Grafton's Chronicle. Sep 1485. In this same year a new kinde of sickness came suddenly through the whole region , even after the first entering of the King into this Isle , which was so sore , so painefull and sharp , that the like was never heard of, to any man's rememberance before that time . For suddenly a deadly and burning sweat invaded their bodies and vexed their blood , and with a most ardent heat infested the stomach , and the head grieviously : by the tormenting and vexation of which sickness , men were so sore handled , and so painfully pangued , that if they were layed in their bed , being not able to suffer the importunate heat, they cast away the sheets and all the cloths lying on the bed . If they were in their apparell and vestures , they would put of all their garments even to their shirtes . Other were so dry that they drank the cold water to quench their importunate heat and insatiable thirst . Others that could or at the least would abide the heate and stench ( for indeed the sweate had a great and strong savour ) caused clothes to be laid upon them as much as they coulde bear , to drive out the sweat , if it might be . All in maner as soon as the sweat took them , or within a short space after yielded up their ghost . So that of all them that sickened , there was not one amongst an hundredth that escaped. Insomuch, that beside the great number which deceased within the City of London, two Mayors, successively died of the same disease within eight days and six Aldermen. And when any person had fully and completely sweat twenty-four hours hours (for so long did the strength this plague hold them) he should be then clearly delivered of his disease. Yet not so clean rid of it, but that he might shortly relapse and fall again into the same evil pit , yea again and twice again , as many a one indeed did , which after the third time died of the same . At the length by study of Physicians and experience of the people driven thereunto by dreadful necessity , there was a remedy invented. For they that survived, considering the extremity of the pain in them that deceased , devised by things mere contrariant , to resist and withstand the furious rage of that burning furness , by luke warm drink , temperate heat , and measurable clothes . For such persons as relapsed agayn into the flame after the first deliverance , observed diligently and marked such things as did them ease and comfort at their first vexation , and usyng the same for a remedy and Medicine of their pain, adding ever somewhat thereto that was comfortable and wholesome . So that if any person ever after fell sick again , he observing the regimen that amongst the people was devised could shortly help himself , and easily as have the temper and avoid the strength and malice of the sweat . So that after the great losse of many men , they learned a present and a speedy remedy for the same disease and malady , the which is this: If a man on the day time were plagued with the sweat then he should straight lie down with all his clothes and garments , and lie still the whole twenty-four hours . If in the night he were taken , then he should not rise out of his bed for the space of twenty-four hours , and so cast the clothes that he might in no wise provoke the sweat , but so lie temperately that the water might distill out softly of the own accord , and to abstain from all meat if he might so long sustain and suffer hunger , and to take no more drink neither hot nor cold , then will moderately quench and delay his thirsty appetite . And in this his amending , one point diligently above all other is to be observed and attended , that he never put his hand or foote out of the bed to refresh or coole himselfe , the which to do is no less pain than short death . So you may plainely see what remedy was by the daily experience devised and invented for this strange and unknowne disease , the which at that time vexed and grieved onely the realme of England in every town and village as it did diverse times after . But fifty-five years after, it sailed into Flanders , and after into Germany , where it destroyed people innumerable for lack of knowlege of the English experience.

