Notes on the Dancing Plague of 1518
The Dancing Plague
Introduction
July 14, 1518: Frau Troffea began dancing in Strasbourg.
No music was playing, and she showed no signs of joy.
She danced throughout the day, unable to stop, collapsing only from exhaustion.
She would resume dancing after brief periods of rest.
On the third day, she continued to dance, drawing dozens of onlookers.
Onlookers and Speculations
Tradesmen, artisans, and nobles watched Frau Troffea's relentless dance.
Some blamed restless spirits or demons for commandeering her soul.
Others believed the affliction was sent from Heaven as punishment.
After several days, Frau Troffea was taken to a shrine in the Vosges Mountains.
Spread of the Dancing Plague
Within days, over thirty people began dancing uncontrollably.
The dancing occurred in houses, halls, and public spaces, causing fear and despair.
People danced day and night, their bodies suffering from fatigue and bleeding.
By early August 1518, the epidemic spread rapidly, with at least a hundred citizens affected.
Within a month, around four hundred people experienced the madness.
The Deadly Turn
The epidemic took a cruel turn, with people dancing until they fell unconscious.
Many died from the dancing plague, with one chronicle suggesting fifteen deaths per day.
The afflicted rarely paused to eat, drink, or rest.
The epidemic finally subsided in late August or early September 1518.
The sickness threw one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire into turmoil.
Purpose of the Book
The book aims to explain why hundreds of people lapsed into frantic delirium for days or weeks.
It uses historical records, analyses of modern historians, and insights from anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience.
The events of this summer lived long in people's minds, recorded by local merchants, officials, and preachers.
Chronicles were compiled during the epidemic and pieced together later from manuscripts and conversations.
Municipal orders, sermons, and descriptions from physicians also provide information.
Some original accounts were destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, but much had been copied.
Theophrastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus)
Paracelsus, an alchemist and physician, arrived in Strasbourg in November 1526.
He was fascinated by the dancing plague and determined to understand it.
Paracelsus blamed Frau Troffea, attributing her dancing to a desire to humiliate her husband.
He dubbed her disease "chorea lasciva" and its victims "choreomaniacs."
He suggested confining and fasting those with lewd thoughts or creating wax models to transfer thoughts and then burn them.
Historical Context and Previous Outbreaks
Paracelsus may have heard of dancing mania before arriving in Strasbourg.
Johannes Trithemius described an outbreak in 1374 across the Low Countries, Germany, and northeastern France.
Seven bouts of uncontrollable dancing occurred in western Europe before 1518.
The first outbreak was in Kölbigk around 1017, where dancers were cursed to dance for a year.
A Welsh chronicle in 1188 spoke of people dancing and enacting unlawful work during a religious ceremony.
In Erfurt in 1247, one hundred or more children danced out of town, collapsing later, with some dying or suffering tremors.
In Maastricht in 1278, about two hundred people danced on a bridge, which collapsed, killing them.
The late fourteenth-century epidemic, starting in the Rhineland in 1374, spread widely.
Dancers screeched, leaped, and called on God and the saints, with many believing they were possessed by demons.
Priests performed exorcisms, and the epidemic subsided by the end of the year.
Smaller dancing epidemics occurred in Zurich's Water Church in 1418 and near Trier in 1463.
Significance of the Strasbourg Epidemic
The Strasbourg epidemic was the second largest but is the best-documented due to the printing press and bureaucracy.
It occurred during a critical moment in European history, amidst religious wars and peasant rebellion.
Rejection of Ergotism Hypothesis
Modern authors have suggested ergot, a mold on rye, as a cause, inducing delusions and twitching.
Millers in Alsace used distorted faces on flour pipes as reminders of ergot-induced hallucinations.
However, ergotism doesn't account for sustained dancing or the agreement among witnesses that people danced.
Ergot more often causes restricted blood supply, leading to gangrene and excruciating death, with no such reports in Strasbourg in 1518.
Hysteria and Supernaturalism
The dancing plague is argued to be a form of hysteria triggered by acute anguish and fear.
It manifested as dancing due to a culture steeped in supernaturalism.
People believed in the wrath of God and the saints, making it a pathological expression of desperation and pious fear.
Daily Life and Beliefs
Understanding the dancing plague requires looking at daily life in Strasbourg and its traumas.
Poor harvests, plague, smallpox, and foreign troops created a world of terrifying uncertainty.
Society drank and danced intensely as a means of escaping an intolerable reality.
