Claudia Resch

The English Sweating Sickness of 1529 in Augsburg: A Challenge to Body and Soul and the Printer.

In 1529, Sudor anglicus, the ‘English Sweating Sickness’, spread from England to Germany, reaching the city of Augsburg. Its exact nature is unclear: the symptoms were profuse sweating, thirst, headache, with death occurring within hours of infection. Those who survived the first twenty-four hours returned to health. The fever arrived in Autumn 1529 – in September there were 1500 cases with 800 fatalities; another source gives November as the onset with 600 fatalities out of 3000 cases. While these death rates were in fact relatively low compared with the plague, for instance, people were particularly frightened by the sudden appearance of an unknown fever and the speed of death. Augsburg was aware that the “English Sweating Sickness” was spreading in Germany. What is remarkable was the quick reaction of the printing trade. Two related types of handbook soon appeared; they are the subject of this paper. Firstly, handbooks dealing with the fever as a medical issue, and secondly, those dealing with the fever as an issue of theology. An illustrative example of each handbook is discussed here. Authored at speed and quickly published, they reflected the urgent response to the outbreak. What is demonstrated is the need to attend both to body and soul, that the “English Sweating Sickness” was a challenge not just to physicians but also to theologians. The printing trade seized the opportunity and met both needs.

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