[1] The eclipse was documented in Tale of Igor's Campaign and the Laurentian Codex, and possibly the Chronicle of Melrose and the Brut y Tywysogion.

As the shadow journeyed in a southeasterly direction, it passed through the modern sites of Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Ufa, and Magnitogorsk.

The eclipse shadow started diminishing when it entered present-day Kazakhstan and extinguished completely about 30 miles before reaching Astana.

[14][15] According to the Lay, after the eclipse Igor gave a long speech to his retinue to allay their fears before proceeding on his campaign.

It became very dark, even the stars could be seen; it seemed to men as if everything were green, and the Sun became like a crescent of the Moon, from the horns of which a glow similar to that of red-hot charcoals was emanating.

[24] The Brut y Tywysogion, the Welsh Chronicle of the Princes, says of the solar eclipse of 1 May 1185, Yn y ulwyddyn honno dyw Calan Mei y sumudawd yr heul y lliw; ac y dywat rei uot anei diffyc, which translates as: In that year on the day of the Calends of May the Sun changed its colour; and some said that it was under an eclipse.

Bryn Jones believes there was a total solar eclipse across the Scottish Highlands, the Western Isles and Orkney.