JonnyMcA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I
> agree with what you say with needing to know more
> about them, but it does seem that they are
> depicting something celestial as occurring, and
> indeed, there is no indication to whether it is
> occurring during the night or day.

Well ... yes, the illustrations and text do seem to be referring to something taking place in the heavens. However, the illustrations look like daylight to me (but, as I said previously, I think one might need to know more about the conventions applied in such cases).

But surely most battles would anyway have taken place during the hours of daylight?

Also, didn't most campaigns stop for the duration of the winter, and recommence when winter ended? (I imagine that there's no scientific information about the actual time of year when the solar event took place ...)

> Its hard to say whether the aurora can be visible
> during daylight, but they could probably been seen
> from about dusk onwards, and if we go by the anglo
> saxon chronicle it does state that the fiery omens
> were observed after sunset.

(Occasum solis )

English translation of the relevant portion of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (scroll down to AD 774):

Quote

A.D. 774. This year the Northumbrians banished their king,
Alred, from York at Easter-tide; and chose Ethelred, the son of
Mull, for their lord, who reigned four winters. This year also
appeared in the heavens a red crucifix, after sunset; the
Mercians and the men of Kent fought at Otford; and wonderful
serpents were seen in the land of the South-Saxons.

Latin version (pg 79, DCCXXIV):

Quote

... apparuit rubra Christi crux in coelis post solis occasum ...

So, yes, after sunset ... but I'm not sure of the similarity of an aurora to a cross?

> By the looks of things the 765 illustration would
> seem to be a comet, or perhaps a bolide.

In fact, it does mention a comet in that text ...

> The
> report of falling stars may not be contemporaneous
> with the comet or bolide, since it could just
> simply be a meteor storm in the same year that a
> noticeable comet or bolide occurred.

Hermione
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