The solar eclipse of 2 August 1133, also known as King Henry's Eclipse, was a total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of the Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs during an eclipse season, approximately every six month ...

visible in North America, northwestern, central and southeastern Europe and the Middle East. The eclipse is number 43 in the Solar Saros 102 series.

Eclipse path and details

The instant of the greatest eclipse took place at 12:24:22

terrestrial dynamical time Terrestrial Time (TT) is a modern astronomical time standard defined by the International Astronomical Union, primarily for time-measurements of astronomical observations made from the surface of Earth. For example, the Astronomical Almanac uses T ...

(TD), which corresponds to 12:08:36 universal time (UT1). This was exactly one day after the Moon reached

perigee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ellip ...

. The Sun was during the eclipse in the constellation Leo. The synodic month in which the eclipse took place had a

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model used ...

Lunation Number of -9763. The solar eclipse of 2 August 1133 was a comparatively long total eclipse with a duration at the greatest eclipse of 4 minutes and 38 seconds. Its eclipse magnitude was 1.0652. It is notable by having led to a deceleration of the earth's angular velocity.

Public reception and coverage by literature

Like many other eclipses, the solar eclipse of 2 August 1133 was considered a bad omen. This perception was underscored by the fact that it coincided with the final departure of

King Henry I of England Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

, shortly before the country was thrown into chaos and civil war. It was described by

William of Malmesbury William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as "a ...

. According to him, the “hideous darkness agitated the hearts of men.” In Germany, the eclipse was regarded to predict the sacking of the city of

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

and the massacre of its inhabitants by Duke Frederick. The eclipse is mentioned in the

Peterborough Chronicle The ''Peterborough Chronicle'' (also called the Laud manuscript and the E manuscript) is a version of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicles'' originally maintained by the monks of Peterborough Abbey in Cambridgeshire. It contains unique information abo ...

, the ''Annales Halesbrunnenses'', two of

Cosmas's continuators Cosmas's continuators ( cz, pokračovatelé Kosmovi) were various Bohemian authors who wrote continuations in Latin of the ''Chronica Boemorum'' of Cosmas of Prague, which ends with Cosmas's death in 1125. They primarily wrote annals rather than tr ...

(the canon of

Vyšehrad Vyšehrad (Czech for "upper castle") is a historic fort in Prague, Czech Republic, just over 3 km southeast of Prague Castle, on the east bank of the Vltava River. It was probably built in the 10th century. Inside the fort are the Basilica ...

and the monk of Sázava), the

Codex diplomaticus Falkensteinensis The Codex Falkensteinensis (also referred to as Codex diplomaticus Falkensteinensis or Liber traditionum comitatus Neuenburg-Falkenstein) is an important medieval manuscript. It was written in 1166 as a feud directory and urbarium by Canons of t ...

and the

Chronicon Scotorum ''Chronicon Scotorum'', also known as ''Chronicum Scotorum'', is a medieval Irish chronicle. Overview According to Nollaig Ó Muraíle, it is "a collection of annals belonging to the ' Clonmacnoise group', covering the period from prehistoric tim ...

., see p. 10.

References

Sources

# #

Citations

External links

NASA Eclipse Website
*
NASA Besselian Elements – Total Solar Eclipse of 1133 Aug 02
{{Solar eclipses 1133 8 2 1133 8 2 1133 8 2 1133