When Belinda Crawford of Kilkerrin, County Galway, Ireland, died in 1812 at the age of 115 with her mind still sound, she was a local celebrity. The outstanding memory from everything she had lived through was the total eclipse of the Sun she witnessed as a teenager on 22 April 1715 under the Julian calendar.
A Galway scribe recorded it as “the day of the total eclipse of the sun; an event so memorable in the annals of those times on account of the great darkness which prevailed, as never to be forgotten by those who witnessed the phenomena.”
Hanged for losing the sun
The earliest recorded solar eclipse appears in the ancient Chinese text Shou-Ching (or Chou-King). The relevant passage translates as: “On the first day of the last month of autumn, the Sun and Moon did not meet harmoniously in Fang.” Astronomers and historians long debated whether this referred to an event in 2136 B.C. or 2128 B.C. “Fang” denotes a specific region of the sky bounded by the stars Beta (β), Delta (δ), Pi (π), and Rho (ρ) in Scorpius, along with fainter stars in Libra, Ophiuchus, and Lupus. The eclipse occurred during the reign of Chung-K’ang, fourth emperor of the Hsia Dynasty. Two royal astrologers, Hsi (or Hi) and Ho, failed to perform the customary rites—shooting arrows and beating drums and gongs, to “deliver” the Sun from the monster thought to be devouring it. They were reportedly drunk. The court, believing the gods angry, put them to death. The eclipse was only partial, not total. An anonymous verse later remarked:
Here lie the bodies of Ho and Hi,
Whose fate, though sad, was risible.
Being hanged because they could not spy
The eclipse, which was invisible.
Modern calculations place the event on 22 October 2137 BC Uncertainty of about 108 years in the date of Chung-K’ang’s accession had produced 14 candidate years with an eclipse in Fang; researchers narrowed these by determining which could have been visible from the emperor’s capital.
China also supplies the second-earliest known solar eclipse record. Confucius relates one during the reign of Emperor Yew-Wang (781–771 BC, most likely the eclipse of 4 June 780 BC In the Chūnqiū (Spring and Autumn Annals), Confucius records 36 solar eclipses observed in China, the first on 22 February 720 BC and the last on 22 July 495 BC John Williams of the Royal Astronomical Society presented a paper on these accounts in 1863; the entries are typically brief, for example noting an eclipse in the 58th year of the 32nd cycle (720 BC.
Another Chinese compilation, the Tsze che tung kēen kang muh (Abridgement of the Mirror of History), first published in 1473, summarises Chinese history to 1368 and includes brief notices of solar eclipses, bright meteors, meteor showers, and comets, though none of lunar eclipses. Ancient Chinese chroniclers were especially thorough in recording celestial events, though eclipses were observed worldwide.
The Greek for eclipse
In classical Greece, historians began recording eclipses from the sixth century BC Plutarch, in his Life of Romulus, describes a sudden darkness and storms at the legendary figure’s death; an annular eclipse occurred near the traditional date in 716 BC (10 December), with Greece experiencing about one-third coverage while the path of annularity crossed northern Africa. The lyric poet Archilochus (c. 680–c. 645 BC wrote of Zeus turning midday into night; this almost certainly refers to the total eclipse of 6 April 648BC., which brought nearly five minutes of totality to southern Greece around 10 am.
The total solar eclipse of 28 May 585 BC is said to have helped end a war between the Lydians and the Medes. Herodotus records that Thales of Miletus predicted it for the year in which it occurred. When day turned to night during battle, the combatants ceased fighting and concluded peace, sealed by marriages. George Biddell Airy, seventh Astronomer Royal, confirmed the date after exhaustive study and argued that Thales could have predicted it via the Saros cycle of roughly 18 years, 10 days, and 8 hours, using the morning eclipse of 17 May 603 BC to forecast the evening event of 585BC.Nearly a century later, after the Battle of Thermopylae, the Spartan commander Cleombrotus was consulting the oracle when “the Sun was suddenly darkened in mid-sky.”
