238 II. A. Newton — Fireball in the Madonna di Foligno. 



What men thought of such phenomena was shown on the oc- 

 casion of the fall of the Ensisheim stone 19 years earlier. This 

 fell near the lines separating the contending French and 

 Imperial forces. Maximilian soon after the fall had the stone 

 brought up to the castle and he held a council of state to con- 

 sider what the stonefall meant. Sebastian Brant, in a poem 

 describing the fall speaks of the terror it caused to the 

 Burgundians and Trench. Eleven years later, that is, in 1503, 

 Maximilian in a proclamation appealing for aid against the 

 Turks includes the Ensisheim stonefall among other indications 

 of divine favor. It is natural, therefore, to inquire whether the 

 course of political events in Italy in the latter part of the year 

 1511 and the earlier part of 1512 were such as to give the 

 Crema stonefall in the minds of men special significance. 



In the summer of 1511 the French and their allies were 

 waging war with the Pope and were in possession of Genoa, 

 Ferrara, Milan and the neighboring regions of Lombardy. 

 They captured Bologna May 23, 1511. The Pope went to 

 Pome June 27. In July he succeeded in forming a secret 

 league with England, Spain and Yenice to attack France. On 

 the 17th of August the Pope was taken seriously ill, became 

 unconscious on the 21st, and recovered consciousness on the 

 22nd. On the 1st of September the schismatic council at 

 Pisa was organized. The Crema stones fell into the French 

 territory Sept. 4th. The league between Spain, Yenice, and 

 the Pope was published Oct. 5th, and in November, England, and 

 subsequently Maximilian joined the League. For a time success 

 was with the French. On the 11th of" April, 1512, the battle 

 of Pavenna was lost by the papal forces and the Roman terri- 

 tory was seriously threatened. But in spite of such temporary 

 success the French were forced to withdraw in June altogether 

 from Milan and northern Italy. What would be more natural 

 to Paphael under such circumstances than to unite in the 

 altarpiece that he was painting the fireball with the rainbow 

 in order to symbolize at once Divine reconciliation and as- 

 sistance? 



So far as I know no specimens of the Crema aerolites have 

 been preserved. The accounts say nothing about the direction 

 of motion of the fireball. It seems more probable, however, 

 that the motion was from the South or West than from the 

 North or East. The earth's quit was then about S. 35° W., 

 15° or 20° high. I have elsewhere shown that aerolites in 

 general follow the earth in its orbit, and this makes a motion 

 of this stone from the S. or W. quite probable. If it was 

 moving from the East of South it would be more strikingly 

 visible in Rome, and its appearance in Raphael's painting may 

 be due to a brilliant course across the Roman skies. 



