Bede read comets and Saracen raids as twin portents of divine calamity

Evidence

In the year of our Lord 729, two comets appeared around the sun, striking terror into all who saw them. One comet rose early and preceded the sun, while the other followed the setting sun at evening, seeming to portend awful calamity to east and west alike. Or else, since one comet was the precursor of day and the other of night, they indicated that mankind was menaced by evils at both times. They appeared in the month of January, and remained visible for about a fortnight, pointing their fiery torches northward as though to set the heavens aflame. At this time, a swarm of Saracens ravaged Gaul with horrible slaughter; but after a brief interval in that country they paid the penalty of their wickedness [perfidia]. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 441

Categorization

• SHARE: The spectacle of comets being cited alongside Saracen raids as parallel signs of God’s wrath — worth sending to anyone studying how pre-modern chroniclers did natural theology.
• SEED: Potential article angle: astronomical events as medieval news framing — how comets, eclipses and plagues functioned as the ‘headline graphics’ of chronicle history.