Sarah Gibbard Cook
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The Day the World Grew Dark

8/21/2017

5 Comments

 
Four minutes and thirty-eight seconds of total darkness on August 2, 1133 (Julian calendar), portended catastrophe: the death of King Henry I of England, followed by years of civil war, and Duke Frederick’s burning of Augsburg in Germany. In honor of today’s eclipse, I hope you’ll enjoy five chroniclers’ accounts:

“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 were affrighted.”
  • The Anglo Saxon Chronicle
“The elements manifested their sorrow at this great man’s 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.”
  • William of Malmesbury, Historia Novella, Lib. I sec.8
“Eventually the whole sky was dark like night, and stars were seen over almost the whole sky. At length the Sun, emerging from the darkness, appeared like a star, afterwards in the form of a new Moon; finally it assumed its original form.”
  • Honorii Augustodensis: Summa Totius et Imagine Mundi (Augsburg)
“[T]he Sun in a single moment became as black as pitch, day was turned into night, very many stars were seen, objects on the ground appeared as they usually do at night.”
  • Notae Halesbrunnenses (Heilsbronn)
“Very many stars were seen near the Sun; the hearts of many were transfixed, despairing of the light. The Sun, as if it did not exist was entirely concealed; for about half an hour it was like night. The face of the world was sad, terrible, black, wonderful.”
  • Chronicon Magni Presbyterii

Extracts are from David Le Conte at MrEclipse.com. He credits the first two quotes to UK Solar Eclipses from Year 1 by Sheridan Williams, Clock Tower Press, 1996, and the last three to Historical Eclipses and Earth's Rotation by F. Richard Stephenson, Cambridge University Press, 1997 (pages 392-393).
5 Comments
Lisa Imhoff
8/21/2017 09:42:48 am

Not quite so historically interesting, but one of my third great-grandmothers died in Sweden on the day of a total eclipse. My cousin, Denny, found her death notice in the church books and translated it as follows (btw, 15 children in Sweden was VERY unusual):

"Wife Lena Lisa Magnusdotter in Pukarp (name of farm). She was at birth so feeble that she got emergency baptism. Became married when she was 15 years, 6 months, and 15 days. Had 19 pregnancies, of which 15 children were born alive and healthy, of which 11 at her death were living. She had 7 grandchildren, of which 3 were living.
Her death occurred before noon the same day that there was a total eclipse of the sun. At 7 AM she went well from her dwelling with her youngest child in her arms to her daughter on the farm. Had a conversation with a woman who told her about an expected solar eclipse - she then fell down numb and got convulsions, as well as became at once speechless. She embraced her husband and squeezed his hand in her last moments; then he asked her why she could not say a single word to him. She died at 10 AM."

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Sarah link
8/21/2017 11:39:21 am

Definitely historically interesting! Especially as hearing of the eclipse precipitated her sudden collapse (stroke?) - makes me wonder if she or others around her associated eclipse with catastrophe. Do we know the date? The web page my blog links to may have a chronicler's account of that eclipse.

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Lisa Imhoff
8/21/2017 12:02:18 pm

Sarah, the date was July 28, 1851. I suppose you could read into this that the news of the eclipse caused her apparent stroke, but perhaps she was just plumb wore out, 19 pregnancies, 48 years old, her 10-month-old son on her hip... and it was a coincidence. But I surely love these details. Certainly I was surprised to find out that someone in this very rural area knew the eclipse was going to occur that day, and certainly I think that they were more superstitious about these things and she may well have been very frightened when she heard the news. It would be a fun story to write up. Maybe write up two or three different versions of how it may have happened, kind of like in the movie, Groundhog Day.

Our horoscope is for greatly increased creativity in communication in the upcoming weeks and months following this eclipse. Hmmmm... :) This could be fun!

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Lisa
8/21/2017 12:04:34 pm

Yes! See section 4!

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Sarah link
8/23/2017 08:28:24 am

Lisa, the 1851 accounts are interesting and complex. Unlike the medieval chroniclers, those in the 19th century clearly knew in advance the eclipse was coming (as you say) and knew what was happening. Yet superstition was still there - no pregnant woman dared to leave her room during the eclipse.

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    I'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin. 

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