The partial eclipse of 2 October 480 BC (about 60pccoverage near midday) so frightened him that he returned home with his forces. During the first year of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides describes a solar eclipse after midday in which the Sun assumed a crescent form and some stars shone out—recognized as the eclipse of 3 August 431BC., more than 80pccoverage from Greece, with Venus and Jupiter likely the “stars.” The Athenian sailors were terrified, but Pericles calmed the pilot by covering the man’s eyes with his cloak and asking whether that darkness was a bad omen; when the pilot said no, Pericles replied that the eclipse differed only in that something larger than his cloak caused it.
Nineteenth-century astronomers valued these ancient accounts for refining the Moon’s orbital motion, yet Simon Newcomb warned in 1875 against over-reliance: many descriptions are vague, may refer to less rare phenomena, and often lack precise locality or confirmation that the eclipse was total.
On 24 November 29 AD occurred the so-called “eclipse of Phlegon, Origen recorded Phlegon’s account of “the greatest eclipse of the sun” at the sixth hour, with stars appearing, accompanied by an earthquake in Bithynia. This was the only solar eclipse visible from Jerusalem during the years usually assigned to Christ’s public ministry; it has sometimes been linked to the darkness at the Crucifixion, though coverage at Jerusalem was only about 80pcand the traditional Crucifixion date of 3 April 33 AD fell at Full Moon (a lunar eclipse whose umbra had already left the Moon before moonrise at Jerusalem).
The total solar eclipse of 20 March 71 AD is notable because Plutarch, in De Facie in Orbe Lunae, became the first to describe the solar corona: “Even if the moon, however, does sometimes cover the sun entirely, the eclipse does not have duration or extension; but a kind of light is visible about the rim which keeps the shadow from being profound and absolute.
For the next thousand years the quality of surviving reports generally declined. Ecclesiastical historians and monks provided meager descriptions. Julius Capitolinus described the total eclipse of 12 April 237 as so great “that people thought it was night, and nothing could be done without lights”; totality passed just north of Italy, lasting about 3 minutes 8 seconds near modern Zurich. Julius Firmicus Maternus gave the earliest description of a solar prominence during the eclipse of 17 July 334 (observed from Sicily), though the event was annular rather than total.
The total eclipse of 19 July 418, whose path crossed Spain, Italy (about 3½ minutes near Rome), Turkey, Iran, and India, is memorable for the first recorded sighting of a comet during totality. Philostorgius described a cone-shaped light visible with the eclipsed Sun; Chinese records confirm a bright comet that year with a tail exceeding 100°.
Eclipses in the Irish annals
Eclipses have long held importance in Irish history. recurring in the ancient literature. the word The word úrdhúbhadh (or uirdhiughadh / ur-dhubhadh), comes from the intensifying prefix ur- (“very/complete”) combined with dubhadh (“a darkening” or “blackening”) from dubh (“black/dark”), it literally translates to a “great darkening” or “complete blacking out.
In Ireland’s heroic literature, the tragic death of Conchobar mac Nessa, King of Ulster he legendary phenomenon of a sudden darkness or eclipse coinciding with the crucifixion of Christ (Aided Chonchobuir) is found in several mansucripts including the Book of Leinster, the Yellow Book of Lecan, and a 15th-century manuscript in Scortland.
F. J. O’Connor’s “Solar Eclipses Visible in Ireland,” published in the Royal Irish Academy Journal in 1952, extracted details from the annals. These records helped authenticate and place Irish chronology in a broader European context. Among the events noted are:
- c. 3340 BC (Loughcrew Carvings): The theory goes that abstract stone carvings inside the passage tomb of Cairn L record a near-total solar eclipse that calculations suggest occurred on November 30, 3340 BC. If correct, it represents the oldest known depiction of a solar eclipse in human history.
- 23 July 594 (Total): Recorded in the Annals of Inisfallen as “an eclipse of the Sun in the morning.” This ranks among Ireland’s earliest written accounts of a solar eclipse. Totality lasted just over 3 minutes in the central part of the track which passed from Galway across the midlands to Belfast and on to Scotland.
- 2 August 612 (Annular): Noted indirectly in ancient texts by the report that “a star was seen at the eighth hour of the day,” indicating the sky grew dark enough for stars to become visible in daytime.
- 624/5 (21 June 624 or 10 June 625): Eclipse of the Sun listed in the Irish annals; exact year remains slightly uncertain between the two dates.
- 1 May 664 (Annular): Annals of Ulster recorded “darkness on the Kalends of May” occurring in the late afternoon.
