Hi Jonny,

> 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).

Sorry - my mistake.

> 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.

Point taken.

> 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 been reported in historical documents.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.

It appears that there have been more studies of possible ancient records of astronomical phenomena than I'd realized.

ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS IN THE IRISH ANNALS AND THEIR MOTIVATIONDANIEL - DANIEL MCCARTHY & AIDAN BREEN

Quote

The astronomical entries in the Irish annals have been examined in a serious astronomical context by R. R. Newton as part of his research into the accelerations of the earth and moon, and by D. Schove and A. Fletcher as part of the Spectrum of Time project. They have never, however, been fully collated and examined as a whole as this paper undertakes to do. What emerges is a body of records from 442 to 1133 documenting eclipses, comets, aurorae, volcanic dust clouds, and possibly a supernova; from 627 to 1133 all of these records are of observations made in or near Ireland, and most of them are accurate in their chronological and descriptive details. Analysis of the details of these records implies that at least from the seventh to the eleventh centuries careful and sustained observation and recording of astronomical phenomena was conducted in some Irish monasteries and it is clear that the underlying motive was religious and specifically eschatological, viz. to detect the first signs of the end of time as prognosticated in the Book of Revelation. Critical examination of these data throws new light on the circumstances of the Synod of Whitby in 664, establishes the date of the eruption of the volcano Eldgjá in Iceland as springtime of 939, and identifies a possible Western observation of the supernova of 1054.

Interestingly, this ties in with the mediaeval Japanese references to the Supernova of AD 1054 that I mentioned previously, which is also discussed in Williams, 2010, "Fiery Shapes", 4-5.

Williams also discusses the year 664 (4), which was apparently a year of auroral maximum; the Irish Annals contain statements for this year such as "the sky seemed to be on fire". However, the same images appear in the Book of Revelation ... The point is that, apart from the celestial/scientific observations being carried out, there could have been a religious/eschatological agenda as well.

I don't know whether there would be anything in McCarthy & Breen concerning the 774/5/6 dates ... However, given that they're concentrating on the Irish Annals, it's probably not all that likely.

Hermione
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