Editing Halley's Comet (section)

===1066===
[[File:Comete Tapisserie Bayeux.jpg|thumb|Halley's Comet in 1066 depicted on the [[Bayeux Tapestry]]]]
In 1066, the comet was seen in England and thought to be an [[omen]]: later that year [[Harold II of England]] died at the [[Battle of Hastings]] and [[William the Conqueror]] claimed the throne. The comet is represented on the [[Bayeux Tapestry]] and described in the [[Bayeux Tapestry tituli#32|tituli]] as a star. Surviving accounts from the period describe it as appearing to be four times the size of [[Venus]], and shining with a light equal to a quarter of that of the [[Moon]]. Halley came within 0.10&nbsp;[[Astronomical unit|au]] of Earth at that time.<ref name="greatcomets"/>

This appearance of the comet is also noted in the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]''. [[Eilmer of Malmesbury]] may have seen Halley in 989 and 1066, as recorded by [[William of Malmesbury]]:

<blockquote>Not long after, a comet, portending (they say) a change in governments, appeared, trailing its long flaming hair through the empty sky: concerning which there was a fine saying of a monk of our monastery called Æthelmær. Crouching in terror at the sight of the gleaming star, "You've come, have you?", he said. "You've come, you source of tears to many mothers. It is long since I saw you; but as I see you now you are much more terrible, for I see you brandishing the downfall of my country."<ref name="William">William of Malmesbury; ''Gesta regum Anglorum / The history of the English Kings'', edited and translated by Mynors, R. A. B.; Thomson, R. M.; and Winterbottom, M.; 2 vols., Oxford Medieval Texts (1998–99), p. 121</ref></blockquote>

The Irish ''[[Annals of the Four Masters]]'' recorded the comet as "A star [that] appeared on the seventh of the [[Calends]] of May, on Tuesday after Little Easter, than whose light the brilliance or light of The Moon was not greater; and it was visible to all in this manner till the end of four nights afterwards."<ref name="annals_of_the_four_masters"/> [[Chaco Culture National Historical Park|Chaco]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] in [[New Mexico]] may have recorded the 1066 apparition in their petroglyphs.<ref name="Brazil2005"/>

The Italo-Byzantine chronicle of [[Lupus Protospatharius|Lupus the Protospatharios]] mentions that a "comet-star" appeared in the sky in the year 1067 (the chronicle is erroneous, as the event occurred in 1066, and by Robert he means William).

<blockquote>The Emperor [[Constantine Ducas]] died in the month of May, and his son Michael received the Empire. And in this year there appeared a comet star, and the Norman count Robert [sic] fought a battle with Harold, King of the English, and Robert was victorious and became king over the people of the English.<ref name="Lupus"/></blockquote>