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Case of Saverne, in 1500:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1500-00-00-SAVERNE-1

Summary:

Pierre Boaistuau, alias Pierre Launay, alias Lauvrayn, born in 1517 in Nantes, died in 1566 in Paris, was a French compiler, translator and writer. From 1560 to 1594 he had published collections reissued a few times, of stories of monsters, real or mythical animals, plants, appearances of "Sathan", phenomena of all kinds including sky phenomena. He picked it up in earlier sources for which he did not give references.

In one of his collections, he would have noted, according to various authors, that in 1500, near Saverne, "one saw in the air a gigantic bull's head between the horns of which shone a big star."

The first connection with ufology can be found in a book of ghost stories by Cyrille de Neubourg, published in 1957: the author recalls the story in a chapter about "ghosts of the sky" and notes that most of these things then had "a much more beautiful and poetic form than our modern 'flying saucers'."

The story can be found without comment or source in the 1979 book "Légendes et Traditions de France", by ufology pioneer Aimé Michel, and Jean-Paul Clébert.

The chapter on the "signs of the sky" of this book is later reproduced in the ufology magazine Les Mystères de l'Est of 2005.

Such was the story told so far. However, on June 4, 2021, a ufologist told me that the real first source is Paul Lacroix, who is quite vague about his source, and suggests that it is Pierre Boaistuau, but he is not, as the case appears in none of the issues of his book.

The ufologist told me it was actually taken from "Prodigiorum ac ostentorum Chronicon" (1557, page 510) by Conrad Lycosthenes, and it makes sense since he was Alsatian. Lycosthenes wrote:

"In Alsatia non procul a Tabernis visum est caput Tauri, torvis oculis, inter cujus cornua, stella insolite magnitudinis emicuit."

(In Alsace, not far from Saverne, one saw a bull's head, with terrible eyes, between the horns of which shone a star of unusual size.)

To note: Lycosthenes clearly dated the story of the year 1499, not 1500.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. cls1:] CONRAD WOLFFHARDT, aka "LYCOSTHENES":

("Year 510 - In Alsace, not far from Saverne, one saw a bull's head, with terrible eyes, between the horns of which shone a star of unusual size.")

[Ref. mar1:] P. L. JACOB et al.:

[Ref. cng1:] CYRILLE DE NEUBOURG:

The source is indicated as a 6 volumes book titled "Histoires Prodigieuses", by Pierre Boaisteau, nicknamed "Lauvrayn, born in Brittany", published in 1597 in Paris.

[Ref. amc1:] AIME MICHEL AND JEAN-CLAUDE CLEBERT:

[Ref. lsr1:] LOUIS SCHLOSSER:

The source is given as "Histoires Prodigieuses", by Pierre Boaisteau [sic].

[Ref. mye1:] UFOLOGY MAGAZINE "LES MYSTERES DE L'EST":

The magazine published a copy of the chapter about "signs in the sky" from the book by Aimé Michel and Jean-Paul Clébert [amc1].

[Ref. pgs1:] EMAIL TO ME:

On June 4, 2021, a ufologist tells me what follows - thanks to him:

The first effective source is Paul Lacroix, who is quite vague about his source, and suggests that it is Pierre Boaistuau. It is not so. This case does not appear in the 1560 edition, it does not appear in that of 1575, it does not appear in those of 1598, of the "prodigious stories."

In reality this case is taken from "Prodigiorum ac ostentorum Chronicon" (1557, page 510) by Conrad Lycosthenes, and it makes sense since he was Alsatian. Lycosthenes writes:

"In Alsatia non procul a Tabernis visum est caput Tauri, torvis oculis, inter cujus cornua, stella insolite magnitudinis emicuit."

(In Alsace, not far from Saverne, one saw a bull's head, with terrible eyes, between the horns of which shone a star of unusual size.)

Follows the story of the fire dragon of Lucerne, also mentioned by Lacroix.

Lycosthenes attaches a picture, although he did not see the wonder himself.

As usual, the authors copied each other. The first author, Paul Lacroix, alias the bibliophile Jacob, must have cited from memory, unless he used an indirect source, or is not the author of this passage, since he was only supposed to direct the work.

My correspondent attached this image:

I this removed this source noted as unavailable to me:

• [pbu1] ? "Histoires Prodigieuses", book by Pierre Boaisteau, France, 1560 - 1594.

And I added the indicated primary source [cls1] in my sources references.

(Note - June 17, 2021: a few days later my correspondant sent me copies of said source; which I thus added.)

Discussion:

Conrad Wolffhart, alias "Lycosthenes" was born in Rouffach in the Haut-Rhin in August 1518, he died in 1561. He studied in Heidelberg in Germany, then was a scholar, humanist and popularizer of science, professor of grammar and dialectics, deacon of Saint-Léonard in Basel.

In 1557, he published his book "Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon", a collection of all kinds of "prodigious" phenomena, mirages, falls of rosses or others, showers of blood, two-heads cows, etc., illustrated with naive engravings.

I am very ready to accept that an extraterrestrial craft which would have passed in the sky of Saverne in 1500 would have been described with the words which one finds in this story.

But... there is not the slightest reason at the moment to believe that this actually happened. Some of Lycosthenes' stories may have been based on real events, for example meteors, comets, mock suns and so on, or even, on what would today have been classified as UFO sighting, but the credibility is not there and neither is the quality of the information.

Note on the year of the event: second hand sources gave "1500"; but in Lycosthenes's book [cls1], this event appears in a section for year 1499, not 1500:

Evaluation:

Without credibility.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

• [cld1] * "Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon, quae praeter naturae ordinem, et in superioribus et his inferioribus mundi regionibus, ab exordio mundi usque ad haec nostra tempora acciderunt", book by Conrad Wolffhardt, aka Lycosthenes, Henri Petri publisher, Basel, Switzerland, pages 509,510, 1557.
• [mar1] * "Le Moyen âge et la Renaissance: histoire et description des moeurs et usages, du commerce et de l'industrie, des sciences, des arts, des littératures et des beaux-arts en Europe, Volume 10071", book by P. L. Jacob, Paul Lacroix, Ferdinand Seré, France, page XII, 1848.
• [amc1] * "Légendes et Traditions de France", book by Aimé Michel and Jean-Paul Clébert, page 434, Denoël publisher, France, 1979.
• [cng1] * "Fantômes et maisons hantées", book by Cyrille de Neubourg, Grasset publisher, France, 1957.
• [lsr1] * "La vie de Nostradamus", book by Louis Schlosser, Pierre Belfond publisher, France, page 13, 1983.
• [mye1] * Ufology magazine Les Mystères de l'Est, CNEGU, France, #10, 2005.
• [pgs1] * Email sent to me by a ufologist, on June 4, 2021.

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This page was last updated on June 17, 2021.