2"4 S. IX. Mar. 24. '60.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



215 



the fall of the meteorite by the Emperor himself. 

 In an official document dated Augsburg, 12 Nov. 

 1503 (Datt's Vohrmen Rerum Germanicarun^JJlm, 

 1698, p. 214.), and addressed to the German 

 States, he takes occasion to refer to it as a proof 

 of the immediate interference of heaven, and art- 

 fullv employs it as a special omen sent to arouse 

 the Christian princes to a crusade against the 

 Turks. His language is as follows : — 



" Ic prirais Deus omuipotens nos, tanquani supremum 

 Caput Cbristianitatis ante aliquot annos cum uno diro et 

 gravi lapide indifferenter duorum centenariorum : qui 

 turn magno attonitu ex Coelo ante nos, cum in exercitu 

 nostro ad resistendum temerariis Gallorum couatibus 

 fuimus, in patenti prato cecidit. Queni nos etiam in 

 Ecclesia oppidi nostri Ensisheim, apud quod cecidit, ubi 

 anteriorem dominiorum nostrorum circumjacentium Re- 

 gimen nostrum observari et teneri consuevit, appendi 

 jussimus, monuit, et iucitavit, quod nos Cbristiamtatem h 

 peccatis gravibus et inordinationibus ducere, et in recog- 

 nitionem salutifera? Vitae erga omnipotentem inducere, 

 per quod suam sanctam fidem augmentare, defendere et 

 obtinere debeamus. Et in prajmissorum exemplum 

 eodem tempore, cum ipse lapis (ut prsefertur) cecidit, in 

 nostro proposito contra coronam Francias fortunam et 

 victoriam elargitus est. Nos igitur propterea ex Regio 

 et Cbristiano animo devotoque corde talem admonitionem 

 revolvimus. Et prsemissa omnibus Regibus Christianis, 

 et vobis Sacri Romani Imperii Principibus Electoribus 

 ac aliis Priucipibus ; et Romano lmperio Subditis et ad- 

 haerentibus manifestavimus, cupientes, vestro accurante 

 auxilio contra fidei nostra inimicos debita reddere obsequia, 

 nee tamen hactenus consequi quicquam valuimus," &c. &c. 



Happily, the affairs of the empire prevented 

 him from carrying this project into execution. 

 He succeeded, however, in extracting from our 

 King Henry VII. a subsidy of 10,000/. 



An inscription, in German, was placed with the 

 stone in the church, giving the particulars of this 

 " singular miracle," as it is there called. This is 

 printed in Gilbert's Annalen der Physik, xviii. 

 280. It mentions that the fall took place between 

 11 and 12 at noon, and was accompanied by a 

 loud clap of thunder, and a noise which was heard 

 as far as Lucerne in Switzerland, and so pro- 

 digious that people thought houses had tumbled 

 down. The stone buried itself in the ground to 

 the depth of more than 3 feet. It weighed 

 260 lbs. Maximilian, being at Ensisheim, or- 

 dered it to be conveyed to the church, to be 

 there suspended by a chain, and strictly pro- 

 hibited any piece to be taken away ; himself, how- 

 ever, reserving one, and another he sent to the 

 Archduke Sigismund of Austria. 



Other Chronicles of a later date have their 

 descriptions tinged with more or less of the 

 marvellous ; of these, however, it is sufficient to 

 indicate a few only, with one exception, viz. the 

 book once so popular, called The Shepherd's 

 Calendar*, from whose pages we shall extract its 

 curious record of the event : — 



This very curious and rare book (a translation from 

 tin- French), printed by Pyuson in 1006, is in tho Gren- 



" Shepardys " (it says) " that lyes the nyghtys in the 

 feldes do se many Impressions in the aver above the 

 erthe, that they that lythe in theyr beddys sees not .... 

 Lo you people ye may se that these Impressyons be very 

 marvelous, and yet some Ignorante people wyll not be- 

 leve it, and wyll thynke it upossybyll ; but you shalle 

 vnderstande that in the yere of oureLorde a thousands 

 cccclxxx and xii. the vii daye of November, there fell 

 one thynge mooste marvelous in the shyre of ferrat : it 

 happenyd in the dukedome of autryche, by a towne 

 namyd Ensychyne, and on the daye beforsayd feU a grete 

 and orybyll thouder in the feldys, and there felle a greate 

 Thonder Stoue, the whiche dyd way cc.xl. pounde and 

 more, the whiche stone is there present and kept yet in 

 the sayde towne that all mai'e see it that wyll come: of 

 the whiche Stone here foloweth the eppataffe wreton un- 

 derneath it." [In Latin by Sebastian Brant, as before 

 noticed, although not so stated in the book.] 



We find it likewise recorded in Wurstisen's 

 Baszler Chronick, fol. Basel, 1580; in the Chroni- 

 con Hirsaugiense of Trithemius ; in the Appendix 

 by Linturius to the Fasciculus Temporum; in the 

 Chronical Citizense of Paulus Langius, the two 

 latter printed in Pistorius' Scriptores Rerum Ger- 

 mauicarum ; and in the old German Chronicle of 

 Strasburg and of Alsace by Maternus Berler, 

 printed for the first time in the Code Historique 

 et Diplomatique de la Ville de Strasbourg, vol. i. 

 4to. Strasb. 1843. In this are some German 

 verses by Sebastian Brant on the subject. 



The subsequent history of the Ensisheim me- 

 teorite appears to be this : that it remained sus- 

 pended in the church of that town up to the time 

 of the French Revolution, when it was removed 

 to the Public Library at Colmar ; and that some 

 years afterwards the stone — although, as might be 

 expected, sadly curtailed of its fair proportions — 

 (abqut lt)0 pounds) *, was restored to Ensisheim, 

 where it is again become the chief curiosity in the 

 church. 



The reader who wishes to follow up this in- 

 teresting subject may consult the work of Chladni, 

 Ueber Fetter- Meteor e (Vienna, 1819), who has 

 given a list of all recorded meteorites from the 

 earliest period. From the publication of this 

 work the existence of a true science of meteors 

 may be dated. Indeed, before Chladni's time, all 



ville Library. At the end are some stanzas by the 

 Printer, one of which in reference to the Bible is so in- 

 teresting that we here call attention to it. 



" Remember clarkes dayly dotbe theyr delygens 

 Into oure corrupte speche maters to translate. 

 Yet betwene Freuche and Englysshe is grete deftens. 

 There lougage in redynge is douse and dyrycate. 

 In theyr mother tunge they be so fortunate. 

 They have the Bybyll and the Apocalypys of de- 



vynyte, 

 With other nobyll bokes that in Englyche may no 



The edition of 1604 has the last line altered thus : 

 " With other noble bookes that now in English be." 



* Portions, I believe, are in the Mineralogical Collec- 

 tions at Vienna and Paris. 



