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List of solar eclipses in the Middle Ages

This is a list of selected solar eclipses in the Middle Ages, in particular those with historical significance.

Historically significant solar eclipses

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Date of
eclipse		 Time (UTC) Type Central Duration Eclipse Path Notes
StartMidEnd
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 Muhammad[1]
July 5, 810 -- Probably observable only in the Southern Hemisphere[2] The solar eclipse of July 5 (sometimes erroneously reported as June 7),[3] 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.[4] Charlemagne had learned of the July 810 eclipse from a visiting bishop from Constantinople.[5] 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.[6]
November 30, 810 -12:02- total 01m08s Western Europe[7] 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.[8]
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, Poland Partially visible across Western Europe. Andrew of Wyntoun connected the eclipse with the assassination of Dub, King of Scotland.[9]
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[10] and the Codex diplomaticus Falkensteinensis.[11]
August 22, 1142 -20:14- total 03m36s North America Visible over Pre-Columbian New York, happened during the formation of the Iroquois confederacy.[12]
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.[13] Also recorded in the Laurentian Codex; the description there is the first record of solar prominences.[14]
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.[15]
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."[16]

Statistics

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Longest total eclipses

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Below is a list of all total eclipses longer than 7 minutes that occurred between the 5th and 15th centuries.

Date of eclipse Central Duration Reference
23 May 681 07m10s [17]
3 June 699 07m17s [17]
13 June 717 07m15s [18]
25 June 735 07m02s [18]
29 May 1044 07m12s [19]
9 June 1062 07m20s [19]
20 June 1080 07m18s [19]
1 July 1098 07m05s [19]


Solar eclipses by century

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Century No. Eclipse type Longest eclipse[a] Two-eclipse months[b] Ref.
Partial (P) Annular (A) Total (T) Hybrid (H) Length Date
5th233808467210m43s12 November 486 August 463[20]
6th251938765610m41s22 November 504 August 528, July 539, May 542[21]
7th251909067410m31s17 December 689 April 618, March 629[17]
8th233778866210m35s18 December 716 [18]
9th222787464608m35s21 December 884 [22]
10th227768466110m14s1 November 989 [23]
11th241849061611m29s14 December 1061 May 1063[19]
12th2509282611510m27s16 January 1116 March 1150[24]
13th2468781601811m44s29 December 1274 March 1215[25]
14th2297675542411m18s20 January 1311 [26]
15th2227765611909m31s1 December 1415 [27]
  1. ↑ All eclipses listed are annular. See § Longest total eclipses above for longest total eclipses
  2. ↑ Months listed in this column had two eclipses occur during that time period

References

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  1. ↑ Eclipse Wise
  2. ↑ Bruce S. Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens: Roman Astronomy and Cosmology in the Carolingian Renaissance (Brill, 2007), pp. 46-47
  3. ↑ Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens, pp. 46-47
  4. ↑ Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens, pp. 17, 31, 46-47, 175-76.
  5. ↑ Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens, pp. 46, 175-76.
  6. ↑ Eastwood, Ordering the Heavens, pp. 175.
  7. ↑ Frank Close, Eclipses: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2019), p. 106.
  8. ↑ Holmberg, Per; Gräslund, Bo; Sundqvist, Olof; Williams, Henrik (2020). "The Rök Runestone and the End of the World" (PDF). Futhark: International Journal of Runic Studies. 9–10: 7–38. doi:10.33063/diva-401040.
  9. ↑ Hudson, Benjamin T. (February 14, 1996). Prophecy of Berchán: Irish and Scottish High-kings of the Early Middle Ages. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 9780313295676 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ Stephenson, F.R. (1969). "The Date of the Book of Joel". Vetus Testamentum. 19 (2): 224–229. doi:10.2307/1516413. JSTOR 1516413.
  11. ↑ "The Codex Falkensteinensis (BayHStA KL Weyarn 1)". www.bayerische-landesbibliothek-online.de. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  12. ↑ McClure, Bruce (2019-07-15). "The eclipse that marked the start of the Iroquois Confederacy | Human World | EarthSky". earthsky.org. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑ "1185: The first description of solar prominences" (PDF). History of Solar Physics: A Time Line of Great Moments. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
  15. ↑ 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 ISBN 978-0-674-98662-6
  16. ↑ 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 ISBN 978-0-674-98662-6
  17. 1 2 3 "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0601 to 0700". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  18. 1 2 3 "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0701 to 0800". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 1001 to 1100". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  20. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0401 to 0500". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  21. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0501 to 0600". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  22. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0801 to 0900". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  23. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 0901 to 1000". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  24. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 1101 to 1200". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  25. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 1201 to 1300". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  26. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 1301 to 1400". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  27. ↑ "Catalog of Solar Eclipses: 1401 to 1500". NASA. Archived from the original on March 22, 2019. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
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