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An Assessment of the “Sweating Sickness” Affecting England During the Tudor Dynasty

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An Assessment of the “Sweating Sickness” Affecting England During the Tudor Dynasty AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Edwin Del Wollert for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History of Science presented on March 15, 2017. Title: An Assessment of the “Sweating Sickness” Affecting England During the Tudor Dynasty Abstract approved: Paul E. Kopperman Abstract. While historiography and interest in Tudor England at both the popular and specialist levels presents few signs of diminishing, there may nonetheless exist a sense that we have little left to learn about this period and its culture. A notable gap in our knowledge, however, remains regarding the mysterious disease known only as “sweating sickness” or sudor anglicus. This dissertation addresses and evaluates this disease from the perspective of the history of science, and in doing so, it makes three key arguments. First, this project examines how the early modern science and medicine known and practiced by Tudor subjects influenced their perceptions of this new disease, leaving them in a mostly helpless position from which to combat it and indeed often wondering if the unknown illness might represent a divine judgment, especially in the form of questioning a dubious claim to monarchy made by the first Tudor ruler, Henry VII. Second, the dissertation offers a detailed and layered thesis concluding that the disease was ultimately caused by an earlier version of the louping-ill virus, or LIV, a virus and accompanying illness which continued to affect parts of Western Europe, with its own unique strain still extant within Britain. The third argument will return to the opening statement of this abstract, and reveal how this more thorough and unique treatment of Tudor historiography does much to further our understanding of the Tudors and their citizens, all the more relevant since the “Sweat” even now is typically either mentioned in passing, or not at all, but those who write about this period of history. Copyright by Edwin Del Wollert March 15, 2017 All Rights Reserved An Assessment of the “Sweating Sickness” Affecting England During the Tudor Dynasty by Edwin Del Wollert A DISSERTATION submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Presented March 15, 2017 Commencement June 2017 Doctor of Philosophy dissertation of Edwin Del Wollert presented on March 15, 2017. APPROVED: Major Professor, representing History of Science Director of the School of History, Philosophy, and Religion Dean of the Graduate School I understand that my dissertation will become part of the permanent collection of Oregon State University libraries. My signature below authorizes release of my dissertation to any reader upon request. Edwin Del Wollert, Author ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Author expresses his sincere appreciation to the following: Professor Paul Kopperman, for accepting me as an advisee, and also my committee members: Professor Jacob Hamblin, with the Department of History, Science, and Religion; Professor Rebecca Olson, with the School of Writing, Literature, and Film; Professor Tara Williams, with the School of Writing, Literature, and Film; Professor William Todd Jarvis, with the Water and Watershed Institute, and also for acting as my Graduate Council Representative. Ms. Anne Bahde, with the Oregon State University Special Collections and Research Center at Valley Library. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page I. Introduction: Historical Context, and Reasons to Study the Sweating Sickness…………… 1 II. Sweat and the Tudors…………………………………………………………………….... 36 A. Primary Sources................................................................................................….... 36 B. Tudor Science and Medicine………………………………………………………. 53 C. Tudor Experience of a New Disease………………………………………………. 74 III. The Curious History of the Louping-Ill Virus……………………………………………. 90 IV. Current Historiography and Literature Review of the Sweating Sickness……………….. 97 A. Possible Culprits: Bacteria ………………………………………………………... 97 B. Possible Culprits: Viruses……………………………………………………….... 114 C. Possible Culprits: Toxins and Climatological Effects……………………………. 155 D. Another Research Option: Parish Records and Wills…………………………….. 185 E. Summarizing the Major Arguments………………………………………………. 203 V. Conclusion: Rouen, Rascals, and Run-aways…………………………………………….. 225 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………….. 241 LIST OF TABLES Table Page Table 1. Bacterial Candidates for Sweating Sickness ………………………………………... 113 Table 2. Sweating Sickness in England………………………………………………………. 132 Table 3. Viral Candidates for Sweating Sickness……………………………………………. 153 Table 4. Toxins and Climatological Effects for Explaining Sweating Sickness…………….. 