A Boke Or Counsel Against The Disease Commonly Called The Sweating Sicknesse. In the yere of our Lorde God 1485 shortly after the 7th day of August, at which time kynge Henry the Seventh arrived at Milford in Wales, out of France, and in the first year of his reign, there chanced a disease among the people, lasting the rest of that month & all September, which for the sudden sharpeness and unwont cruelness passed the pestilence. For this commonly gave three or four often five sumtyme six as that first at Athenes which Thucidides describes in his second book, sometime eleven and sometime fourteen days respect, to whom it vexed. But, that immediatly killed some in opening there windows, some in playing with children in their street doors, some in one hour, many in two it destroyed, & at the longest, to the that merily dined, it gave a sorrowfull supper. As it found them so it took them, some in sleep some in wake, some in mirth some in care, some fasting & some full, some busy and some idle, and in one house sometime three sometime five, sometime seven sometime eight, sometime more sometime all, of the which, if the half in every Town escaped, it was thought great favour. How, or with what manner it took them, with what grief, and accidents it held them, hereafter the I will declare, whe I shall come to show the signs therof. In the mean space, know that this disease (because it most did stand in sweating from the beginning until the ending) was called here, the Sweating Sickenesse: and because it first beganne in England, it was named in other countries, the Englishe Sweat. Yet some conjecture that it, or the like, have been before seen among the Greeks in the siege of Troie. In the Emperor Octavius wars at Cantabria, called now Biscay, in Spain: and in the Turkes, at the Rhodes. How true that is, let the authors look: how true this is, the best of our Chronicles show, & of the late begin disease the fresh memory yet confirms. But if the name wer now to be given, and at my libertie to make the same: I would of the manner and space of the disease (by cause the same is no sweat only, as herafter I will declare, & in the spirites) make the name Ephemera, which is to say, a fever of one natural day. A fever, for the fervor or burning, dry & sweating fever like. Of one naturall day, for that it lasteth but the time of twenty-four hours. And for a distinction from the commune Ephemera, that Galene writes of, comming both of other causes, and wyth vnlike paines, I wold putte to it either Englishe, for that it followeth somoche English menne, to who it is almoste proper, and also began here: or els pestilent, for that it cometh by infection & putrefaction, otherwise then doth the other Ephemera. Whiche thing I suppose may the better be done, because I se straunge and no english names both in Latine and Greke by commune vsage taken for Englishe. As in Latin, Feure, Qnotidia, Tertian, Quartane, Aier, Infection, Pestilence, Uomite. Person, Reines, Ueines, Peines, Chamere, Numbre, &c. a litle altered by the commune pronunciation. In Greke, Plcuresie, Ischiada, Hydrops, Apostema, Phlegma, and Chole: called by the vulgare pronunciatio, Schiatica, Dropsie, Impostume, Phleume, & Choler: Gyne also, and Boutyre, Sciourel, Mouse, Rophe, Phrase, Paraphrase, & cephe, wherof cometh Chancers couercephe, in the romant of the Rose, writte and pronouced comoly, kerchief in the south, & courchief in the north. Thereof euery head or principall thing, is comonlye called cephe, pronouced & writte, chief. Uery many other there be in our commune tongue, whiche here to rehearse were to long. These for an example shortelye I haue here noted. But for the name of this disease it maketh now no matter, the name of Sweat being commonly used. Let us therefore return to the thing, which as occasion & cause served, came againe in the 1506 the twenty-second year of the said Kyng Henry the seuenth. After that, in the yeare 1526 the ninth yeare of Kyng Henry the VIII, and endured from July, unto middle of Decembre.

Life of King Henry VII by Francis Bacon. 21 Sep 1485. About this time in autumn, towards the end of September, there began and reigned in the city, and other parts of the kingdom, a disease then new: which by the accidents and manner thereof they called the sweating sickness. This disease had a swift course, both in the sick body, and in the time and period of the lasting thereof; for they that were taken with it, upon four and twenty hours escaping, were thought almost assured. And as to the time of the malice and reign of the disease, ere it ceased ; it began about the one and twentieth of September, and cleared up before the end of October, insomuch as it was no hindrance to the King's coronation, which was the last of October; nor, which was more, to the holding of the parliament, which began but seven days after. It was a pestilent fever, but, as it seemeth, not seated in the veins or humours, for there followed no carbuncle, no purple or livid spots, or the like the mass of the body being not tainted ; only a malign vapour flew to the heart, and seized the vital spirits ; which stirred nature to strive to send it forth by an extreme sweat. And it appeared by experience, that this disease was rather a surprise of nature than obstinate to remedies, if it were in time looked unto. For if the patient were kept in an equal temper, both for clothes, fire, and drink, moderately warm, with temperate cordials, whereby nature's work were neither irritated by heat, nor turned back by cold, he com monly recovered. But infinite persons died suddenly of it, before the manner of the cure and attendance was known. It was conceived not to be an epidemic disease, but to proceed from a malignity in the constitution of the air, gathered by the predispositions of seasons ; and the speedy cessation declared as much.

