<p>Halley’s Comet was last seen from Earth in 1986 and is expected to return in 2061.</p><p>It’s widely taken for granted that the Stuart astronomer Edmond Halley was the first to recognise its roughly 76-year cycle, an insight he formalised in 1705 and which ultimately gave the comet his name. However, new research by professors Michael Lewis of the British Museum and Simon Portegies Zwart of Leiden University says that attribution might be wrong.</p><p>Their work suggests that credit may instead belong to an English medieval monk named Elmer.</p>
<img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/12/GettyImages-514079858-a25607f-e1764931346339.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Halley’s Comet streaks across the sky in this 1986 photograph taken from the Ford Observatory, marking its most recent visit to the inner solar system. Once feared as a portent of upheaval, the comet is now a predictable visitor whose returns chart centuries of astronomical discovery." title="Halley’s Comet, 1986" />
<h2 id="elmer-the-flying-monk-d4bc8ae7">Elmer the flying monk</h2><p>Elmer, also known as Aethelmaer, lived in Malmesbury, Wiltshire, and is best remembered for leaping off Malmesbury Abbey attached to some homemade wings, attempting human flight, at some point between 1000-1010.</p><p>In the words of chronicler William of Malmesbury, Elmer “had by some contrivance fastened to his hands and feet in order that he might fly as Daedalus, and collecting the air, on the summit of a tower, had flown for a distance of a furlong”.</p><p>As well as recording Elmer’s early exploits in aviation, William also noted that – perhaps unsurprisingly – the flight did not end well. The monk ended up crashing to the ground, breaking his legs and becoming lame as a consequence.</p><p>Despite this disability, he lived a long life and was still around (albeit elderly) during the <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/norman/everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-1066-normans-invasion-battle-hastings-william-conqueror-harold/">Norman Conquest</a> in <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/1066-important-days-key-events-william-conqueror-battle-hastings-death-edward-confessor/">1066</a>. Notwithstanding his very rough landing in 1005, Elmer’s legacy as the flying monk was secured, and even now, Malmesbury boasts a Flying Monk Brewery.</p><p>Arguably, however, Elmer’s achievements in astronomy were more worthy of celebration than his achievements in aviation.</p><h2 id="halleys-comet-or-elmers-05de0876">Halley’s Comet, or Elmer’s?</h2><p>According to William of Malmesbury, a young Elmer observed Halley’s Comet in the year 989 and considered it a bad omen. Then, 77 years later, Elmer again saw the 1066 comet. William reported that Elmer once more saw it as a portent of doom, crouching “in terror at the sight of the gleaming star”.</p><p>Given that Elmer seems to have identified the celestial body twice and attributed the same doom-laden values to it, is there an argument to be made that it was the medieval monk, rather than Edmond Halley, who should be celebrated for recognising its cycle?</p><ul><li><strong>Read more | <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/stuart/isaac-newton-facts-biography-why-famous-who-discovered-gravity-scientific-revolution/">Isaac Newton: life, discoveries, rivalries and the truth about the apple</a></strong></li></ul><p>According to Lewis, an expert on the Bayeux Tapestry, and the astrophysicist Portegies Zwart, “the answer is clear: Elmer beat Halley to identifying Halley’s Comet twice, also recognising (in some way) it had a regular cycle”. In their view, he effectively identified the comet’s recurrence centuries before Halley’s calculation.</p><h2 id="elmer-1066-and-the-bayeux-tapestry-e04790aa">Elmer, 1066, and the Bayeux Tapestry</h2><p>Indeed, many medieval history enthusiasts will be aware that the comet is famously shown in the Bayeux Tapestry, which documents the course of the Norman Conquest.</p><p>The article by Lewis and Portegies Zwart (titled <a href="https://britishmuseum.iro.bl.uk/concern/book_contributions/3bf5c1e2-75bb-4b01-8982-91e895ea9f9b?locale=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The Significance of Halley’s Comet in the Bayeux Tapestry</em></a>, published in the edited collection <em>Dorestad and Everything After: Ports, Townscapes & Travellers in Europe, 800–1100</em>) argues that Halley’s Comet would not have been visible from England in 1066 before 24 April, and possibly not until 30 April. But in the Bayeux Tapestry, the comet appears above a scene showing crowds reacting to the coronation of <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/harold-godwinson-life-death-facts/">King Harold</a>, which occurred in January.</p><p>The mismatch between astronomical reality and artistic depiction raises questions about why the comet was placed in that scene. So what explains the discrepancy?</p>
