In the sixteenth century, unusual phenomena in the sky were often identified as “wondrous signs” or celestial “prodigies.” They were not regarded merely as private events: they could be interpreted as warnings addressed to a city, a prince, a religious confession, or even the whole of Christendom. The printed broadsheet transformed such occurrences into part of an early European media culture. A historical bibliography cited by Cambridge lists almost four hundred titles, including reprints, devoted to celestial prodigies in Lutheran Germany between 1550 and 1599.
Plech, 11 June 1554: A Battle in the Sky
One of the most fascinating cases is the broadsheet printed by Thiebold Berger in Strasbourg in 1554, concerning an apparition witnessed near Plech, not far from Nuremberg. The title refers to a “wondrous celestial apparition” observed on 11 June. Above the landscape, the image shows two groups of armed horsemen engaged in combat, while the Sun is crossed by a reddish band. Below them appear a fallen man and dead horses.
The “broadsheet” includes a heading and a description of the apparition, which reads as follows.
Heading — In the year 1554, on the eleventh day of Brachmonat [June], this vision, or sign, was seen by many people at Blech [Plech], a place situated five miles from Nuremberg, in the following form.
Description of the apparition — Suddenly, in the midst of the Sun as it rose, there appeared a bloody or fiery ray, which shortly afterwards withdrew from it. After this, blue stars, or spheres, appeared, as large as the bottoms of washtubs; all came from the direction of the rising Sun. Two horsemen with small blue banners then appeared, ascending above a wood. They charged at one another, moving up and down [and from side to side], and fought with long lances. The stars, however, always advanced before them and descended even as far as the ground, approaching [a place near the market square; this passage is partly illegible].
The whole spectacle was so terrifying that the inhabitants feared the Day of Judgement had arrived. But when both the stars and the horsemen came very close to the market, a crashing sound and a great noise were heard, as when something plunges into water. Immediately afterwards, however, everything rose once again towards the Sun, and the horsemen resumed their former positions. They fought for two hours, after which everything disappeared.
These things were seen and attested as true by Leonhardt Kellner, at that time the Fronbote of Nuremberg [a municipal or judicial messenger or officer], who was then present at Blech. They were also confirmed by the parish priest and the entire local community, who declared that everything had truly occurred in this form. […]
Stockholm, April 1535: The Sky as a Political Argument
The celebrated painting known as the Vädersolstavlan, the “Sundog Painting,” depicts a solar phenomenon observed over Stockholm in 1535. Luminous circles and several lateral images of the Sun appear around the solar disc—what today would be described as a complex display of halos and parhelia, or sundogs. In the sixteenth century, however, such figures could easily be perceived as threatening and providential signs.
According to the interpretation preserved by Moderna Museet, the phenomenon became part of the conflict between Olaus Petri and King Gustav Vasa: the sky was invoked as a sign of the danger caused by the weakening of ecclesiastical autonomy. The king himself was angered by the painting, since the prodigy could become a symbolic weapon against his religious policies.
Nuremberg, 14 April 1561: The Most Famous Case
The best-known example is the broadsheet by Hans Glaser, printed in Nuremberg in 1561 and now held by the Zentralbibliothek Zürich. The woodcut depicts a complex scene above the city: crosses, globes or spheres, cylindrical shapes, arches, dark and reddish elements, a large black triangular or lance-shaped figure, the Sun with a human face, and groups of people watching from below.
Modern interpretations often isolate the “tubes” and spheres as though they formed the core of the account. In the original, however, they are only one part of a much broader scene in which crosses, semicircles, dark figures, elements of combat and religious symbols coexist. The following text accompanies the woodcut.
In the year 1561, on 14 April, in the morning between the beginning of daybreak and the following hour, that is, between four and five o’clock, a most terrifying spectacle appeared around the rising Sun. It was seen in the city of Nuremberg, outside the gates and in the surrounding countryside, by many men and women.
First, the Sun appeared and was seen with two blood-coloured semicircular bands, shaped evenly like the waning Moon, running directly through its centre. Within the Sun, above, below and on both sides, there were round blood-coloured spheres, some bare or iron-coloured and others black.
Likewise, on both sides of the Sun and in a ring around it, there were similar blood-red spheres, as well as many other spheres arranged in groups of two or three, lengthwise; among them were four forming a square, together with about twenty others. Among these spheres, several blood-coloured crosses could be seen. Between the crosses and the spheres were blood-coloured bands, thick towards the rear and extending outwards, somewhat more flexible than squat tubes.
Everything was mixed together. Among the other forms were two large tubes, one on the right and the other on the left. Within these tubes were three, four or even more spheres, both large and small.
All these things then began to fight one another. The spheres that had initially been within the Sun flew out towards those positioned on either side. The spheres outside, together with those contained in the small and large tubes, then flew towards the Sun. The tubes also carried all their spheres beneath them.
They fought fiercely with one another, struggling and battling violently. The confrontation continued for a good hour, at times within the Sun and at other times outside it, moving very fiercely backwards and forwards, until all the figures became completely exhausted.
Everything then fell from the Sun and from the sky towards the Earth, as described above, as though it were burning. It gradually vanished beneath a great cloud of vapour rising from the ground.
After all this, there appeared a black spear, resembling a great, thick and long lance. Its shaft pointed upwards towards the rising Sun, while its tip was directed downwards.
But only God knows the meaning of such signs. Since Almighty God shows us so many different signs in the heavens in rapid succession, as signs of our sinful lives, by which He graciously desires to attract us and lead us to repentance, we are unfortunately so ungrateful that we despise these exalted signs and miracles of God. We even speak of them mockingly and cast them to the wind, without fearing that God may send us a terrible punishment because of our ingratitude.
