1178: The Year the Moon Split in Two or Christian Propaganda? (Episode #39)

Mysterious Pals

According to a chronicler at Christ Church Cathedral Priory in Canterbury named Gervase, on the evening of June 18, 1178, five monks from the monastery witnessed a strange lunar event. The monks reported seeing the Moon split as if "a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out fire, hot coals, and sparks." This phenomenon was said to persist, with the Moon's appearance fluctuating as if it were wounding itself. The monks described the Moon as having a black line forming across it, which subsequently divided, giving the impression that the Moon had split into two distinct parts. The event was noted to have lasted for a considerable duration before the Moon returned to its normal appearance. Was it a meteor, a comet, a volcano, or rather just the monk associating strange celestial apparitions to Christian victories in the Crusades?

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EPISODE RESOURCES

• "1178: The Day the Moon Split." Historic Mysteries, https://www.historicmysteries.com/unexplained-mysteries/moon-split/33027/.
• "What Medieval Witnesses Saw Was Not a Big Lunar Impact, Grad Student Says." Science NASA, https://science.nasa.gov/solar-system/moon/what-medieval-witnesses-saw-was-not-big-lunar-impact-grad-student-says/.
• "Splitting of the Moon." Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Splitting_of_the_Moon.
• "June 18, 1178: The Day the Moon Blew Up." Garden of Memory, https://www.gardenofmemory.net/june-18-1178-the-day-the-moon-blew-up/.
• "When 12th Century Monks Saw the Moon Split in Two." Aleteia, 10 Sept. 2018, https://aleteia.org/2018/09/10/when-12th-century-monks-saw-the-moon-split-in-two/.
• Ordóñez, Raúl. "The Mystery of the Moon Divided." BBVA OpenMind, https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/science/physics/the-mystery-of-the-moon-divided/
• Bailey, Brad (21 June 2010). "Evidence of the moon having been split in two". Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute

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