Research Topic

The paper reassesses the death date of Eirene Laskarina, Empress of John III Batatzes of the exiled Byzantine Empire of Nicaea (1204-1261 CE), a significant figure in the early thirteenth-century Eastern Mediterranean. Historically, her death has been placed between 1239 and 1241, impacting our understanding of the political landscape around 1240. George Akropolites connects her death to a comet sighting "six months earlier," hinting at sightings in 1239 and 1241. Recent historians favored the 1239 sighting without critically evaluating comet records. Our reevaluation concludes that the 1239 sighting wasn't a comet, while the 1240 sighting aligns with historical accounts and Akropolites' narrative. We establish Eirene's death around the summer of 1240, offering a robust foundation for further research on thirteenth-century Eastern Mediterranean events.

This study analysed four Byzantine narrative historical sources that are purported to record astronomical phenomena between the fourth and sixth centuries. Three of the records originated in the fourth century, and the remaining one concerns the total solar eclipse in 512. Based on recent astronomical findings, this study questions the reliability of these records and explores their philological and historical contexts to understand how and why they were written.