People imagined their world as a battle between good and evil, with church doctrine infusing daily life with supernatural meaning.
Religious services, saints' days, and rituals were central to daily life.
People hoped for eternal bliss and sought to expiate sins through penance and prayer.
The story reveals a vanished world of arcane rituals, beliefs, practices, and fears.
People believed Satan stalked the Earth and that God sent sickness and death.
Exploration of the Human Brain
The dancing plague provides insight into the potentials of the human unconscious.
It highlights the outer limits of what minds can impel under extreme distress.
It draws attention to diverse ways psychic stress is articulated today.
Subsequent Manifestations
Subsequent manifestations of similar impulses include demonically possessed nuns and soldiers of World War I rendered mute through fear.
The dancing plague occurred a quarter of a century before Frau Troffea's compulsion.
Hardship and Loss of Hope
Traumas and unbridled supernaturalism caused a lot of people to spectacularly fall apart.
Even in a period accustomed to sudden reversals of fortune, the decades preceding Frau Troffea's dance were exceptional in their harshness like famine, sickness, and terrible cold.
A succession of disastrous events, from the onset of syphilis to the remorseless conquests of the Ottoman Turk, convinced many that God had turned His fury upon the people of Alsace.
Alsace people showed an unprecedented restlessness, a new level of aggression, hostility, and fear due to empty bellies, gaunt faces, crippling debts, a profound distrust of landlords and clerics, and imaginations vibrant with terrible visions of ghosts, demons, devils, and vengeful saints sapped the confidence of the poor in their ability to weather life's storms.
This is a story of how a city's people lost hope.
Introduction
July 14, 1518: Frau Troffea began dancing in Strasbourg.
No music was playing, and she showed no signs of joy.
She danced throughout the day, unable to stop, collapsing only from exhaustion.
She would resume dancing after brief periods of rest.
On the third day, she continued to dance, drawing dozens of onlookers.
Onlookers and Speculations
Tradesmen, artisans, and nobles watched Frau Troffea's relentless dance.
Some blamed restless spirits or demons for commandeering her soul.
Others believed the affliction was sent from Heaven as punishment.
After several days, Frau Troffea was taken to a shrine in the Vosges Mountains.
Spread of the Dancing Plague
Within days, over thirty people began dancing uncontrollably.
The dancing occurred in houses, halls, and public spaces, causing fear and despair.
People danced day and night, their bodies suffering from fatigue and bleeding.
By early August 1518, the epidemic spread rapidly, with at least a hundred citizens affected.
Within a month, around four hundred people experienced the madness.
The Deadly Turn
The epidemic took a cruel turn, with people dancing until they fell unconscious.
Many died from the dancing plague, with one chronicle suggesting fifteen deaths per day.
The afflicted rarely paused to eat, drink, or rest.
The epidemic finally subsided in late August or early September 1518.
The sickness threw one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire into turmoil.
Purpose of the Book
The book aims to explain why hundreds of people lapsed into frantic delirium for days or weeks.
It uses historical records, analyses of modern historians, and insights from anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience.
The events of this summer lived long in people's minds, recorded by local merchants, officials, and preachers.
Chronicles were compiled during the epidemic and pieced together later from manuscripts and conversations.
Municipal orders, sermons, and descriptions from physicians also provide information.
Some original accounts were destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, but much had been copied.
Theophrastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus)
Paracelsus, an alchemist and physician, arrived in Strasbourg in November 1526.
He was fascinated by the dancing plague and determined to understand it.
Paracelsus blamed Frau Troffea, attributing her dancing to a desire to humiliate her husband.
He dubbed her disease "chorea lasciva" and its victims "choreomaniacs."
He suggested confining and fasting those with lewd thoughts or creating wax models to transfer thoughts and then burn them.
Historical Context and Previous Outbreaks
Paracelsus may have heard of dancing mania before arriving in Strasbourg.
Johannes Trithemius described an outbreak in 1374 across the Low Countries, Germany, and northeastern France.
Seven bouts of uncontrollable dancing occurred in western Europe before 1518.
The first outbreak was in Kölbigk around 1017, where dancers were cursed to dance for a year.
A Welsh chronicle in 1188 spoke of people dancing and enacting unlawful work during a religious ceremony.
In Erfurt in 1247, one hundred or more children danced out of town, collapsing later, with some dying or suffering tremors.
In Maastricht in 1278, about two hundred people danced on a bridge, which collapsed, killing them.
The late fourteenth-century epidemic, starting in the Rhineland in 1374, spread widely.
