A Tudor Terror is Born

The story of the Sweat begins with the very birth of the Tudor dynasty. In August 1485, just two weeks after Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field and claimed the throne as Henry VII, the sickness made its dramatic debut in London. The timing led many to speculate that it was brought to England by the French mercenaries in Henry’s army. Whatever its origin, its impact was immediate and devastating.

Contemporary chroniclers described a disease of unprecedented speed. A victim would first feel a sudden sense of apprehension, followed by violent cold shivers, dizziness, headache, and severe neck and shoulder pain. Then, after a few hours in this “cold stage”, the “hot stage” began. A profuse, foul-smelling sweat would erupt all over the body, accompanied by a soaring fever, delirium, a racing pulse, and unbearable thirst. From the first symptom to death could be a matter of hours. The chronicler Raphael Holinshed noted that it was a disease where one could be “merry at dinner and dead by supper.” Its mortality rate was shockingly high, with some estimates suggesting it killed 30-50% of those it infected.

The Five Visitations

For nearly 70 years, England lived under the shadow of the Sweat, never knowing when it might return. The disease erupted in five distinct, terrifying waves:

• 1485: The first outbreak, arriving with Henry VII’s army and killing thousands in London, including a Lord Mayor, his successor, and six aldermen within a few weeks.
• 1507: A less widespread, but still lethal, second coming.
• 1517: A third epidemic, so severe in some towns that it reportedly wiped out half the population.
• 1528: The “Great Sweat”, the most virulent and widespread outbreak, which even spread to mainland Europe.
• 1551: The final, and well-documented, farewell tour of the disease.

An Unrelenting Foe: Symptoms and ‘Treatment’

Tudor physicians were utterly baffled. This disease didn’t fit the patterns of the plague or other known illnesses. It lacked the tell-tale buboes of the Black Death and moved with a speed they had never seen. The physician John Caius, who witnessed the final outbreak, wrote the only surviving medical account of the disease. He meticulously detailed its progression and the desperate attempts at treatment.

The prevailing medical theory was that the sweat was the body’s attempt to expel the “malignant humour” causing the illness. Therefore, the goal was not to stop the sweating but to endure it. The “cure” was a 24-hour ordeal. Patients were immediately put to bed, covered in layers of blankets and furs, and all doors and windows were sealed to prevent a life-threatening chill. They were forbidden from sleeping for a full 24 hours, as falling asleep was considered a death sentence. If a patient survived this grueling day and night, they were generally considered safe. This race against time, with family members fighting to keep their loved ones awake, created scenes of pure desperation across the country.

The Great Sweat of 1528: A Royal Panic

The most infamous outbreak occurred in the summer of 1528, during the height of King Henry VIII’s volatile reign. London was gripped by panic. The law courts were closed, and anyone who could afford to fled to the countryside. The King himself became a royal fugitive, dissolving his court and moving from house to house every few days to escape the miasma.

The Sweat’s terror struck the very heart of the court. Most frighteningly for Henry, his beloved Anne Boleyn contracted the disease. Upon hearing the news, a terrified Henry dispatched his second-best doctor to her side (he kept his first for himself) and wrote her panicked letters. Miraculously, Anne survived the 24-hour ordeal, but the scare demonstrated that no one, no matter how powerful, was safe. The 1528 outbreak was also unique in that it was the only one to cross the English Channel. It burned a path through Hamburg, Germany—killing 1,000 people in a week—before reaching Switzerland, Poland, and Russia. On the continent, it was ominously known as “the English Sweat”, a testament to its origins.

The Final Farewell and a Lingering Mystery

After the epidemic of 1528, the Sweat went dormant for 23 years. It returned for one final, devastating curtain call in the summer of 1551. It began in Shrewsbury in April and spread throughout England, claiming the lives of the two young sons of the Duke of Suffolk on the same day. It was this outbreak that Dr. John Caius observed and chronicled, giving us our most valuable insights.

And then… silence. After 1551, the Sweating Sickness vanished from the world as mysteriously as it had arrived. It has never been seen again.

So, what was it? For centuries, the question has intrigued historians and scientists. Modern theories abound, though none can be definitively proven without physical evidence. The leading hypothesis is a form of hantavirus. Certain hantaviruses cause a syndrome with a rapid onset, flu-like symptoms, and pulmonary complications that mirror the Sweat’s descriptions. These viruses are spread by rodents, and outbreaks are often linked to environmental factors, such as unusually wet weather leading to a rodent population boom. Indeed, many of the Sweat years were preceded by damp springs and summers. Other theories suggest a form of anthrax or a now-extinct strain of influenza.

Without a body to test, the English Sweat remains a chilling historical enigma. It stands as a stark reminder of a time when a new, unknown killer could emerge from nowhere, bring a kingdom to its knees, and then disappear into the mists of history, leaving only a legacy of terror and unanswered questions.