[meteorite-list] Ensisheim was a Swiss Fall ..was italian TV program

[Elton Jones]

Peter Marmet wrote:

> M come Meteorite Meteorites wrote:
> Ensisheim say its fall in Swiss

...if it fell 23 miles more to the South  ---  it would be a Swiss  
meteorite:-)!

> Peter


Apparently this was Austrian controlled "Swiss" territory when Ensisheim 
fell in Nov of 1492. ( BTW Christopher Columbus had just 
"re-discovered"  the New World).   According to accounts, in 1431, 
Emperor Sigismond made  Ensisheim "a Seat of Austrian Regency and 
capitale of of his possessions in High Alsace, Country of Bade and North 
of Switzerland"... During this time The Old Swiss Confederacy was 
revolting against the House of Habsbourg seated in Austria. In the 
Swabian War of 1499 Switzerland  gained a de facto independence from 
Austria however formal independance wasn't pushed. Caught in the middle 
of mercenary commitments twixt Germany, Italy, and France; Switzerland 
adopts neutrality after 1515.

In 1648 Alsace was transfered from Habsbourg control to the King of 
France-- who's technocrats took possession of the meteorite and chipped 
it further into a smaller and smaller main mass, eventually returning 
the stone to the Village of Ensisheim almost totally void of fusion crust.

When Pre-War World  Germany came into existence as a unified country in 
1871 under Bismarck,  Alsace became a state of the German Federation and 
remained so until after the First World War when it reverted to France.

While no reference I saw cited the Ensisheim meteorite as falling on 
"Swiss" territory, at the time of the fall , it was more Swiss than 
German or French. 
 
Elton

*In a mention in 768, the village is mentioned as Enghisehaim.  **In the 
2^nd half of the XIII^th Century, Rodolphe de Habsbourg, who reaches 
imperial dignity, builds the powerful castle of Koenigsbourg. This 
fortress probably involved the displacement of the primitive village. In 
1431, Emperor Sigismond establishes in Ensisheim the seat of Austria 
Regency and makes the city the capitale of his possessions in High 
Alsace, country of Bade and North of Switzerland..

The 7^th November 1492, a 250 pounds meteorite falls in a filed close to 
the city - Sebastien Brand (1458-1521) author of "La nerf des fous" 
takes this opportunity to exert his influence on Maximilien of Austria 
by writing "Loose leaves concerning the fall of the meteorite" which 
lead the king to leave in war against France. The administrative and 
legal fonctions of the city confer her the prosperity which reach its 
peak between the end if the XVI^th and the beginning of the XVII^th 
century. Ensisheim is then mostly a rural commune where more than 200 
noble families live. From 1585 to 1634, the city owns a monetary 
workshop become the most significant in Alsace after Strasbourg. 
Nevertheless, as fa as the devastating shadow of the "Thirty Year War" 
(1618-1648) grows, Imperial admlinistration leave Ensisheim in 1630. 
During this dreadful period which falls on Alsace, Ensisheim will be 
pillaged 7 times between 1631 and 1638. The tragic consequences of this 
war would cause the ruin and the decline of the city. In 1648 after the 
Treaty of Wesphalie, the Habsbourg possessions are transfered to French 
Crown which runs them by creating in Ensisheim a royal Chamber, then in 
1662 the Provincial Council. By that time, Ensisheim is know again as 
the french province of Alsace, even though this function will be short. 
When the imperial troops return in 1674, the Provincial Council retire 
in Brisach. The city will be definitly taken again the following yaer by 
Marshall Turenne and the castle will be razed to the ground in 1682. The 
departure of the Sovereign Council results in the erasme of Ensisheim 
considered now as a simple chief town of baillage until the revolution. 
At the end of the Empire, the city will once again be occupied between 
1814 and 1820 by the Cossacks and the Austrians. At the beginning of the 
XX^th century, the development of the extraction of potash leads to a 
new rise for the city of Ensisheim which will have still to undergo many 
destructions during world War II. Nowadays, Ensisheim became a rather 
significant demographic and economical center.*