<img src="https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/7/2025/12/GettyImages-51242293-7ecf4b3-e1764930170713.jpg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="This scene from the Bayeux Tapestry shows Halley’s Comet appearing in 1066, as King Harold is informed of the omen. Medieval observers regarded the comet as a portent of disaster." title="Bayeux Tapestry Halley’s Comet" />
<h2 id="comet-propaganda-80cc5f75">Comet propaganda?</h2><p>Harold’s rise to the throne followed the death of Edward the Confessor and came at a moment of political uncertainty. In Normandy, <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/norman/duke-william-of-normandy-william-the-conqueror-life-reign-death/">Duke William</a> regarded Harold’s accession as a usurpation, as William claimed Harold had sworn to support his own claim to the throne. The <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/norman/5-bayeux-tapestry-facts-what-is-it-why-was-it-made-and-what-story-does-it-tell/">Bayeux Tapestry</a> includes a prominent depiction of Harold swearing an oath on holy relics in William’s presence, but it offers no explanation of its purpose, leaving the episode open to interpretation.</p><p>Lewis and Portegies Zwart suggest that linking the comet with Harold’s coronation was an intentional choice, designed to draw the two events together “for political reasons with the benefit of hindsight”. Their view reflects a broader trend in 11th and 12th-century sources, which retrospectively cast the comet as a portent of disaster for Harold and as a sign woven into the unfolding succession crisis.</p><p>The most contemporary accounts (the various versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) do not link the comet to the succession crisis. Instead, they associate it with the more immediate threat posed by Harold’s disaffected brother <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/anglo-saxon/tostig-godwinsons-earl-betrayal-exile-death/">Tostig</a>, who arrived shortly after the comet’s appearance with a fleet that raided England’s south coast. This occurred in the spring of 1066, several months before the Norman invasion.</p><p>But, over time, the Norman interpretation prevailed. The comet became part of a retrospective narrative supporting William’s conquest and portraying Harold’s reign as doomed from the outset.</p><p>Lewis and Portegies Zwart note that, had the outcome at <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/battle-hastings-facts-where-why-weapons-casualties-how-won/">Hastings</a> been different, the same comet might instead have been remembered as an omen of the failure of William’s ambitions.</p><p>Alas, for the Anglo-Saxons it was not to be…</p><h2 id="more-from-us-e5d844c0"><strong>More from us</strong></h2><p><strong><em>HistoryExtra</em> members can explore more medieval history with exclusive content from our archives</strong></p><ul><li><strong><a href="/membership/medieval-manners/">Medieval manners and etiquette: dos and don’ts of the Middle Ages</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="/membership/medieval-englands-political-miracle-how-the-13th-and-14th-centuries-laid-the-foundations-for-modern-britain/">Medieval England’s political miracle: how the 13th and 14th centuries laid the foundations for modern Britain</a></strong></li><li><strong><a href="/membership/how-to-go-on-a-medieval-pilgrimage/">How to go on a medieval pilgrimage</a></strong></li><li><a href="/membership/medieval-life-peasant-europe-how-true-real/"><strong>Why there’s no such thing as a typical medieval peasant</strong></a></li></ul><p><strong>Not a <em>HistoryExtra</em> member? <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/join/">Explore our latest membership offers</a></strong></p>
