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
In late antiquity, alongside the Goths, Vandals and Huns, there was a tribe called the Alans.
Quote of the Day
"If you do not wish to dwell with evil-doers, do not live in London.
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~ Richard of Devizes (12th century)
On This Day
1715 The French monk Dom Pérignon died, aged 76. It is wrongly claimed that he invented sparkling wine.
1752 Wednesday 2 September was followed by Thursday 14 September when the Gregorian Calendar was introduced into Britain.
1812 Following victory at the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon's vanguard entered Moscow. Perhaps as a result of Russian resistance, the city was set on fire and when the fire eventually burnt out four days later, only a small portion of the city, and 12,000 charred bodies, remained.
1852 Military hero and politician Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, died due to the aftereffects of a stroke, aged 83.
1901 US President William McKinley died of the gunshot wounds he'd received from an assassin eight days previously.
1932 Paul Gorguloff, the assassin of French president Paul Doumer, was guillotined. He'd killed Doumer because of a hypnotic vision.
1975 Catholic convert, mother, and founder of Catholic schools, Elizabeth Ann Seton became the first American to be canonized, by Pope Paul VI.