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7th November 1492: Oldest meteorite with a known date of impact crashes in Ensisheim

1,861 views · Published 7 November 2018 · 2:35 · Indexed 20 October 2026

Channel: HistoryPod · 2018 · Education

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A boy from the modern-day French town which, at the time, was in a region known as Further Austria, reportedly witnessed the meteorite crash into the ground. Weighing 127 kilograms (280 pounds), its fall through the atmosphere created a fireball that could be seen from over 100 miles away, and the impact left a 1-metre deep hole.

Locals soon arrived at the site to collect souvenirs, but before long they were stopped by the local magistrate who kept the stone safe until the arrival of King Maximilian I, who became Holy Roman emperor the following year. Declaring the meteorite to be a positive omen from God for success in his wars against France and Turkey, he chipped off some pieces as gifts before entrusting the remainder to the people of Ensisheim.

Meanwhile, contemporary satirist Sebastian Brant composed a poem about the meteorite that was circulated in printed broadsheets in both German and Latin. He suggested that its arrival was a manifestation of God’s anger at humankind’s wayward and sinful behaviour. In response the meteorite was fixed to the wall of the church with strong iron crampons to ensure it couldn’t escape and cause mischief.

The meteorite currently resides in Ensisheim’s sixteenth-century Musée de la Régence, although the intervening years have seen souvenir hunters remove more than half of its original mass. These fragments of the oldest meteorite with a precise date of impact can now be found in both museum and private collections around the world.

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