This is a list of selected solar eclipses in the Middle Ages, in particular those with historical significance.
| Date of eclipse | 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 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] | |
| May 1, 1185 | - | 13:18 | - | total | 05m10s | Central America, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Kazakhstan | Mentioned in the epic poem about Igor Svyatoslavich's army campaign against the Polovtsians.[12] Also recorded in the Laurentian Codex; the description there is the first record of solar prominences.[13] | |
| 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.[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] | |
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 | |
| 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 | |
| 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 | align=left | August 463 | ||
| 6th | 251 | 93 | 87 | 65 | 6 | 10m41s | 22 November 504 | align=left | August 528, July 539, May 542 | ||
| 7th | 251 | 90 | 90 | 67 | 4 | 10m31s | 17 December 689 | align=left | April 618, March 629 | ||
| 8th | 233 | 77 | 88 | 66 | 2 | 10m35s | 18 December 716 | align=left | |||
| 9th | 222 | 78 | 74 | 64 | 6 | 08m35s | 21 December 884 | align=left | |||
| 10th | 227 | 76 | 84 | 66 | 1 | 10m14s | 1 November 989 | align=left | |||
| 11th | 241 | 84 | 90 | 61 | 6 | 11m29s | 14 December 1061 | align=left | May 1063 | ||
| 12th | 250 | 92 | 82 | 61 | 15 | 10m27s | 16 January 1116 | align=left | March 1150 | ||
| 13th | 246 | 87 | 81 | 60 | 18 | 11m44s | 29 December 1274 | align=left | March 1215 | ||
| 14th | 229 | 76 | 75 | 54 | 24 | 11m18s | 20 January 1311 | align=left | |||
| 15th | 222 | 77 | 65 | 61 | 19 | 09m31s | 1 December 1415 | align=left | |||