Scientists are still baffled by the sweating sickness, a disease of unknown cause that appeared in England as an epidemic on five occasions—in 1485, 1508, 1517, 1528, and 1551. It was confined to England, except in 1528–29, when it spread to Europe.
People died sometimes within two to eighteen hours. If they survived 24 hours, they would probably survive. It is believed to have had a 50% death rate.
It appeared suddenly in 1485 when Henry VII and his army returned to England and reclaimed the throne. Some thought the army brought it or perhaps merchants, but it didn’t appear anywhere else on the Continent.
It disappeared until 1502, when the disease is thought to have killed the young Arthur, Prince of Wales, paving the way for his younger brother to succeed their father as Henry VIII.
King Henry VIII’s wife, Lady Anne Boleyn, caught the disease in 1528 but survived, only to later have her head cut off by her husband.
Henry’s daughters later died, but perhaps from something else.
An English Disease, Mostly of the Wealthy
The disease was mostly confined to England and the wealthy.
British physician John Caius, who was practicing in Shrewsbury in 1551 when an outbreak of sweating sickness occurred, fully described the disease. His account, A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse (1552), is the main historical source of knowledge of the extraordinary disease.
The Symptoms
The illness began with rigors, headache, giddiness, and severe prostration. After one to three hours, violent, drenching sweat came on, accompanied by severe headache, delirium, and rapid pulse. It was not unusual for patients to have several attacks. Each epidemic lasted for only a few weeks in any particular locality.
Since 1578, the only outbreaks of a disease resembling the English sweat have been those of the Picardy sweat, which occurred frequently in France between 1718 and 1861. In that illness, however, there was invariably a rash lasting for about a week, and the mortality rate was lower.
The first wave of sweating sickness, also called the English sweat, caused 15,000 deaths in just six weeks. Over the course of 70 years, it hit England five times. It appeared in late summer or early fall. It always hit the wealthy harder. After the fifth outbreak, it disappeared, perhaps mutating into something milder.
The Black Death was a devastating plague that swept through Europe in the 14th century. It was far more deadly than the sweating sickness. Still, we know what caused it. No one knows what caused the sweating sickness. Some suggest it is a form of hantavirus, or perhaps anthrax was the cause. Others think it might have been insect-borne, like dengue fever. They don’t believe it was a form of influenza or typhus. One medieval writer identified it with relapsing fever, which is spread by lice and ticks, and has many characteristics in common with sweating sickness. It is improbable that sweating sickness would appear as a well-defined disease and then vanish altogether. We will likely never know for sure what caused it.
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