a little after 12. There will be no total
darkness in the very middle, observable in this metropolis, but as
people's curiositys will not be over with the middle of the
eclipse, if the church service be ordered to begin a little before
12, it will properly be morning prayer, and an uniformity preserved
in our duty to the Supreme Being, the author of these amazing
celestial movements,--
Yours,
RECTOR OF ST. GEO., Q.S."[104]
The year 1766 furnishes the somewhat rare case of a total eclipse of the
Sun observed on board ship on the high seas. The observers were officers
of the French man-of-war the _Comte d'Artois_. Though the total
obscuration lasted only 53 secs., there was seen a luminous ring about
the Moon which had four remarkable expansions, situate at a distance of
90° from each other.[105] These expansions are doubtless those rays
which we now speak of as "streamers" from the Corona.
Curiously enough the next important total eclipse deserving of notice
was also observed at sea. This was the eclipse of June 24, 1778. The
observer was the Spanish Admiral, Don Antonio Ulloa, who was passing
from the Azores to Cape St. Vincent. The total obscuration lasted 4
minutes. The luminous ring presented a very beautiful appearance: out of
it there issued forth rays of light which reached to the distance of a
diameter of the Moon. Before it became very conspicuous stars of the 1st
and 2nd magnitudes were distinctly visible, but when it attained its
greatest brilliancy, only stars of the 1st magnitude could be perceived.
"The darkness was such that persons who were asleep and happened to
wake, thought that they had slept the whole evening and only waked when
the night was pretty far advanced. The fowls, birds, and other animals
on board took their usual position for sleeping, as if it had been
night."[106]
On Sept. 5, 1793, there happened an eclipse which, annular to the N. of
Scotland, was seen and observed in England by Sir W. Herschel[107] as a
partial eclipse. He made some important observations on the Moon on this
occasion measuring the height of several of the lunar mountains.
Considerations respecting the shape of one of the Moon's horns led him
to form an opinion adverse to the idea that there the Moon had an
atmosphere.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 79: _Historiarum Sui Temporis_, Lib. iv., cap. 9.]
[Footnote 80: _Historia Novella_, Lib. i., sec. 8.]
[Footnote 81: _Norman Conquest_, vol. v. p. 239.]
[Footnote 82: _Historia Novella_, Lib. ii., sec. 35.]
[Footnote 83: Letter in the _Times_, July 28, 1871.]
[Footnote 84: Rogerus de Wendover, _Flores Historiarum_, vol. ii. p.
535, Bohn's ed.]
[Footnote 85: _Sugli Eclissi Solari Totali del 3 Giugno 1239, e del
6 Ottobre 1241_ in the _Memorie del R. Istituto Lombardo di Scienze
e Littere_, vol. xiii. p. 275.]
[Footnote 86: _Historia Coelestis_, vol. i. p. 38.]
[Footnote 87: _Hist. Engl._, vol. iii. chap. xviii. p. 50, 4to. ed.]
[Footnote 88: _Phil. Trans._, vol. xl. p. 194, 1737.]
[Footnote 89: _Astronomiæ Pars Optica_, c. viii. sec. 3; _Opera
Omnia_, vol. ii. p. 315. Ed. Frisch, 1859.]
[Footnote 90: Quoted by Kepler, as above, at p. 315.]
[Footnote 91: _Commentarius in Sacroboscum_, cap. iv.; quoted in
Kepler's _Astronomiæ Pars Optica_, c. viii. sec. 3; _Opera Omnia_,
vol ii. p. 316. Ed. Frisch, 1859.]
[Footnote 92: _Phil. Trans._, vol. xl. p. 193; 1737.]
[Footnote 93: _De Stellâ Novâ in Pede Serpentarii_, p. 115; Pragæ,
1606.]
[Footnote 94: _Phil. Trans._, vol. xl. p. 193; 1737.]
[Footnote 95: V. Wing, _Astronomia Britannica_, p. 355.]
[Footnote 96: _Historia Coelestis_, vol. i. pp. 7 and 21.]
[Footnote 97: _Diary of Samuel Pepys_, vol. vi. p. 208; Ed. M.
Bright, 1879.]
[Footnote 98: _Phil. Trans._, vol. xxv. p. 2240; 1706.]
[Footnote 99: Being half a _Saros_ period (see p. 20, _ante_).]
[Footnote 100: _Itinerarium Curiosum_, 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 180.]
[Footnote 101: _Mem. de Mathématique et de Physique de l'Acad. des
Sciences_, 1724, p. 259.]
[Footnote 102: _Phil. Trans._, vol. xl. pp. 181, 184. 1737.]
[Footnote 103: _Phil. Trans._, vol. xlv. p. 586. 1750. This is the
man who under the designation of "Lord Aberdour" observed the
eclipse of 1737 (_ante_).]
[Footnote 104: Rev. W. Stukeley, Rector of St. George's, Queen's
Square, London, _Diary_, vol. xx. p. 44, ed. "Surtees Soc.," vol.
lxxvi. p. 384.]
[Footnote 105: Le Gentil, _Voyage dans les Mers de l'Inde_, vol. ii.
p. 16. Paris, 1769.]
[Footnote 106: _Phil. Trans._, vol. lxix. p. 105. 1779.]
[Footnote 107: _Phil. Trans._, vol. lxxxiv. p. 39. 1794.]