Editing Sweating sickness (section)

==Epidemiology==
===Fifteenth century===
[[File:Arthur Prince of Wales c 1500.jpg|thumb|[[Arthur, Prince of Wales]], who may have died of the sweating sickness in 1502, aged fifteen]]
Sweating sickness first came to the attention of physicians at the beginning of the reign of [[Henry VII of England|Henry VII]], in 1485. It was frequently fatal; half the population perished in some areas. The Ricardian scholar [[John Ashdown-Hill]] conjectures that [[Richard III]] fell victim the night before the [[Battle of Bosworth Field]] and that this accounted for his sleepless night and excessive thirst in the early part of the battle.<ref>{{cite book | first=John | last=Ashdown-Hill | author-link=John Ashdown Hill | year=2015 | title=The Mythology of Richard III}}</ref> There is no definitive statement that the sickness was present in Henry Tudor's troops landing at [[Milford Haven]]. The battle's victor, Henry VII,  arrived in London on 28 August, and the disease broke out there on 19 September 1485;<ref name=Roberts>{{cite journal|pmc=2059547|year=1945|last1=Roberts|first1=L|title=Sweating Sickness and Picardy Sweat|journal=British Medical Journal|volume=2|issue=4414|pages=196|doi=10.1136/bmj.2.4414.196}}</ref> it had killed several thousand people by its conclusion in late October that year.<ref>{{cite book | first=John | last=Entick | author-link=John Entick | year=1766 | title=A new and accurate history and survey of London, Westminster, Southwark, and places adjacent | url=https://archive.org/details/anewandaccurate03entigoog | location=London | pages=[https://archive.org/details/anewandaccurate03entigoog/page/n438 434], vol. 1 }}</ref> Among those killed were two lord mayors, six aldermen, and three sheriffs.<ref>{{cite book | first=Walter | last=Harrison | year=1775 | title=A new and universal history, description and survey of the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark | location=London | page=127 }}</ref>

Mass superstition and paranoia followed the new plague. The Battle of Bosworth Field ended the Wars of the Roses, between the houses of Lancaster and York. Richard III, the final York king, was killed there and Henry VII was crowned. As chaos, grief, and anger spread, people searched for a culprit for the plague. English people started to believe it was sent by God to punish supporters of Henry VII.<ref name="Soukouya 2013">{{Cite journal|last1=Schölpfel|first1=Joachim|last2=Soukouya|first2=Maebena|date=November 2013|title=Providing Access to Electronic Theses and Dissertations: A Case Study from Togo|journal=D-Lib Magazine|volume=19|issue=11/12|doi=10.1045/november2013-schopfel|issn=1082-9873|doi-access=free}}</ref>

Because of its extremely rapid and fatal course, and the sweating which gave it its name, the sickness was regarded as being quite distinct from the [[Black Death]], the pestilential fever, or other epidemics previously known. It reached Ireland in 1492 when the ''[[Annals of Ulster]]'' record the death of [[James Fleming, 7th Baron Slane]] from the ''pláigh allais'' ["perspiring plague"], newly come to Ireland.<ref>''[[Annals of Ulster]]'' vol.iii, ed. B. MacCarthy, Dublin, 1895, pp. 358f.</ref> The ''[[Annals of Connacht]]'' also record this obituary,<ref>''Annals of Connacht'' ed. A. M. Freeman, Dublin, 1944, pp. 594f.</ref> and the ''[[Annals of the Four Masters]]'' record "an unusual plague in Meath" of 24 hours' duration;<ref>''Annals of the Four Masters'' vol.iii, ed. J. O'Donovan, Dublin, 1856, pp 1194f.</ref> people recovered if they survived it beyond that 24-hour period. The sickness didn't affect infants or young children. English chronicler [[Richard Grafton]] mentioned the sweating sickness of 1485 in his work ''Grafton's Chronicle: or History of England''. He noted the common treatment of the disease was to go immediately to bed at the first sign of symptoms; there, the affected person was to remain still for the entire 24-hour period of the illness, abstaining from any solid food and limiting water intake.<ref name="Grafton 1809">{{Cite journal|last=Grafton|first=Richard|date=1809|title=Grafton's chronicle: or, History of England from the Year 1189 to 1558|url=https://archive.org/details/graftonschronicl02grafuoft/page/154/|journal=The Library|volume=2|pages=161|doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.library.a090806|issn=1744-8581}}</ref>

