744 History of Monsters

...like a wreath of lilies, serving as a clear and evident omen of the impending Christian religion, as well as of peace and abundance. For this reason, we provide an illustration of this extraordinary and memorable halo in Figure III.

Everything we have explained so far regarding the circles associated with the sun should be understood as applying equally to the circles that crown the moon. For just as a halo sometimes appears near the sun, one is similarly generated around the face of the moon; indeed, just as parhelia (mock suns) are seen with the sun, paraselenae (mock moons) are observed with the moon. Furthermore, if multiple suns have occasionally been seen, the ancients also witnessed multiple moons at times. In the year of the world 3729, for instance, the people of Rimini beheld three moons with great wonder, and in that same year, according to the accounts of historians, the Carthaginians incited the Corsicans and Sardinians against the Romans. In the year of our Lord 1118, during the reign of Henry I in England, two full moons appeared, one of which seemed to illuminate the East and the other the West; not long afterward, Normandy was conquered.

In the year of human salvation 1157, in the month of September under a clear sky, three suns were seen, and a few days later in that same month, three moons appeared, the middle of which was marked with the sign of a cross. From this, investigators of natural phenomena foretold difficulty and discord in the election of the Supreme Pontiff, which was by no means far from the truth, as is clearly established in the history of Pope Alexander from that era.

Likewise, in the year of human salvation 1553, the inhabitants of Magdeburg saw three suns, the middle of which was conspicuous for its clearly bright color, while the flanking ones appeared defiled with a red and bloody hue. As these were setting and night was falling, three moons appeared, which brought a far greater fear to those watching, as things that appear at night tend to seem more horrible. In the following year, at the beginning of April, in Saalfeld—which is three miles from the imperial town of Schweinfurt—two mock moons were sighted as night fell, and shortly thereafter, the village perished in a ruinous fire.

Furthermore, a halo has been seen around the moon on many occasions; nevertheless, a particularly remarkable one was observed at Basel in the year of our Lord 1553, on the twenty-third day of January around the eighth hour of the night. A vast, large circle, like a rainbow, encircled the moon for three hours; afterward, a significant frost followed, which brought the greatest destruction to the trees and all the plants.

Sometimes, in addition to doubled moons and the circles that hedge the moon in, monstrous images appear in the moon itself. For instance, in the year of human salvation 1156, the image of a cross was visible in the moon in the form represented in Figure IV. At that time, as Lycosthenes recounts, Alberic, a soldier of Beauvais, suffered martyrdom for the Christian faith, Milan was besieged and brought back into the faith by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and in the following year, a flood of the Tiber brought the greatest destruction to Rome.

A similar image in the moon was witnessed by the people in the city of Wil in Thurgau in the month of April, 1544, under a clear sky; for a white cross shone around the lunar body. Nor is this to be wondered at, since the same mark of a cross, in a deep red color, was seen in the year 1554 in the town of Gräfentonna in Thuringia, covering the entire body of the sun along with many other circles, which there is no need to recount at present.

Now is an opportune time to hurry toward the end of this History by examining the causes of the aforementioned effects. For although some causes were set down while examining and describing these types of celestial monsters—without which such an effect could not be understood—we shall nevertheless attempt to embrace them all here.

Beginning, therefore, with general causes, we shall distinguish them into two types: one is called celestial, while the other is called elementary. The former produces meteorological effects, while the latter receives them. This happens for the former in two ways: first, because it is the cause of all effects—not only meteorological ones—through the mediation of motion; and second, because it is the eternal cause of weak and non-eternal things, which are accustomed to