Tales Fron The Past

The eclipse of 1140

Iam writing on the day that the country experienced a partial eclipse when the Sun was blocked by about 40 per cent with the best sighting appearing in the far north of Scotland.

As it was a cloudy day in Leek it barely attracted much interest. It was a very different story on March 28, 1140 when the town was bang at the centre of a solar eclipse that passed through the area at just before 3pm. It lasted about five minutes.

It was a very turbulent time in English history which would have added to the unease of the people of Leek. It was a period called the “Anarchy ” when England was divided by civil war and local warlords took the opportunity to wreck havoc.

The monarch of the time, Stephen was locked in conflict with Matilda, daughter of Henry 1st who had a stronger claim to the throne, but was barred because of her sex.

The fighting quickly led to a breakdown in law and order. And then in the early spring of 1140, there was a total eclipse, recorded by William of Malmesbury in his Historia Novella.

In his opinion this was a sign which foretold the capture of King Stephen in the Battle of Lincoln some time later. The Lenten eclipse was also reported in the Peterborough Chronicle as being on the thirteenth day before the start of April: “After this, during Lent, the sun and the day darkened about the noon-tide of the day, when men were eating; and they lighted candles to eat by. Men were greatly wonder stricken. ”

If the medieval townsfolk of Leek were looking for an explanation they would not have found it among the local clergy or indeed in Europe. The real interest in explaining what was happening in the heavens was occurring in the Islamic world which was carrying on the scientific traditions of the Greeks and Romans.

The House of Wisdom in Baghdad had produced tables of the movement of the Sun and Moon by the 9th century.

At that time Al-Battani was undoubtedly one of the greatest Islamic medieval astronomers. He made precise predictions of eclipses, and worked on the phenomenon of parallax.

If we mock the vision of the 12th century Leek resident cowering in the dark all those years ago, fearful of what was happening, perhaps we should think of the actions of some today fearful of what is happening in a time of pandemic believing falsehoods and denying a reality that has killed approaching 130,000 Britons.

Bill Cawley Local Historian