One of my astronomical researches (for fun) projects has been to collect historical accounts of meteor sightings. There seems to be one account that stands out in the literature as Europe's most spectacular appearance. In the fall of 1783 a meteor entered the earths atmosphere over the North Sea traveled across the British Isle, crossed the Channel onto the Continent, and may have made it 1000 miles to Italy. As it traveled it threw off pieces and varied greatly in brightness.
(The pictures source and artist are unknown
but this is a contemporary representation of the event)
I found this account in "The Edinburgh Magazine" dated 1785 on Google Books. The article is included below. If you search you will find many references to what must have been a major event of the times and witnessed by tens of thousands of people.
(Click on the pages to enlarge for reading and remember,
at that time printers exchanged "f" for "S")
Clear Sky - Rich
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