183 Table 5. Parish Records and Wills for Explaining Sweating Sickness………………………. 201 Table 6. Comparison of English Sweat, Picardy Sweat, HPS, HFRS, and LIV……………... 233 Map 1. Global Incidence of Hantavirus Diseases……………………………………………. 142 1 I. Introduction: The Historical Context: Why Study the Sweating Sickness? All historiography must seek a balance between offering too little explanation of a time and place, leaving a superficial treatment, and too much, such that a reader may feel lost in the minutiae. To summarize as briefly yet essentially as possible, England during the late fifteenth century was a kingdom seeking greater political stability. The Hundred Years War with France was finally past, as was the Black Death, which itself afflicted multiple continents, though conflict with England’s traditional enemy as well as further outbreaks of plague would continue. Even the period of English civil conflicts known as the Wars of the Roses had been largely resolved, finally leaving Kings Henry VI and Edward IV in their graves, and Edward’s brother, Richard III, on the English throne. Yet his own short reign remained hardly secure, and by 1485 he would face a new threat from a returning exile with a less legitimate royal claim, but one he was clearly willing to test in battle. The actual battlefield would be known as Bosworth, and the drama alone of the ensuing conflict would offer inspiration for much subsequent literature and theatre and simple wonderment that the contending returning exile, Henry Tudor, succeeded at all. His forces were outnumbered, and some may have been ill with something they brought with them. The army of the future Henry VII contained a mix of British and Continental troops, the latter of whom would unwittingly contribute one of the key questions motivating this current research, since disease apparently invaded England with them. Yet what follows is not a military history. It will offer no assessments of late medieval battle tactics nor the political strategies which motivate war. Instead, this will be an examination behind one of the major factors which enabled Henry’s victory. Two chief allies of Richard III, Thomas Lord Stanley, and his brother William, who had already given their oaths of loyalty to their sovereign, simply waited with their forces in full 2 view of what transpired, and when it seemed that Henry actually had a solid chance of prevailing, they switched loyalties (making them guilty of treason, but since their monarch would soon be dead this point would be mooted). They then charged into the melee to side with Henry. Richard was slain, the first grandiloquent narrations of the battle began with the alleged presentation of his very crown to Henry as victor, and the start of a new dynasty, using Henry’s Welsh-inspired family name of “Tudor,” had commenced. The reason the Stanleys ostensibly gave for their disloyal caution, meanwhile, was fear of contracting a disease, the one which may have been imported into England with Henry’s hired troops. And that is where this dissertation begins. Had matters gone otherwise, the Yorkists might have remained in power for far longer, while the Tudors might have been relegated to a more anonymous listing in the history texts of the sixteenth century, merely one of the endless “what-ifs” which sometimes receive more historical consideration than may be their due. Yet this strange disease, known variously as “sweating sickness,” Sudor anglicus, or simply the “Sweat” occurred almost exclusively in England and only during the first half of the Tudor dynasty, seemingly vanishing in 1551. Attitudes to the illness, which has never received a more official scientific classification, ranged widely, with some believing it was divine punishment for an undeserving monarchy, or a nation led into sin via its own reformation, or both. Others tried to address it more rationally and scientifically, with some realizing that it presented in such a way that it must have been something different from the likes of plague or leprosy or other diseases that had been studied during the Middle Ages, although genuine prevention, much less actual treatment, remained elusive. Yet, the simple truth is that no one really knows or knew just what the disease was, and even now hypotheses abound about it, emerging in a mix of academic disciplines as well as lay 3 interests. Interest in trying to establish what the disease was has intrigued historians for five centuries already, and more recently has also tested the argumentative mettle of physicians and various types of scientists. Perhaps attempting to solve a mystery, even a historical mystery, offers its own enticements, whether or not the mystery under study can ever reach a definitive conclusion. With that sense of the unknown in mind, and with the briefest but hopefully coherent explanation of the relevant historical setting now established,
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