A serious illness during Tudor times that appeared first in England and then spread to the Continent. It is not known exactly what disease it was, but it claimed many lives between its appearance in 1485 and its disappearance after 1578.
Sweating sickness
Fact of the Day
The Plantagenet kings had a habit of exclaiming by God's body parts. Favourite among them were 'God's eyes' and 'God's legs'.
Quote of the Day
"Ἀνερρίφθω κύβος - let the die be cast
"
~ Julius Caesar
On This Day
1286 Alexander III of Scotland died of a broken neck after falling from his horse in the dark and tumbling down a hill.
1649 The House of Commons passed an Act abolishing the House of Lords. They called it 'useless and dangerous to the people of England'.
1932 The world's tallest steel arch bridge, the Sydney Harbour Bridge, was opened.
1945 Hitler issued his Nero Decree, a scorched earth policy that aimed to destroy all German infrastructure to prevent its use by the advancing Allies.