===Sixteenth century===
[[File:Hans Holbein the Younger - Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (1535-51) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk]], who in 1551 died of the sweating sickness aged fifteen, just an hour before his brother Charles also succumbed]]
The ailment was not recorded from 1492 to 1502. It may have been the condition which afflicted Henry VII's son [[Arthur, Prince of Wales]], and Arthur's wife, [[Catherine of Aragon]], in March 1502; their illness was described as "a malign vapour which proceeded from the air".<ref>{{cite book | title=The Six Wives of Henry VIII | publisher=Grove Press | last=Weir | first=Alison | year=2007 | location=New York | isbn=978-0-8021-3683-1 | page=[https://archive.org/details/sixwivesofhenryv00weir_1/page/37 37] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/sixwivesofhenryv00weir_1 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=The Virgin Queen: A Personal History of Elizabeth I | publisher=Viking Press | last=Hibbert | first=Christopher | year=2010 | location=New York | isbn=978-1-84885-555-7 | page=4}}</ref> Researchers who opened Arthur's tomb in 2002 could not determine the exact cause of death. Catherine recovered, but Arthur died on 2 April 1502 in his home at [[Ludlow Castle]], six months short of his sixteenth birthday.<ref>{{cite book | title=Henry VIII | publisher=Oxford University Press | last=Ives | first=Eric | year=2007 | location=Oxford | isbn=978-0-19-921759-5 | page=1}}</ref>

A second, less widespread outbreak occurred in 1507, followed by a third and much more severe epidemic in 1517, a few cases of which may have also spread to [[Calais]].<ref name=Roberts/> In the 1517 epidemic, the disease showed a particular affinity for the English; the ambassador from Venice at the time commented on the peculiarly low number of cases in foreign visitors. A similar effect was noted in 1528 when Calais (then [[Pale of Calais|an English territory]]) experienced an outbreak that did not spread into France.<ref name="Wylie 1981" /> The 1528 outbreak, the fourth, reached epidemic proportions. The earliest written reference to it was on 5 June 1528, in a letter to Bishop Tunstall of London from Brian Tuke, who said that he had fled to [[Stepney]] to avoid infection from a servant at his house who was ill with "the sweat.",<ref>Charles Creighton, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=kRMLAAAAIAAJ&q=%22sweating+sickness%22+1528 A History of Epidemics in Britain from A.D. 664 to the Extinction of Plague]'' (Cambridge University Press, 1891) pp.250-251</ref> suggesting that it broke out in London at the end of May. The sweats spread over the whole of England, save the far north. It did not spread to Scotland, though it did reach Ireland where Lord Chancellor [[Hugh Inge]], who died on 3 August 1528, was the most prominent victim.<ref name="Ball2005">{{cite book|first=F. Elrington|last=Ball|author-link=F. Elrington Ball|title=The Judges in Ireland, 1221–1921|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rqeSXWqKAD8C&pg=PA117|access-date=5 May 2011|date=2005|orig-year=First published 1926|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange|isbn=978-1-58477-428-0|pages=117–}}</ref> Mortality was very high in London; Henry VIII broke up the court and left London, frequently changing his residence. In 1529 [[Thomas Cromwell]] lost his wife and two daughters to the disease. It is believed several of the closest people to [[Henry VIII]] contracted the sickness. His love letters to his mistress, [[Anne Boleyn]], reveal that physicians believed Anne had contracted the illness. Henry sent his second-most trusted physician to her aid, his first being unavailable, and she survived.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Henry VIII, King of England|date=April 27, 2010|title=The Love Letters of Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn; With Notes|url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32155|via=Project Gutenberg|access-date=7 December 2020|chapter=Letter Ninth|archive-date=3 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503065646/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32155|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Cardinal Wolsey]] contracted the illness and survived.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Grove|first=Joseph|title=The history of the life and times of Cardinal Wolsey, prime minister to King Henry Viii. I. Of his Birth, and the various Steps he took to attain Preferment, connected with Affairs, both Foreign and Domestick, from the Death of Edward IV. to the End of the Reign of Henry Vii. II. Of his Conduct and Management while Prime Minister, (commencing with the Reign of Henry Viii.) and continued by way of Annals to his Disgrace and Death, including the general Transactions of Europe. III. Memoirs of the Emperor Charles V. Henry Viii. and Francis I. from the Demise of the Cardinal to their respective Deaths. IV. The secret History of the Cardinal, by George Cavendish, Esq; his Gentleman Usher, written in the Reign of Philip and Mary. In which are interspersed The Lives and memorable Actions of the most eminent Persons: And the whole illustrated with Political and Moral Reflections. Collected from antient Records, Manuscripts, and Historians. ... . Adorn'd with Cuts, and a compleat Index|publisher=printed by J. Purser, for the author, and sold by J. Stagg, in Westminster-Hall; J. Brindley, in Bond-Street; R. Chandler and C. Ward, at Temple-Bar, York and Scarborough; L. Gilliver, and J. Whiston, in Fleet-Street; J. Huggonson, on Ludgate-Hill; T. Astley, in St. Paul's Church-Yard; R. Willock, J. Wood, J. Clarke, and W. Meadows, in Cornhill; and J. Walthoe, at Richmond in Surry. (London) Volume: 3|year=1742|pages=7–20}}</ref>