Dancers screeched, leaped, and called on God and the saints, with many believing they were possessed by demons.
Priests performed exorcisms, and the epidemic subsided by the end of the year.
Smaller dancing epidemics occurred in Zurich's Water Church in 1418 and near Trier in 1463.
Significance of the Strasbourg Epidemic
The Strasbourg epidemic was the second largest but is the best-documented due to the printing press and bureaucracy.
It occurred during a critical moment in European history, amidst religious wars and peasant rebellion.
Rejection of Ergotism Hypothesis
Modern authors have suggested ergot, a mold on rye, as a cause, inducing delusions and twitching.
Millers in Alsace used distorted faces on flour pipes as reminders of ergot-induced hallucinations.
However, ergotism doesn't account for sustained dancing or the agreement among witnesses that people danced.
Ergot more often causes restricted blood supply, leading to gangrene and excruciating death, with no such reports in Strasbourg in 1518.
Hysteria and Supernaturalism
The dancing plague is argued to be a form of hysteria triggered by acute anguish and fear.
It manifested as dancing due to a culture steeped in supernaturalism.
People believed in the wrath of God and the saints, making it a pathological expression of desperation and pious fear.
Daily Life and Beliefs
Understanding the dancing plague requires looking at daily life in Strasbourg and its traumas.
Poor harvests, plague, smallpox, and foreign troops created a world of terrifying uncertainty.
Society drank and danced intensely as a means of escaping an intolerable reality.
People imagined their world as a battle between good and evil, with church doctrine infusing daily life with supernatural meaning.
Religious services, saints' days, and rituals were central to daily life.
People hoped for eternal bliss and sought to expiate sins through penance and prayer.
The story reveals a vanished world of arcane rituals, beliefs, practices, and fears.
People believed Satan stalked the Earth and that God sent sickness and death.
Exploration of the Human Brain
The dancing plague provides insight into the potentials of the human unconscious.
It highlights the outer limits of what minds can impel under extreme distress.
It draws attention to diverse ways psychic stress is articulated today.
Subsequent Manifestations
Subsequent manifestations of similar impulses include demonically possessed nuns and soldiers of World War I rendered mute through fear.
The dancing plague occurred a quarter of a century before Frau Troffea's compulsion.
Hardship and Loss of Hope
Traumas and unbridled supernaturalism caused a lot of people to spectacularly fall apart.
Even in a period accustomed to sudden reversals of fortune, the decades preceding Frau Troffea's dance were exceptional in their harshness like famine, sickness, and terrible cold.
A succession of disastrous events, from the onset of syphilis to the remorseless conquests of the Ottoman Turk, convinced many that God had turned His fury upon the people of Alsace.
Alsace people showed an unprecedented restlessness, a new level of aggression, hostility, and fear due to empty bellies, gaunt faces, crippling debts, a profound distrust of landlords and clerics, and imaginations vibrant with terrible visions of ghosts, demons, devils, and vengeful saints sapped the confidence of the poor in their ability to weather life's storms.
This is a story of how a city's people lost hope.
Introduction
July 14, 1518: Frau Troffea began dancing in Strasbourg.
No music was playing, and she showed no signs of joy.
She danced throughout the day, unable to stop, collapsing only from exhaustion.
She would resume dancing after brief periods of rest.
On the third day, she continued to dance, drawing dozens of onlookers.
Onlookers and Speculations
Tradesmen, artisans, and nobles watched Frau Troffea's relentless dance.
Some blamed restless spirits or demons for commandeering her soul.
Others believed the affliction was sent from Heaven as punishment.
After several days, Frau Troffea was taken to a shrine in the Vosges Mountains.
Spread of the Dancing Plague
Within days, over thirty people began dancing uncontrollably.
The dancing occurred in houses, halls, and public spaces, causing fear and despair.
People danced day and night, their bodies suffering from fatigue and bleeding.
By early August 1518, the epidemic spread rapidly, with at least a hundred citizens affected.
Within a month, around four hundred people experienced the madness.
The Deadly Turn
The epidemic took a cruel turn, with people dancing until they fell unconscious.
Many died from the dancing plague, with one chronicle suggesting fifteen deaths per day.
The afflicted rarely paused to eat, drink, or rest.
The epidemic finally subsided in late August or early September 1518.
The sickness threw one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire into turmoil.
Purpose of the Book
The book aims to explain why hundreds of people lapsed into frantic delirium for days or weeks.
It uses historical records, analyses of modern historians, and insights from anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience.
