ve so greatly frightened Louis Le Debonnaire
(Charlemagne's son) that it contributed to his death. The Emperor was
taken ill at Worms, and having been removed to Ingelheim, an island in
the Rhine, near Mayence, died there on June 20. Hind[75] found that this
was a total eclipse, and that the northern limit of totality passed
about 100 miles south of Worms. The middle of the eclipse occurred at
1h. 15m. p.m. with the Sun at an altitude of 57 deg.. The duration of the
eclipse was unusually long, namely about 51/2 minutes. With the Sun so
high and the obscuration lasting so long, this eclipse must have been
an unusually imposing one, and well calculated to inspire special alarm.
On Oct. 29, 878, in the reign of King Alfred, there was a total eclipse
visible at London. The mention of it in the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ is
as follows:--"The Sun was eclipsed at 1 hour of the day." No month is
given, and the year is said to have been 879, which is undoubtedly
wrong. Hind found that the central line of the eclipse passed about 20
miles N. of London, and that the totality lasted 1m. 51s. Tycho Brahe in
his _Historia Coelestis_ quotes from the _Annales Fuldenses_ a statement
that the Sun was so much darkened after the 9th hour that the stars
appeared in the heavens.
Thorpe in his edition of the _Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_ quotes from Mr.
Richard Price a note which assigns the date of March 14, 880, to this
eclipse, and cites in confirmation a passage from the _Chronicle of
Florence of Worcester_, anno 879. The 880 eclipse is mentioned by Asser
in his _De Vita et Rebus gestis Alfredi_ in the words following:--"In the
same year [879] an eclipse of the Sun took place between three o'clock
and the evening, but nearer three o'clock." The confusion of dates is
remarkable.
In the _Chronicon Scotorum_, under the date of 885, we find:--"An eclipse
of the Sun; and stars were seen in the heavens." The reference appears
to be to the total eclipse of June 16, A.D. 885. The totality lasted
more than four minutes, and as the stars are said to have been visible
in the North of Ireland, doubtless that part of Ireland came within the
eclipse limits.
On Dec. 22, 968, there was an eclipse of the Sun, which was almost total
at London at about 8h. 33m. a.m., or soon after sunrise. The central
line passed across the S.-W. of England, and thence through France to
the Mediterranean. One Leon, a deacon at Corfu, observed this eclipse,
and has left behin
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