JonnyMcA Wrote:
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> Indeed, in a society steeped in religion,
> celestial events could be used as propaganda.
> I have copy of McCarthy's paper, and there is no
> mention of anything exciting happening around
> 774-776, nor as far as I am aware in the Irish
> Annals. Then again, there is no mention of a
> comet in AD 837, when Comet Halley made its
> closest approach to earth at 0.04 AU with a
> possible tail length of about a third of the sky
> (60 degrees), which has been recorded in other
> cultures,
Yes - the
Vita Hludovici ($58, MGH SS ii, 604-48) mentions the concern felt by Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, at that appearance of Halley's comet (Williams, 9).
> so making an argument that something was
> not observable at 775 based on Irish records is
> not a water tight argument. Indeed, the Annals of
> Ulster recorded the comet's apparition in 912 when
> it was 0.49 AU away from us.
Hermione
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