" Interesting is it to note here
that this was Halley's comet, and that Halley was at this very
moment making those scientific studies upon it which were to free
the civilized world forever from such terrors as distressed Thoresby.
The belief in comets as warnings against sin was especially one of
those held "always, everywhere, and by all," and by Eastern
Christians as well as by Western. One of the most striking scenes
in the history of the Eastern Church is that which took place at
the condemnation of Nikon, the great Patriarch of Moscow. Turning
toward his judges, he pointed to a comet then blazing in the sky,
and said, "God's besom shall sweep you all away!"
Of all countries in western Europe, it was in Germany and German
Switzerland that this superstition took strongest hold. That same
depth of religious feeling which produced in those countries the
most terrible growth of witchcraft persecution, brought
superstition to its highest development regarding comets. No
country suffered more from it in the Middle Ages.
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