- 688 (Annular): Partial eclipse of the Sun noted in the historical record.
- 9 January 753 (Annular): Eclipse of the Sun recorded in the annals.
- 4 June 763 (Annular): Eclipse of the Sun documented in the Annals of Ulster.
- 1 January 865 (Total): Short total eclipse across the north of Ireland and Scotland, lasting only a little over 20 seconds.
- 29 October 878 (Total): A major eclipse observed across northern parts of Ireland; the Moon’s shadow produced a sudden dark morning. The maximum duration was just under 2 minutes.
- 16 June 885: (Annular): Unusually long total eclipse noted in the records. totality lasted 4 minutes and 53 seconds, and reached 5 minutes at the point of greatest eclipse in Scandinavia.
- 17 June 912 (Annular): Eclipse of the Sun recorded.
- 24 January 1023 (Total): Centred over the Irish Sea. Totality was visible in eastern Ireland,
- 31 August 1030 (Total)::Eclipse of the Sun recorded.
- February 25, 1039 (Annular): Eclipse of the Sun mentioned in the Annals of Inisfallen.
- 2 August 1133 (Total): Known as King Henry’s Eclipse, this historic event brought sudden darkness across England right as King Henry I left for Normandy, famously described as “miserabilis, horribilis, nigra, mirabilis“: “wretched, horrifying, black, remarkable. In Germany, the eclipse was regarded to predict the sacking of the city of Augsburg and the massacre of its inhabitants by Duke Frederick. A comparatively long total eclipse had a duration at the greatest eclipse of 4 minutes and 38 seconds.
- 20 March 1140 (Total): The track passed right through the English Channel. Historical books report that people needed candles to eat their lunch.
- 1 May 1185 (Total): This long eclipse was mostly visible across northern Scotland.
- 23 June 1191 (Annular): This eclipse created a “ring of fire” over Ireland and the English Midlands. Stars were visible in the morning sky.
- 28 February 1246 (Annular): A ring of fire eclipse that passed over parts of the island.
- 16 July 1290 (Annular): This path traveled directly across southern Ireland and was visible in Dublin.
- 6 December 1310 (Annular): Another late-medieval ring of fire visible from London and the surrounding areas.
- 27 January 1327 (Total): A winter total eclipse that briefly turned day into night across Britain.
- 16 June 1330 (Total): A summer total eclipse with a path tracking across portions of the landmass.
- 4 September 1409 (Annular): The path of this ring eclipse moved across southeastern England and was partially visible from Ireland.
- 17 June 1433 (Total): Known as Black Hour, this long total eclipse passed over Scotland, the Borders, and the Yorkshire coast.
- 16 March 1485 (Total): This total eclipse darkened British skies the same year the famous Battle of Bosworth took place.
- 25 February 1547 (Annular): A notable ring of fire eclipse passing directly over London.
- 10 July 1588 (Total): A total eclipse that occurred right during the historical tense summer of the Spanish Armada.
- 25 February 1598 (Total): Famously called Black Saturday, this total eclipse left a lasting impression on locals due to the sudden, eerie daytime darkness.
- 29 March 1652 (“Mirk Monday”): A total solar eclipse that brought widespread awe and deep darkness across Ireland and Scotland; remembered in popular tradition as “Mirk Monday.”
- 23 September 1699 (Total): A narrow total eclipse path touched the very far north of Scotland.
- 29 March 1652: Known historically as “Mirk Monday,” this total eclipse caused widespread awe and darkness across Ireland and Scotland.
- 3 May 1715 (Total): The eclipse Belinda Crawford remembered, one of the first to be widely publicissd in advance, in London official circles i was nicknamed Halley’s Eclipse, after Edmond Halley (1656–1742) who predicted its arrival within 4 minutes accuracy. Large crowds turned out in to watch it in Dublin. The weather was exceptionally cold, and Judge judge Joseph Deane, ancestor of the Bourkes of Palmerstown House in Naas, caught a fatal chill as a result
- 22 May 1724 (Total): The last total solar eclipse to cover the Sun completely over the island of Ireland. The centre of totality passed over Galway, before passing on to South Wales and Devon in the west, and as far east as Hampshire and Sussex, crossing Paris and Switzerland, and ended near Santa Maria di Sala in the province of Venice.