Note. Two lord mayors (Thomas Hill and Sir William Stokker) and six aldermen died of this disease in one week in London (see Hall's Chronicle), and it is said that of those whom it attacked not more than one in a hundred escaped. The disease appeared afterwards in 1517, and occasioned also great mortality in Oxford in 1575.

Hall's Chronicle 1486. Nov 1485¹. In this same year a new kind of sickness [Sweating Sickness] came suddenly through the whole region even after the first entry of the King into this Isle, which was so sore, so painful, and sharp that the like was never heard of, to any man's remembrance before that time: For suddenly a deadly and burning sweat invaded their bodies and vexed their blood with a most ardent heat infested the stomach and the head grievously: by the tormenting and vexation of which sickness, men were so sore handled and so painfully panged that if they were laid in their bed being not liable to suffer the importunate heat, they cast away the sheets and all the clothes lying on the bed. If they were in their apparel and vestures, they would put of all their garments even to their shirts. Other were so dry that they drank the cold water to quench their importune heat and insatiable thirst. Other that could or at the least would abide the heat and stink (for indeed the sweat had a great and a strong savour) caused clothes to be laid upon them as much as they could bear, to dry out the sweat if it might be. All in manner as one as the sweat took them, or within a short space after, yielded, up their ghost. So that of all them that sickened there was not one amongst an hundred that escaped: in so much, that beside the great number which deceased within the city of London, two Mayors successively died of the same disease within eight days and six Aldermen. And when any person had fully and completely sweat twenty-four hours (for so did the strength of this plague hold them) he should be then clearly delivered of his disease: Yet not so clean rid of it, but that he might shortly relapse and fall again into the same evil pit, yea again and twice again as many one indeed did, which after the third time died of the same. At the length by study of the Physicians and experience of the people, drying thereunto by dreadful necessity, there was a remedy invented. For they that survived, considering the extremity of the pain in them that deceased, devised by things mere contrariant, to resist and withstand the furious rage of that burning furnace, by lukewarm drink, temperate heat, and measurable clothes. For such persons as relapsed again into the flame after the first deliverance, observed diligently and marked such things as did them ease and comfort at their first vexation, and using the same for a remedy and medicine of their pain, adding ever somewhat thereto that was sanative and wholesome. So that if any person either after fell sick again, he observing the regiment that amongst the people was devised could shortly help himself, and easily temper and avoid the strength and malice of the sweat. So that after the great loss of many men, they learned a present and a speedy remedy for the same disease and malady, the which is this: If a man on the day time were plagued with the sweat, then he should straight lie down with all his clothes and garments and lie still the whole twenty-four hours. If in the night he were taken, then he should not rise out of his bed for the space of twenty-four hours, and so cast the clothes that he might in no wise provoke the sweat, but so lie temperately that the water might distil out softly of the own accord, and to abstain from all meat if he might so long sustain and suffer hunger and to take no more drink neither hole nor cold, then will moderately quench and delay his thirsty appetite. And in this his amending, one point diligently above all other is to be observed and attended, that he never put his hand or foot out of the bed to refresh or cool himself, the which to do is no less pain then short death. So you may plainly see what remedy was by the daily experience excogitated and invented for this strange and unknown disease, the which at that time vexed and grieved only the realm of England in every town and village as it did diverse times after. But fifty-five years after, it sailed into Flanders and after into Germany, where it destroyed people innumerable for lack of knowledge of the English experience. This contagious and evil plague chanced in the first year of King Henry's reign as a token and a plain sign (if to the vain judgement of the people which commonly common more fantastically then wisely, any faith or credit is to be had gave or attributed) that King Henry should have a hard and sore beginning, but more truly if vain superstition can set forth any truth, it pretended and signified that King Henry to the extreme point and end of his natural life should never have his spirit and mind quiet, considering that now in the very beginning of his new obtained reign he was (as you shall shortly hear) with sedition and emotion of his people, troubled, vexed and unquieted, and it was in manner a manifest proof that hereafter he should live in small rest and great mistrust of such rebellious and seditious conspiracies. These were the fantastical judgements of the unlettered persons which I overpass, and return to my purpose.

Note. This entry describes events in Nov 1485 despite being in Henry VII's second year.