A massive meteorite plummeted through the atmosphere and crashed into a wheat field outside the walled town of Ensisheim in modern-day Alsace, France. A young boy witnessed the strike, and the townsfolk gathered to break off pieces as holy relics until stopped by local authorities. King Maximilian I of Germany immediately rushed to the site, declaring the meteorite to be a favorable omen from God validating his ongoing military campaigns against France and Switzerland.

The humanist scholar and poet Sebastian Brant wrote popular broadsheets and poems commemorating the meteorite, interpreting it as a divine message. This event marks one of the earliest instances of a celestial omen being instantly integrated into printed print media and vernacular political poetry.