- 11 August 1999 (Annular): A famous eclipse where up to 95pc of the Sun was covered in Ireland. It caused noticeable twilight conditions and dropped the temperature mid-morning.
- 20 March 2015 (Annular): An “almost total” eclipse where over 90pc of the Sun was obscured. Despite heavy Irish cloud cover, thousands gathered to watch the morning sky turn dark.
- 12 August 2026:(Annular): A massive partial eclipse where the Moon covered up to 98pc of the Sun, making it the deepest solar eclipse visible in Irish skies since 1999.
Back hour & Mirk Monday
Records from abroad include the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle for an eclipse “14 days before the Calends of March from early morning till 9 AM.” (sixth century); although total elsewhere, coverage at London was only about 60 percent. One of the most celebrated medieval eclipses was that of 2 August 1133, nearly 4½ minutes of totality in Scotland. William of Malmesbury linked it to Henry I’s departure for Normandy, and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (wrongly dating it 1135) associated the darkness with the king’s death two years later.
Scotland later nicknamed the total eclipse of 17 June 1433 the “Black Hour” (totality lasting more than 4 minutes 20 seconds). Later Scottish events were called “Black Saturday” (7 March 1598) and “Mirk Monday” (8 April 1652). T
In 1544 a hybrid eclipse (totality only 16.3 seconds) was observed by Gemma Frisius at Louvain; he published one of the first illustrations of a camera obscura projecting a solar image. Johannes Kepler later used a camera obscura for the partial eclipse of 10 July 1600 at Graz. he English phrase solar eclipse was first used in 1602 when it appeared in the writings of the English author and translator Thomas Blundeville
Henry Stannyan’s report of the total eclipse of 12 May 1706 from Berne mentioned a blood-red streak preceding the sun’s reappearance; John Flamsteed wrongly inferred from this that the Moon possessed a substantial atmosphere. The total eclipse of 22 May 1724, observed by José Joaquín de Ferrer from Kinderhook, New York, led him to name the outer solar atmosphere the “corona” (Latin for “crown”) and correctly to attribute it to the Sun rather than the Moon.
Two 18th-century eclipses were observed at sea: 9 February 1766 (53 seconds of totality in the Indian Ocean from the French ship Comte d’Artois) and 24 June 1778 (4 minutes of totality observed by Spanish Admiral Don Antonio Ulloa between the Azores and Cape St. Vincent). The latter was also the first total solar eclipse visible in the newly independent United States (up to more than 5 minutes in parts of the southern states).
1851: The birth of the eclipse expedition
The 19th century brought systematic scientific observation. The total eclipse of 16 June 1806, visible across a wide swath of the United States, profoundly affected American astronomers such as William Cranch Bond. The annular eclipse of 15 May 1836 allowed Francis Baily to explain the beads of sunlight caused by the Moon’s irregular limb; the phenomenon is still called Baily’s beads. François Arago’s vivid description of the crowd’s reaction at that eclipse remains a classic account of public response.
The total eclipse of 28 July 1851 was the first subject of organised “eclipse expeditions”; a photographer named Berkowski obtained the first successful daguerreotype of totality. During the total eclipse of 18 August 1868, Pierre Jules César Janssen and J. Norman Lockyer independently discovered the spectral line of helium. High-altitude observations during the eclipse of 29 July 1878 demonstrated the advantages of clear mountain air. A comet was photographed within the corona on 17 May 1882. Dmitri Mendeleev observed the corona from a balloon during the largely clouded eclipse of 19 August 1887.
The total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919, with totality lasting up to 6 minutes 51 seconds across South America and Africa, provided the decisive test of Einstein’s general theory of relativity. Expeditions led by Arthur Eddington (to Príncipe) and others (to Sobral, Brazil) measured the deflection of starlight near the Sun; the results matched Einstein’s prediction of 1.75″ and established his theory.
Mabel Loomis Todd’s Corona and Coronet (1898) contains one of the most evocative descriptions of totality, drawn from the Amherst expedition to Japan for the eclipse of 9 August 1896. Despite clouds that reduced scientific value, she recorded the sudden darkness, the out-flashing corona, the 360° sunset colors, the silence of nature, and the profound emotional impact of those brief minutes.
