Prevalence of popular superstitions–Comets announce wars, plagues, the deaths of sovereigns–Terrors of the year 1000; comets and the end of the world–Gian Galeazzo Visconti and the comet of 1402–-Ambrose Paré celestial monsters– Halley's comet and the Turks; origin of the Angelus de Midi–The comet of 1066 and the conquest of England by the Normans ; apostrophe to the comet by a monk of Malmesbury.

If a complete history were desired of all the superstitions which, during the Middle Ages and in modern times, have obtained with respect to comets, it would be necessary to pass in review every apparition of these stars, together with such incidental phenomena as the Aurora Borealis, new and temporary stars, bolides, &c, all of which have been converted by popular credulity into as many prodigies. Interesting in a scientific point of view, this long enumeration derived from the naïve chronicles of the time, the only documents available in the absence of a more complete and intelligent record, would be but a tedious study of human errors; a constant and monotonous repetition of the same absurd beliefs. To this state of things savants have themselves contributed, as at the epoch when these voluminous records were compiled cometary influences were still believed in, and the erudite of the day shared the universal prejudice.