The events of this summer lived long in people's minds, recorded by local merchants, officials, and preachers.
Chronicles were compiled during the epidemic and pieced together later from manuscripts and conversations.
Municipal orders, sermons, and descriptions from physicians also provide information.
Some original accounts were destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, but much had been copied.
Theophrastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus)
Paracelsus, an alchemist and physician, arrived in Strasbourg in November 1526.
He was fascinated by the dancing plague and determined to understand it.
Paracelsus blamed Frau Troffea, attributing her dancing to a desire to humiliate her husband.
He dubbed her disease "chorea lasciva" and its victims "choreomaniacs."
He suggested confining and fasting those with lewd thoughts or creating wax models to transfer thoughts and then burn them.
Historical Context and Previous Outbreaks
Paracelsus may have heard of dancing mania before arriving in Strasbourg.
Johannes Trithemius described an outbreak in 1374 across the Low Countries, Germany, and northeastern France.
Seven bouts of uncontrollable dancing occurred in western Europe before 1518.
The first outbreak was in Kölbigk around 1017, where dancers were cursed to dance for a year.
A Welsh chronicle in 1188 spoke of people dancing and enacting unlawful work during a religious ceremony.
In Erfurt in 1247, one hundred or more children danced out of town, collapsing later, with some dying or suffering tremors.
In Maastricht in 1278, about two hundred people danced on a bridge, which collapsed, killing them.
The late fourteenth-century epidemic, starting in the Rhineland in 1374, spread widely.
Dancers screeched, leaped, and called on God and the saints, with many believing they were possessed by demons.
Priests performed exorcisms, and the epidemic subsided by the end of the year.
Smaller dancing epidemics occurred in Zurich's Water Church in 1418 and near Trier in 1463.
Significance of the Strasbourg Epidemic
The Strasbourg epidemic was the second largest but is the best-documented due to the printing press and bureaucracy.
It occurred during a critical moment in European history, amidst religious wars and peasant rebellion.
Rejection of Ergotism Hypothesis
Modern authors have suggested ergot, a mold on rye, as a cause, inducing delusions and twitching.
Millers in Alsace used distorted faces on flour pipes as reminders of ergot-induced hallucinations.
However, ergotism doesn't account for sustained dancing or the agreement among witnesses that people danced.
Ergot more often causes restricted blood supply, leading to gangrene and excruciating death, with no such reports in Strasbourg in 1518.
Hysteria and Supernaturalism
The dancing plague is argued to be a form of hysteria triggered by acute anguish and fear.
It manifested as dancing due to a culture steeped in supernaturalism.
People believed in the wrath of God and the saints, making it a pathological expression of desperation and pious fear.
Daily Life and Beliefs
Understanding the dancing plague requires looking at daily life in Strasbourg and its traumas.
Poor harvests, plague, smallpox, and foreign troops created a world of terrifying uncertainty.
Society drank and danced intensely as a means of escaping an intolerable reality.
People imagined their world as a battle between good and evil, with church doctrine infusing daily life with supernatural meaning.
Religious services, saints' days, and rituals were central to daily life.
People hoped for eternal bliss and sought to expiate sins through penance and prayer.
The story reveals a vanished world of arcane rituals, beliefs, practices, and fears.
People believed Satan stalked the Earth and that God sent sickness and death.
Exploration of the Human Brain
The dancing plague provides insight into the potentials of the human unconscious.
It highlights the outer limits of what minds can impel under extreme distress.
It draws attention to diverse ways psychic stress is articulated today.
Subsequent Manifestations
Subsequent manifestations of similar impulses include demonically possessed nuns and soldiers of World War I rendered mute through fear.
The dancing plague occurred a quarter of a century before Frau Troffea's compulsion.
Hardship and Loss of Hope
Traumas and unbridled supernaturalism caused a lot of people to spectacularly fall apart.
Even in a period accustomed to sudden reversals of fortune, the decades preceding Frau Troffea's dance were exceptional in their harshness like famine, sickness, and terrible cold.
A succession of disastrous events, from the onset of syphilis to the remorseless conquests of the Ottoman Turk, convinced many that God had turned His fury upon the people of Alsace.
Alsace people showed an unprecedented restlessness, a new level of aggression, hostility, and fear due to empty bellies, gaunt faces, crippling debts, a profound distrust of landlords and clerics, and imaginations vibrant with terrible visions of ghosts, demons, devils, and vengeful saints sapped the confidence of the poor in their ability to weather life's storms.
