Great Plague of Vienna related to Great Comet of 1680?

[HowToBe]

I saw a mention of the supposed "brightest comet ever" that's supposed to fly by the sun in late 2013 to early 2014, so I looked it up, and noticed something.

_http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120927-new-comet-2012-s1-ison-science-space-moon/

If astronomers' early predictions hold true, the holidays next year may hold a glowing gift for stargazers—a superbright comet, just discovered streaking near Saturn.

Even with powerful telescopes, comet 2012 S1 (ISON) is now just a faint glow in the constellation Cancer. But the ball of ice and rocks might become visible to the naked eye for a few months in late 2013 and early 2014—perhaps outshining the moon, astronomers say.

The comet is already remarkably bright, given how far it is from the sun, astronomer Raminder Singh Samra said. What's more, 2012 S1 seems to be following the path of the Great Comet of 1680, considered one of the most spectacular ever seen from Earth.

"If it lives up to expectations, this comet may be one of the brightest in history," said Samra, of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver, Canada.

So I looked up that comet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1680_V1

C/1680 V1, also called the Great Comet of 1680, Kirch's Comet, and Newton's Comet, has the distinction of being the first comet discovered by telescope. Discovered by Gottfried Kirch on 14 November 1680, New Style, it became one of the brightest comets of the 17th century – reputedly visible even in daytime – and was noted for its spectacularly long tail.[4] Passing only 0.42 AUs from Earth on 30 November,[5] it sped around an incredibly close perihelion of 0.0062 AU (930,000 km; 580,000 mi) on 18 December 1680, reaching its peak brightness on 29 December as it rushed outward again.[2][5] It was last observed on 19 March 1681.[1] As of September 2012 the comet was about 253 AU from the Sun.[6]

Being curious, I searched "1680 Black Death" to see if any plagues started around that time. I learned of this:

The Great Plague of Vienna occurred in 1679 in Vienna, Austria, the imperial residence of the Austrian Habsburg rulers. From contemporary descriptions, the disease is believed to have been bubonic plague, which is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, carried by fleas associated with the black rat and other rodents. The city was crippled by the epidemic, which recurred fitfully into the early 1680s, losing an estimated 76,000 residents.

[...]

Regional outbreak

What has become known as the "Great Plague of Vienna", was actually only a subset of a much larger outbreak across Germany, Austria, Bohemia and neighboring regions. This epidemic appears to have been carried into the region from two opposing directions. It had been raging in Western Europe for many years, traveling East by trade routes. The Great Plague of London of 1665-1666, which is believed to have originated from the Netherlands in the 1650s, killed around 100,000 people, and was the first major epidemic in a series of outbreaks. In 1666 a severe plague raged in Cologne and on the Rhine, which was prolonged until 1670 in the district. In the Netherlands there was plague in 1667-1669, but there are no definite notices of it after 1672. France saw its last plague epidemic in 1668.

In the years 1675-1684 a new plague wave originated in the Ottoman Empire (Turkey and areas of the Balkans). It moved into North Africa, Bohemia, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Saxony, progressing generally northward. The island of Malta lost 11,000 persons in 1675.

The plague of Vienna in 1679 was very severe, causing at least 76,000 deaths. Other urban centers in this area of Europe had similar levels of casualties. For instance, Prague in 1681 lost 83,000 due to plague. Dresden was affected in 1680, Magdeburg and Halle in 1682. In Halle, a mortality of 4,397 out of a population of about 10,000 was recorded. Many North German cities suffered during these years; but, by 1683, the plague disappeared from Germany until the epidemic of 1707.

(I've underlined dates in the text)

So Vienna's plague started in 1679, and the comet was visible in 1680. How possible/likely is it that the two events are related? There were a cluster of plagues from 1680 on, although they resolved by 1683 or so according to this page...

Also:
The earliest date noted for other plagues is 1650, and 1665 is the second-earliest (Great Plague of London). I did a quick search for comets around that time and found this page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-periodic_comets

There I found comet "C/1652 Y1":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C/1652_Y1

C/1652 Y1 was a naked-eye comet observed, amongst others by Jan van Riebeeck. First spotted on December 16, 1652, by Dutch observers at Pernambuco (Brazil).[1]

As of June 2008 the comet was about 280 A.U. from the Sun (very approximate due to poorly determined orbit).[2][3]

FWIW

 

[Possibility of Being]

Very interesting, HowToBe. Nice observation and research, but I don't think the C/1680 comet could have been responsible for the 1680 plague. When you look at the diagram here:

http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=C%2F1680%20V1;orb=1;cov=0;log=0;cad=0#orb

you can see that the incoming C/1680 crossed the orbit of Jupiter in March 1680, of Mars in October 1680, and the Earth orbit around November 21; then around December 23, the Earth crossed its orbit moving through any possible remnants/dust; on Dec 18 the comet turned around the sun and began it's way back. Remember that for any possible stuff left behind a comet to fall down here on the ground it takes time after the earth crosses the comet's path/tail.

But there were other comets. In his book Comets: a Chronological History of Observation, Science, Myth, and Folklore, Yeomans published a list of all comet observations reported up to 1700.

Below is an excerpt listing possible culprit candidates. It's a slightly improved google translation since I don't have the original English edition of Yeomans's book. Not sure if I've got all the constellation names right.

