The Blood-Red Comet of 1528: When the Sky Set Fear Aflame ☄️
COMET, 1528. The fearful Comet of 1528, accompanied by a cloud of swords, daggers, halberds, and decapitated heads. Woodcut from Ambroise Pare's 'Livres de Chirurgie,' 1597.
Spooky season is officially here. So what better time to tell the tale of one of the most chilling – and some might say ‘hysterical’ – celestial events in history: the Blood-Red Comet of 1528.
During the 16th century, comets had always been viewed as ominous, but there was something undeniably different about this one. It didn’t shine a soft, silvery white like the others. Instead, it glowed a deep crimson, a streak of blood-red slashing through the sky.
Across Europe, people stared upward in utter terror. Pamphlets circulated, showing the comet raining down fire, spears and blood – the kind of fear-mongering even the modern-day newspapers would be proud of (you know the ones). To a society already wrestling with plague, famine and religious upheaval, the sight seemed like a warning from God Himself.
You get a sense of the chaos this comet caused from Monsieur Ambroise Pare, “the father of modern surgery”.
He wrote, somewhat dramatically:
“This comet was so horrible, so frightful, and it produced such great terror in the vulgar, that some died of fear, and others fell sick. It appeared to be of excessive length, and was of the colour of blood. At the summit of it was seen the figure of a bent arm, holding in its hand a great sword, as if about to strike. At the end of the point there were three stars. On both sides of the rays of this comet were seen a great number of axes, knives, blood-coloured swords, among which were a great number of hideous human faces, with beards and bristling hair.”
Fright appears to have spread quickly, with families praying day and night in the streets and priests thundering from their pulpits about divine anger. Some communities even slaughtered animals as sacrifices in an attempt to appease the heavens. For everyone who lived beneath its eerie glow, the blood comet was a terrible omen.
Eventually, the crimson comet disappeared, leaving a spooky shadow in its wake. But in the years that followed, Europe was ravaged by outbreaks of plague and brutal religious wars. For many, this was confirmation the comet’s message had come true.
Of course, today we know comets are simply astral travellers, their tails nothing more than a glow from the sun’s light. But for the people of 1528, this was no simple lump of space rock. It was a cosmic prophecy written across the skies – a reminder that the line between heaven and Earth once seemed terrifyingly thin.
Thankfully, not many of us look starward to find fear and frenzy. If you fancy exploring Leo & Luna’s celestial artwork, you’ll see we’re all about celebrating the stars as timeless guides throughout history – not terrifying harbingers of destruction…