No country suffered more from it in the Middle Ages.

At the Reformation Luther declared strongly in favour of it.

In one of his Advent sermons he said, "The heathen write that the comet may arise from natural causes, but God creates not one that does not foretoken a sure calamity." Again he said, "Whatever moves in the heaven in an unusual way is certainly a sign of God's wrath." And sometimes, yielding to another phase of his belief, he declared them works of the devil, and declaimed against them as "harlot stars."(101) (101) For Thoresby, see his Diary, (London, 1830).

Halley's great service is described further on in this chapter.

For Nikon's speech, see Dean Stanley's History of the Eastern Church, p.485.For very striking examples of this mediaeval terror in Germany, see Von Raumer, Geschichte der Hohenstaufen, vol.vi, p.538.For the Reformation period, see Wolf, Gesch.d.