Hi Hermione,

Just to clarify something, I am not suggesting that something happened in 793 or 794 (at least not with respect a supernova or related to 775). They were merely two events I was using to show that Roger of Wendover and the Anglo-saxon chronicle could report the same events, but in different years, with Roger seemingly being a year or two later, and thus his 776 date of events could actually be 774/775.

The big question is though if the events of Roger and the Anglo-saxon chronicle are the 775 14C event and it was visible and were a supernova then where are other records of it, in particular what about the Chinese who were indeed great observers, particularly of supernovae. This is primarily why little attention is being given to an ordinary supernova, since the event is thought not to have been reported in historical documents. This may well be true, but in my view, when you have two sources (which admittedly may be using the same original source materials) stating that some terrible portent appeared in the sky during a time when 14C levels were rising, then we should not dismiss them out of hand. It could suggest that this event had visible associations with it. Perhaps what the mediaeval sources are reporting is simply auroral display from the event, or perhaps it is merely coincidental display that occurred in the same year, or the sun was at quite an active stage of its cycle. Perhaps the "red crucifix" is merely a sungrazing comet, only visible when the sun is setting, and may have nothing to do with Earth or the 14C event at all.

Jonny

Jonny

The path to good scholarship is paved with imagined patterns. - David M Raup