A.D. 1530, the sweating plague raged in Germany, and epidemic scurvy prevailed in Denmark: two years after, various parts of the world were visited by what were called spotted or petechial fevers. In the month of March, pestilence broke out in Aragon and in the city of Saragossa: Italy and Spain suffered also from a gangrenous sore-throat. In October, the Tiber overflowed, and the dykes in Holland were suddenly burst by inundation, to the destruction of much property and of many lives.
A.D. 1531. A comet was seen this and the following year. The Tagus overflowed in the month of February, destroying nearly the half of Portugal. Pestilence followed, and devastated several cities, especially Lisbon, as recorded by Cardinal Gastaldi.
A.D. 1533, the kingdom of Aragon suffered much from the great want of corn. Amongst the preventive measures taken, was the bull of Pope Adrian VI. against forestallers. Notwithstanding all the measures that were adopted, the want of food (what there was even being of bad quality), with the excessive heat, &c., caused pestilence, which was very fatal, especially in the city of Huesca, and, as it was said, only terminated on the intercession of the Virgin de los Dolores. The year following, 1534, the city of Narbonne suffered from plague. Epidemic disease raged in Cork and also in Dresden A.D. 1535. England, the year following, suffered from pestilence, which continued for three years, 1537, 1538, and 1539. Mortal dysentery prevailed all over Europe. In the latter year, the river Lea in England was nearly dried up, and pestilence carried off great numbers in its vicinity. The summer in Europe was so hot, that in many parts the woods took fire spontaneously. The South of Europe was infested with swarms of locusts, and plague was rife in Hungary during the war of the Turks in that country.
The famous Ruy Diaz de Isla published this year (1537) one of the best works which had hitherto appeared on the venereal disease. In order to avoid giving offence to any nation by using the popular names, such as the French disease, the Neapolitan, &c., he denominated his work, ‘A Treatise of All Saints against the serpentine disease which came from the Spanish island Hispaniola; a Treatise compiled in the great and famous Hospital of All Saints, in the renowned city of Lisbon.’ Its author, following the opinion prevalent in his time, attributes the origin of this disease to Hispaniola, where the natives call it ‘le llamaban, buainaras, bipas, taynas olias.’ The reason assigned for using the appellation ‘serpentine’ is, because the disease was considered to be analogous to the foulness of that reptile.
A.D. 1541, pestilence raged with great violence in Constantinople, and carried off vast numbers. The year following, 1542, clouds of red locusts, which came from Turkey, passed over Sclavonia, Croatia, Austria, and Italy, and alighted in Spain in such numbers that they destroyed every green thing. About this period the celebrated Andres Laguna proposed for the cure of the plague an infusion of carlina (white thistle), a drachm of which, after it had been infused, was to be taken daily.
A.D. 1543, epidemic pestilence visited the city of Metz, causing a frightful mortality. Two years after, 1545, a pestilential epidemic, similar to that which prevailed so extensively A.D. 1528, called ‘la trousse galante,’ made its appearance in various parts of Europe, slaying the robust and young; it was equal in awfulness and mortality to the pestilence which in the days of Moses destroyed the first-born of Egypt: the disease first appeared in Savoy, and over a great part of France; it continued until the following year, 1546. Parè, and a Flemish physician, Sanders, describe the symptoms of this malady, which was attended, as in 1528, with the loss of the hair and of the nails: its attack was rapid and very fatal. Patients at the onset suffered from an overwhelming weight in the body, and a violent headache, which soon deprived them of all consciousness; and stupor ensued, with relaxation or loss of power of the sphincter muscles: in most cases an eruption was observed, of which no mention is made in former outbreaks of the malady; Sanders does not, however, distinctly state its nature. 10,000 English residents died from pestilence in the course of this year and the year following at Boulogne. The bubonic plague made its appearance in the Netherlands.
A.D. 1547, heavy rains inundated Tuscany. Pestilence raged all over Europe, especially in England, Holland, and Germany. The city of Dresden also suffered from it. Mould-spots and red water were observed in the north of Germany. The year following, pestilence continued in England and also in Prussia, causing great mortality in both countries. The kingdom of Murcia suffered from epidemic disease, and the question arose, as had been frequently the case before, whether the disease was contagious or not: great difference of opinion thereon prevailed. Portugal also suffered about this period from pestilence.
A.D. 1549, vast numbers of caterpillars appeared in Germany and destroyed all the herbage; they were followed by pestilence, especially in the North, where petechial fever destroyed great numbers.
An epidemic catarrh, as well as dysentery, raged in France from 1550 until 1553. There had been great death in various parts of Spain, and pestilence raged in Valencia: it was attributed to the effects of damaged grain, which had been introduced for the support of the inhabitants of that city. Don Pedro Jacobo Esteve makes mention of these circumstances, in his commentary entitled ‘In Hippocratis librum secundum Epidemiarum seu popularium morborum Commentarium.’ Seville also suffered from pestilence. It was about this period that the last attack of sweating sickness occurred in London; stinking mists were first experienced on the banks of the Severn, which were overflowed. On the 15th of April, 1551, the disease again broke out at Shrewsbury, gradually extending in the course of the stinking mists, or fogs, all over England. In the month of July it reached London, where the mortality was very considerable: it is stated that 120 died of the disease in a day in the city of Westminster. Two sons of Charles Brandon, both Dukes of Suffolk, were carried off by it. This epidemic subsided about the month of September in England, and was noticed as being the fifth and last sweating sickness in this country.
Caius (John) published his ‘Booke, or Counseill against the disease commonly called the Sweate, or sweatynge sicknesse, very necessary for everye personne and much requisite to be had in the hands of all sorts, for their better instruction, preparacion and defence against the soubdin comyng and fareful assaultyng of the same disease (1552).’ About the same period, a mortal pestilence raged in Messina, blood being in many instances discharged from the pores of the body of those who were affected, three days before death. A similar disease prevailed in Paris; in fact, epidemic pestilence may be said to have ravaged various parts of Europe, especially Hungary, Transylvania, &c.