It is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle that a total eclipse of the sun took place in the year after King Alfred's great battle with the Danes. Now, calculation shows that this eclipse occurred on October 29, 878 A.D. King Alfred's victory over the Danes must, therefore, have taken place in 877 A.D., and his death probably occurred in 899 A.D. This solar eclipse is also mentioned in the Annals of Ulster. From this it will be seen that in some cases the dates of historical events can be accurately fixed by astronomical phenomena. It is stated by some historians that an eclipse of the sun took place on the morning of the battle of Crecy, August 26, 1346. But calculation shows that there was no eclipse of the sun visible in England in that year. At the time of the famous battle the moon had just entered on her first quarter, and she was partially eclipsed six days afterwards--that is on the 1st of September. The mistake seems to have arisen from a mistranslation of the old French word _esclistre_, which means lightning. This was mistaken for _esclipse_. The account seems to indicate that there was a heavy thunderstorm on the morning of the battle. A dark shade was seen on the waning moon by Messrs. Hirst and J. C. Russell on October 21, 1878, "as dark as the shadow during an eclipse of the moon."[479] If this observation is correct, it is certainly most difficult to explain. Another curious observation is recorded by Mr. E. Stone Wiggins, who says that a partial eclipse of the sun by a dark body was observed in the State of Michigan (U.S.A.) on May 16, 1884, at 7 p.m. The "moon at that moment was 12 degrees south of the equator and the sun as many degrees north of it." The existence of a dark satellite of the earth has been suggested, but this seems highly improbable. The sun's corona seems to have been first noticed in the total eclipse of the sun which occurred at the death of the Roman emperor Domitian, A.D. 95. Philostratus in his _Life of Apollonius_ says, with reference to this eclipse, "In the heavens there appeared a prodigy of this nature: a certain _corona_ resembling the Iris surrounded the orb of the sun, and obscured its light."[480] In more modern times the corona seems to have been first noticed by Clavius during the total eclipse of April 9, 1567.[481] Kepler proved that this eclipse was total, not annular, so that the ring seen by Clavius must have been the corona.