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

From: Elton Jones <jonee_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 20 00:31:15 2006
Message-ID: <4446A343.9000107_at_epix.net>

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.*
Received on Wed 19 Apr 2006 04:53:23 PM PDT