The disease was brought to Hamburg by a ship from England in July 1529.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gruner|first=Christian Gottfried|date=1847|title=Scriptores de sudore anglico superstites|url=https://archive.org/details/b28038071|via=Internet Archive|access-date=3 February 2024|pages=443–444}}</ref> It spread along the Baltic coast, north to Denmark, Sweden, and Norway as well as south to Strasbourg, Frankfurt, Cologne, Marburg, and Göttingen in September of that year.<ref name=Christiansen>{{cite journal|pmc=2706052|year=2009|last1=Christiansen|first1=John|title=The English Sweat in Lübeck and North Germany, 1529|journal=Medical History|volume=53|issue=3|pages=415–24|doi=10.1017/s0025727300004002|pmid=19584960 }}</ref> Cases were unknown in Italy or France, except in the English-controlled [[Pale of Calais]]. It emerged in Flanders and the Netherlands,<ref name=Roberts/> possibly transmitted directly from England by travellers; it appeared simultaneously in the cities of Antwerp and Amsterdam on the morning of 27 September. In each place, it prevailed for a short time, generally not more than two weeks. By the end of 1529, it had entirely disappeared except in the eastern part of the Swiss Confederacy, where it lingered into the next year. The disease did not recur in mainland Europe.

===Final outbreak===
[[File:Hans Holbein the Younger - Charles Brandon (Royal Collection).JPG|thumb|[[Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk]], died of the sweating sickness aged thirteen, having held the dukedom for just an hour after his elder brother died of the disease]]
The last major outbreak of the disease occurred in England in 1551.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The English Sweating Sickness, with Particular Reference to the 1551 Outbreak in Chester|author=Hunter, Paul R.|year=1991|journal=Reviews of Infectious Diseases|volume=13|issue=2|pages=303–306|jstor = 4455857|doi = 10.1093/clinids/13.2.303|pmid = 2041963}}</ref> Although burial patterns in smaller towns in Europe suggest that the disease may have been present elsewhere first,<ref name="Thwaites 1997" /> the outbreak is recorded to have begun in Shrewsbury in April.<ref name="Wylie 1981">{{Cite journal|last1=WYLIE|first1=JOHN A. H.|last2=COLLIER|first2=LESLIE H.|date=1981|title=The English Sweating Sickness (Sudor Anglicus): A Reappraisal|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/xxxvi.4.425|journal=Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences|volume=XXXVI|issue=4|pages=425–445|doi=10.1093/jhmas/xxxvi.4.425|pmid=7037928|issn=0022-5045|access-date=6 November 2020|archive-date=1 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201052137/https://academic.oup.com/jhmas/article-abstract/XXXVI/4/425/706250?redirectedFrom=fulltext|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> It killed around 1,000 there, spreading quickly throughout the rest of England<ref name="Dyer 1997">{{Cite journal|last=Dyer|first=Alan|date=1997|title=The English Sweating Sickness of 1551: An Epidemic Anatomized|journal=Medical History|language=en|volume=41|issue=3|pages=362–384|doi=10.1017/S0025727300062724|pmid=9327632|pmc=1044802|issn=0025-7273}}</ref> and all but disappearing by October.<ref name="Dyer 1997" /> It was more prevalent among younger men than other groups, possibly due to their greater social exposure.<ref name="Dyer 1997" /> John Caius wrote his eyewitness account ''A Boke or Counseill Against the Disease Commonly Called the Sweate, or Sweatyng Sicknesse''. Henry Machin also recorded it in his diary:

{{Blockquote|text=
the vii day of July begane a nuw swet in London…the x day of July [1551] the Kynges grace removyd from Westmynster unto Hamtun courte, for ther [died] serten besyd the court, and caused the Kynges grase to be gone so sune, for ther ded in London mony marchants and grett ryche men and women, and yonge men and old, of the new swett…the xvi day of July ded of the swet the ii yonge dukes of Suffoke of the swet, both in one bed in Chambrydge-shyre…and ther ded from the vii day of July unto the xix ded of the swett in London of all dyssesus… [872] and no more in alle|sign=''The Diary of [[Henry Machyn]] 1550–1563''<ref>{{citation|title=The Diary of Henry Machyn 1550–1563|date=1848|author=Henry Machin|pages=7–8|url=https://archive.org/stream/henrymachyncit00camduoft#page/6/mode/2up}}</ref>|}}

The ''Annals'' of [[Halifax, West Yorkshire|Halifax Parish]] of 1551 records 44 deaths in an outbreak there.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Taylor|first=D|title=Annals of the Parish of Halifax|journal=Halifax Antiquarian Society|date=28 March 1972|page=109|quote=1551 44 persons died of the 'sweating Sickness' in the Halifax Parish.}}</ref> An outbreak called 'sweating sickness' occurred in [[Tiverton, Devon|Tiverton]], Devon in 1644, recorded in Martin Dunsford's History, killing 443 people, 105 of them buried in October.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dunsford|first=Martin|title=Historical memoirs of the town and parish of Tiverton|date=1836|page=36}}</ref> However, no medical particulars were recorded, and the date falls well after the generally accepted disappearance of the 'sweating sickness' in 1551.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Creighton |first1=Charles |title=A history of epidemics in Britain |date=1891 |publisher=Cambridge Univ. |page=[https://archive.org/details/historyofepidemi01crei/page/554 554] |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofepidemi01crei |access-date=5 October 2019}}</ref>