The bay-trees in our country are all wither’d
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven;
The pale-faced moon looks bloody on the earth
And lean-look’d prophets whisper fearful change,
. . . . . .
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.
(Richard II, II, iv, 8-11, 15)
Yet the descent of meteorites from the heavens was not always regarded as a forewarning of bad fortune. On November 16, 1492, a 279-pound meteorite fell at Ensisheim in Alsace, not far from the battle line separating the armies of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Emperor Maximilian, the leader of the Empire’s forces, commanded that the fallen stone be carried to his castle. There a formal war-council was held to determine what the strange event could mean.
COURTESY OF AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY Drawing of Andromedid meteor shower, November 27, 1872.