Wonders in the Sky (34 page)

1528, Utrecht, Netherland: Yellow object in the sky

“Cruel and strange observation” of a yellow object in the sky, flying over during the siege of the city. The inhabitants of Utrecht panicked, while attackers took it as a sign of impending success. Lycosthenes writes: “At the time the city of Utrecht was heavily besieged, a terrible sign was seen in the sky which threw the town inhabitants into dismay and the enemies into the hope of capturing the town. For a sign in the sky, resembling a cross of a yellowish color (and of terrible aspect) appeared over the town. And because it was the symbol of Burgundy, they believed on both sides that the town would shortly belong to the Burgundians.”

 

Source:
Terribile visione in cielo durante l'assendio di Utrecht
(1528), and Lycosthenes,
Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon
, 536.

173.

9 October 1528. Westrie, N. Germany: Horrible object

A bizarre sighting was chronicled by Pierre Boaistuau in his
Histoires Prodigieuses
. Ambroise Paré describes a blood-red ‘comet' that appeared over Westrie. It so terrified the populace that some reportedly died of panic and others became ill. The ‘comet' emerged from the east and was seen for an hour and a quarter, disappearing finally towards midday – which implies, by the way, that it could not have been a comet unless by “midday” was meant “the southern direction.”

At the top of the object people described an arm that held a great sword, the blade pointing downwards. There were three stars towards the tip of the sword, the one right on the end being the brightest. On both sides of the ‘comet' were a great number of axes, blades and bloody swords and repulsive, bearded human faces.

 

Source: Ambroise Paré and all subsequent authors drew from a booklet by Peter Creutzer:
Auslegung Peter Creutzers, etwan des weytberhümbten Astrologi M. Jo. Liechtenbegers (sic) discipels über den erschrecklichen Cometen…erschynen am xi. Tag Weynmonats des MCCCCxxvii. Jars
…(1527).

Fig. 13: “Horrible object” seen in Westrie

174.

August 1533, Peru: Another mysterious “non-comet”

Garcilaso de la Vega, the Incan, writes in Chapter 23 of his work
Historia General del Perú
, that Tupac Huallpa's fear of his own death was exacerbated by the sighting of a great greenish black ‘comet' in August 1533. It was an unusual comet, “a little narrower than the body of a man and longer than a pike” (spear-headed medieval weapon), and had been seen by many witnesses on several occasions at night. This made Huallpa particularly depressed because a similar object had been observed a few days before the death of his father, Huayna Capac. This comet was evidently not of the ordinary kind, at least in the opinion of Huallpa, who was accustomed to heavenly phenomena. Besides, comets are not “greenish-black!”

Tupac Huallpa was executed on 29 August 1533.

 

Source: Inca Gracilaso de la Vega,
Historia General del Perú
(1617), Book I, Chapter XXXIV.

175.

31 May 1536, Monte Stella, Brescia, Lombardy, Italy Apparition, with a message

Antonio de' Antoni, a poor deaf-mute shepherd of Gardone Val Trompia, was reciting the rosary while his flock was grazing. Suddenly there came before his eyes a light more intense than the Sun, in the middle of which the Virgin appeared with Jesus in her arms. Dressed in a simple way, she wanted the shepherds to build a temple there.

Antonio went off and described the event to everyone he knew, and when he returned the site was “illuminated by the beams of an overhanging star.” Pope Paul III gave the place a consecrated status, and construction was completed in 1539.

 

Source: Marino Gamba,
Apparizioni mariane nel corso di due millenni
(Udine: Ediz. Il Segno, 1999).

176.

1537, near Florence, Italy
Benvenuto Cellini's “enormous splendor”

In his autobiography well-known artist Benvenuto Cellini relates the following:

Fig. 14: Benvenuto Cellini

“On horseback, we were coming back from Rome. Suddenly people cried ‘Oh God what is that great thing we see over Florence.' It was a great object of fire, twinkling and emitting enormous splendor…”

 

Source: Benvenuto Cellini,
Vita
, 1558-1566, Book I, 89.

177.

16 January 1538, Franconia, Thüringen, Germany Disk, melted metal

A large “star” was seen in the sky and came down, emitting balls of fire that melted metal objects. Scholar Simon Goulart lists the case in his chronicles as follows:

“It was seen in Franconia, between Bamberg and Thuringia Forest, a star of marvelous magnitude, which came lower gradually, and became a great white circle from which whirlwinds and clumps of fire emerged. When they fell onto the earth they melted the tips of spears, irons and horses'bits without hurting either men or buildings.”

 

Source: Simon Goulart,
Trésors d'Histoires Admirables et Mémorables de notre Temps
(1600). Genève: P. Marceau (1610), 53-54. Jobus Fincelius,
Wunderzeiche, Warhafftige Beschreybung und gründlich verzeichnuss schröcklicher Wunderzeichen und Geschichten
(Jhena: Rödinger, 1556); Lycosthenes, op. cit., 563.