16 COSMOS. 



obscurations during which stars were partly visible, as in to« 

 tal solar eclipses. 



626 A.D. According also to Abu'l-Farag. {Hist. Dynast., p. 94, 99), 

 half of the Sun's disk continued obscured for ei^ht months. 



733 A.D. One year after the Arabs had been driven back across the 

 Pyrenees after the battle of Tours, the Sun was so much darkened 

 on the ]9tb of August as to excite universal terror. — Schnurrer, 

 Chron., theil i., p. 164. 



807 A.D. A Sun-spot was observed, which was believed to be the 

 planet Mercury. — Reuber, Vet. Script., p. 58 (see p. 70). 



840 A.D. From the 28th of May to the 26th of August (Assemani 

 singularly euougii gives the date of May, 839), the so-called transit 

 of Venus across the Sun's disk was observed. (See above, p. 73- 

 74.) The Calif Al-Motassem reigned from 834 to 841, when he was 

 succeeded by Harun-el-Vatek, the ninth Calif. 



934 A.D. In the valuable work Historia de Portugal, by Faria y 

 Souza, 1730, p. 147, I find the following passage: " En Portugal se 

 vio sin luz la tierra por dos meses. Avia el Sol perdido su splendor." 

 The Earth was without light for two months in 'Portugal, for the 

 Sun had lost its brightness. The heavens were then opened in fis- 

 sures " por fractura," by strong flashes of lightning, when there was 

 suddenly bright sun-light. 



1091 A.D. On the 21st of September, the Sun was darkened for three 

 hours, and when the obscuration had ceased, the Sun's disk still re 

 tained a peculiar color. "" Fuit eclipsis Solis, 11 Kal. Octob. fere tres 

 horas : Sol circa meridiem dire nigrescebat." — Martin Crusius, An- 

 nales Suevici, Francof., 1595, torn, i., p. 279 ; Schnurrer, th. i., p. 219, 



1096 A.D. Sun-spots were seen by the naked eye on the 3d of March. 

 '' Signum in Sole apparuit V., Nono Marcii feria secunda incipientis 

 quadragesimae. Joh. Staindelii, Presbyteri Pataviensis, Chronicon 

 Generate, in Oefelii Rerum Boicarum Scriptores, tom. i., 1763, p. 485. 



1206 A.D. On the last day of February there was, according to Joa- 

 quin de Villalba (Epidemiologia Espanola, Madr., 1803, tom. i., p. 

 30), complete darkness for six hours, turning the day into night. 

 This phenomenon was succeeded by long-continued and abundant 

 rains. " El dia ultimo del mes de Febrero hubo un eclipse de Sol 

 que dur6 seis horas con tanto obscuridad como si fuera media noche. 

 Siguieron k este fenomeno abundantes y contiuuas Uuvias." A very 

 similar phenomenon is recorded for June, 1191, by Schnurrer, th. i., 

 p. 258, 265. 



1241 A.D. Five months after the Mongolian battle at Liegnitz, the 

 Sun was darkened (in some places?), and such darkness caused that 

 the stars could be seen in the heavens at three o'clock on Michael- 

 mas day. " Obscuratus est Sol (in quibusdam locis?), et factae sunt 

 tenebrai, ita ut stella? viderentur in ccelo, circa festum S. Michaelis 

 hora nona." — Chronicon Claustro-Neoburgense (of the Monastery of 

 Neuberg, at Vienna : this chronicle comprises the annals of the pe- 

 riod from the year 218 A.D. to 1348) ; Pez, Scriptores Rerum Avs- 

 triacarum. Lips., 1721, tom. i., p. 458. 



1547 A.D. The 23d, 24th, and 25th of April, consequently the days 

 preceding and immediately succeeding the battle of Mtlhlbach, in 

 which the Elector John Frederick was taken prisoner. Kepler says 

 in Paralipom. ad Vitellium, quihus Astronomice pars Optica traditur, 

 16P4, p. 259, " The elder and younger Gemma record that in the year 