I have left out observations of distant comets.

In brackets:
P- stands for perihelion followed by the time of its occurrence; d- minimal distance between the comet and the earth and a corresponding date

1652, December 17 (P = November 13.2, d = 0.13 AU on 20 December), China, Europe, Africa. The Chinese reported the comet on Dec. 22 as the star with an unusual pale steam. It was moving west and entered the Bull. European observers noted the comet on Dec. 18 and watched it until the first days of January 1653. Hevelius in Gdansk [now Poland] watched the comet from 20 December to 8 January, and said that it was of pale bluish color and was the size of the Moon. At the Cape of Good Hope the comet was recorded on Dec. 17 as moving through the east-south-east evening sky. It was located south of Orion's head with its tail pointing to the north. On December 24 the head was 1 degree from the Pleiades, and the tail, pointing to the southeast, reached the greatest clarity.
[Ho Peng Yoke and Ang Tian-Se (82), P9, McIntyre (1949), Hind (1879), Knobel (1897).]

1665, March 27 (P = April 24.7; d = 0.57 AU on 4 April); China, Korea, Japan, Europe. A comet was observed in 1665 across Europe from 27 March to 20 April when it was so close to the Sun that further observations were impossible. Hevelius watched it from 6 to 20 April. Chinese observers recorded the comet for the first time on March 28 in the north-western part of Aquarius. On April 13 it was in the eastern part of the Pegasus, and its tail measured more than 7 degrees. On April 17, it moved to the northern part of Pisces.
[P22, Ho Peng Yoke and Ang Tian-Se (84).]

1661, February 3 (P = January 27.4, d = 0.61 AU on 29 January), Europe. Hevelius observed the comet on Feb. 3, when it was in the eastern part of Auriga/Charioteer, and watched it till the end of the month and in March. He performed the telescopic observations, noting many structures in its body. The comet moved slowly to the west through the Eagle and last time was observed on March 28 in the western part of the Eagle. Many thought wrong, including Edmond Halley, that it was the return of the comet of 1532.
[PIO, Halley (1705).]

1664, Nov. 17 (P = December 5.0, d = 0.17 AU on 29 December); China, Korea, Japan, Europe. The great comet seen in 1664 from 17 November 1664 until 20 March 1665 as it was rising mornings in November and December, and then as an evening object in the first months of 1665. The Chinese observed the comet firstly as a broom-like star on November 18 in the Crow. On November 26, its grayish tail was of about 1 degree and pointed to the southwest. On December 16, it was in the Cup with a tail being longer than 5 degrees, pointing to the northwest. The next night it was in the western part of the Sea Serpent with its tail pointing to the north. On December 29 it was in the Twins, and on January 1, 1665, moved west and reached the western part of the Bull/Taurus. After two nights, with the tail pointing to the northeast, it came to the northern part of Aries. On January 8, it reached the north-western part of the Ram/Aries, with its blue tail pointing to the east. On January 20, it was in the northern part of the Pisces/Fishes with the tail's length of about 3 degrees. In Europe, Christiaan Huygens observed the comet in Leiden, Jan Hevelius in Gdansk, Auzout and Adrien Petit Pierre in France, and many others. With the telescope, the comet was observed until March 20, when the increasing distance from the Sun and the Earth and the forthcoming join with the sun prevented further observations.
[PIO, Ho Peng Yoke and Ang Tian-Se (83), Petit (1665), Maunder (1934).]

1668, March 3 (P = February 28.1, d = 0.80 AU on March 5); China, Korea, Japan, India, Africa, Europe. The comet was seen for the first time at the Cape of Good Hope on March 3, and in Brazil and Lisbon, Portugal two days later. Best visible was to observers in the southern hemisphere. On March 10, JD Cassini in Bologna, Italy, wrote that it extended from the Whale to the center of Eridanus, with a length of about 30 degrees. In Goa, India, it's head location was marked on maps from 9 to 21 March, and at the Cape of Good Hope from 3 to 23 March. Chinese observers recordered the comet from 7 to 30 March when it disappeared from sight. On March 7, it was described as a streak of white light in the southwest of more than 9 degrees and pointing to the southeast. On March 18, it was spreading out over more than 40 degrees in Eridanus. This comet is probably a member of the sungrazing Kreutz family of comets.
[P22, Ho Peng Yoke and Ang Tian-Se (85), Henderson (1843), Marsden (1967, 1989).]

1672, March 2 (P = March 1.9, d = 1.02 AU on March 15); Europe. Hevelius discovered the comet in Pegasus on March 2 and watched it until April 22, when it was in the northern part of Orion. Cassini observed it from 26 March to 7 April.
[P23, Berberich (1888).]

1677, April 27 (P = May 6.5, d = 0.54 AU on April 17); Europe. Discovered by Hevelius in Gdansk on April 27 and observed till May 8 when it disappeared in the morning aurora. On May 3, John Flamsteed recorded its tail length as of 6 degrees.
[P24.]

1678, September 11 (P = August 27.1, d = 0.26 AU on 28 August); Europe. Philippe de La Hire first discovered this comet in Aquarius. It was last seen on October 7 in Pisces.
[P24.]