Occultation of Planets by the Moon in European Narrative Medieval Sources

Abstract

Existing research dealing with astronomical observations from medieval Europe have extensively covered topics such as solar and lunar eclipses and sightings of comets and meteors, but no compilation of occultations of planets by the Moon has been carried out, being the data scattered in different publications. The main cause for this is the small number of observations that have reached us, their limited use for calculation of parameters associated with the rotation of the Earth and the fact that between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, the period that we consider, almost none of these observations was made scientifically, since they usually appear in narrative texts, be they chronicles or annals. Our purpose is to make a compilation of these phenomena, trying to shed light on some of the most controversial observations after examining them in their historical context. We will examine European sources but, occasionally, we will also consider reports from other parts of the world to make comparisons, when necessary.