The Devil apparently went out of his way to pester and distract Martin Luther. He would throw nuts at the ceiling and make casks tumble down staircases. On one occasion, Luther found a strange dog lounging in his room and, assuming this was a diabolical manifestation, threw the poor creature out of the window.
When Luther was deep in his studies one evening, “the Devil came and thudded three times in the storage cupboard”, so Luther packed up his books and went off to bed. Not that this guaranteed relief. “Almost every night when I wake up,” Luther complained, “the Devil is there, itching to argue with me.” Luther meant this quite literally, claiming that lengthy theological discussions about sin were regular ordeals.