The God-fearing, however, will not despise such things. Instead, they will pay attention to all these faithful warnings from their merciful Heavenly Father, amend their lives and faithfully pray to God that He may turn away from us His righteous anger and the punishment we deserve, so that we, as His children, may live here in this temporal world and there eternally. May God help us all. Amen.
— By Hanns Glaser, letter-painter in Nuremberg
One particularly noteworthy detail is that Nuremberg was not suddenly confronted with a single isolated “UFO case.” On 2 March of the same year, Hans Glaser had already published another broadsheet concerning an extraordinary lunar apparition observed above the city.
Basel, 1566: The Black Spheres and Collective Fear
A few years later, in 1566, a broadsheet printed in Basel described phenomena that had occurred on 27 and 28 July and on 7 August: unusual sunsets and sunrises, a reddish Moon and sky, and black globes that appeared to move or collide in front of the Sun. The title itself announces a “strange figure” that appeared towards the east and west above Basel.
The engraving is highly effective. The city and its Münster appear in the background, while numerous white and black circular shapes can be seen in front of the Sun, which has been given a human face. The inhabitants look towards the sky with gestures expressing astonishment and fear. The description accompanying the woodcut reads as follows.
In the year 1566. A prodigious phenomenon which, in this year 1566, was seen in the sky on three occasions, at the rising and setting of the Sun, at Basel on 27 and 28 July, and then on 7 August.
In this year 1566, on 27 July, after the Sun—which Pliny rightly called the eye of the world—had shone throughout the day, pleasantly and warmly, in clear and well-purified air, it suddenly changed towards sunset, at around seven in the evening, assuming a different form and colour.
First, it lost its rays and splendour. It then appeared no larger than the disc of the full Moon. Finally, as though it were weeping blood, it was seen in black air, with [a sort of dark field or veil] behind it, by people of every social condition, both here in the city and throughout the surrounding region.
Likewise, after sunset, the Moon—which was then not far from full and was shining intensely—remained in the sky throughout the night, appearing almost red and blood-coloured.
The following morning, which was a Sunday, the Sun appeared once again and rose at about three o’clock, almost in the same form and appearance in which it had previously set. It cast such reflections upon houses, streets and everything else that certain objects appeared fiery and covered in blood.
Furthermore, on 7 August, at sunrise and shortly before it, many large black spheres were seen in the air. They passed in front of the Sun at great speed and then turned back against one another, as though they were fighting. Some of them became red and fiery, after which they were consumed and extinguished.
Although natural causes may be proposed for these phenomena, on account of the exhalations and vapours generated especially by the preceding winter and summer, both of which had been extremely wet, or by the intense heat that followed a long period of cold and rain, their interpretation—since these were not ordinary events—must nevertheless be approached in a manner similar to that of comets, such as the one currently visible, and eclipses: according to natural calculation, but without regarding them as ordinary phenomena in every respect.
Holy Scripture, in both the Old and New Testaments, recalls the signs that appear in the stars and in the heavens. Long experience of the world has shown in particular that, when the light of the great luminaries is obscured, as has now occurred so intensely, death, famine and war commonly follow.
For this reason, the poet speaks of the eclipses of the Moon and the sufferings of the Sun: “The manifold defects of the Moon and the afflictions of the Sun.”
We now have no need to guess what may occur, since the rods of the Lord, who justly chastises and visits the disobedient world, are already being felt everywhere. It is to be feared, however, that God, according to His justice, may be compelled to make the punishments already inflicted on several occasions even more severe, should they fail to prove salutary [and produce repentance].
We must therefore take such things to heart and behave like pious children who, with groaning, prayer, repentance and the correction of their lives, run beneath the outstretched arm of their Father, so that we may find mercy even in His anger.
The Lord does not forget mercy: He is gracious and heals those who turn to Him. [Hosea, IV.]
According to the teaching of the Lord, this would mean not allowing oneself to be terrified by the signs of the heavens, but rather fearing the Lord Himself, who places these and similar warnings before our eyes, together with the preaching of His holy Word.
Since spheres resembling artillery projectiles have been seen, and since such things belong to war, God must be faithfully invoked so that He may grant His grace to His Imperial Majesty, to the whole Roman Empire and to the other princes and lords who provide aid and support. May the hereditary enemy of Christendom now encounter vigorous resistance and defeat.
May God also cast down the bloodthirsty Ottoman house, which [originated among the Scythians or Tartars] two hundred and sixty-six years ago, and instead increase and preserve throughout the Earth the kingdom of Jesus Christ, our beloved Lord.
This is the prayer of Samuel Coccius, student of Holy Scripture and the liberal arts, of Basel, his native city.
Printed by Samuel Apiarius.
An Italian Connection: Rome, 1536, and Ancient Precedents
Italian printing also participated in the circulation of accounts of such prodigies. The Universal Short Title Catalogue records a pamphlet printed in Rome in 1536 by Albertino Zanelli, entitled El gran prodigio di tre soli apparsi in Franza…—The Great Prodigy of Three Suns That Appeared in France…. Unfortunately, it has not been possible to consult the original text.
Cases involving unusual “objects” or “phenomena” did not originate in the sixteenth century. In the Naturalis Historia, Pliny the Elder recalls a phenomenon described as a clipeus ardens, a “burning shield,” which was said to have crossed the sky at sunset from west to east, scattering sparks.
The word “shield” evokes a celestial object whose precise nature cannot be determined: we cannot know whether it referred to a natural phenomenon or to something else.
In Roman public religion, prodigies were not merely private curiosities. They were signs that could be officially recognised, discussed by the authorities and addressed through expiatory practices intended to restore the pax deorum, the proper relationship between the city and the gods.
Flavius Josephus, in his account of the Jewish War, likewise reports that chariots and armed troops were seen in the air before the destruction of Jerusalem.
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