This is a story of how a city's people lost hope.
quotes
The Dancing Plague
Introduction
July 14, 1518: Frau Troffea initiated the dancing phenomenon in Strasbourg.
She danced without music and displayed no signs of joy, dancing continuously throughout the day until exhaustion.
After brief rests, she resumed dancing, drawing significant attention by the third day.
Onlookers and Speculations
Tradesmen, artisans, and nobles observed Frau Troffea's relentless dance.
Interpretations varied: some attributed it to restless spirits or demonic possession, while others saw it as divine punishment.
Eventually, she was taken to a shrine in the Vosges Mountains in an attempt to find a cure or explanation.
Spread of the Dancing Plague
Within days, over thirty individuals began dancing uncontrollably.
The dancing took place in various locations, including houses, halls, and public spaces, instilling fear and despair among the populace.
Afflicted individuals danced continuously, suffering from fatigue and bleeding, with the epidemic spreading rapidly by early August 1518, affecting at least a hundred citizens.
Approximately four hundred people were affected within a month.
The Deadly Turn
The epidemic worsened as people danced until they lost consciousness, and many died from the dancing plague, with some accounts suggesting fifteen deaths per day.
The afflicted rarely paused for essential needs such as eating, drinking, or resting.
The epidemic eventually subsided in late August or early September 1518, but its impact was significant, causing turmoil in one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire.
Purpose of the Book
The book aims to explore and explain the reasons behind the frantic delirium experienced by hundreds of people for days or weeks.
It draws upon historical records, modern historians' analyses, and insights from anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience to provide a comprehensive understanding.
The events of that summer were deeply embedded in people's memories, documented by local merchants, officials, and preachers.
Chronicles were compiled during the epidemic and later pieced together from manuscripts and conversations, alongside municipal orders, sermons, and descriptions from physicians.
Some original accounts were lost during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, but many had been copied and preserved.
Theophrastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus)
Paracelsus, an alchemist and physician, arrived in Strasbourg in November 1526 and became fascinated by the dancing plague.
He attributed Frau Troffea's dancing to a desire to humiliate her husband, terming her disease "chorea lasciva" and its victims "choreomaniacs."
His proposed treatments included confinement, fasting for those with lewd thoughts, or creating wax models to transfer and then burn those thoughts.
Historical Context and Previous Outbreaks
Paracelsus may have been aware of dancing mania prior to his arrival in Strasbourg, with Johannes Trithemius documenting an outbreak in 1374 across the Low Countries, Germany, and northeastern France.
There were seven documented instances of uncontrollable dancing in western Europe before 1518.
The earliest recorded outbreak occurred in Kölbigk around 1017, where dancers were believed to be cursed, forcing them to dance for an entire year.
A Welsh chronicle from 1188 described people dancing and performing unlawful acts during a religious ceremony.
In Erfurt in 1247, over one hundred children danced out of town, collapsing, with some dying or experiencing tremors.
In Maastricht in 1278, approximately two hundred people danced on a bridge, leading to its collapse and their deaths.
The late fourteenth-century epidemic, beginning in the Rhineland in 1374, spread extensively, with dancers screeching, leaping, and calling on God and the saints, often believing themselves possessed by demons.
Priests performed exorcisms, and the epidemic subsided by the end of the year, with smaller outbreaks occurring in Zurich's Water Church in 1418 and near Trier in 1463.
Significance of the Strasbourg Epidemic
The Strasbourg epidemic stands out as the second largest and the best-documented due to the advent of the printing press and bureaucracy.
It transpired during a pivotal period in European history, marked by religious wars and peasant rebellions.
Rejection of Ergotism Hypothesis
Contemporary scholars have proposed ergot, a mold found on rye, as a potential cause, leading to delusions and twitching.
Millers in Alsace employed distorted faces on flour pipes to caution against ergot-induced hallucinations.
However, ergotism fails to explain the sustained dancing or the collective agreement among witnesses regarding the dancing.
Ergot typically results in restricted blood supply, causing gangrene and excruciating death, which were not reported in Strasbourg in 1518.
Hysteria and Supernaturalism
It is argued that the dancing plague was a manifestation of hysteria triggered by intense anguish and fear, expressed through dancing due to cultural beliefs in supernaturalism.
People's belief in the wrath of God and the saints contributed to a pathological expression of desperation and pious fear.
Daily Life and Beliefs
Understanding the dancing plague necessitates examining daily life in Strasbourg and the pervasive traumas of the time.
Poor harvests, plague, smallpox, and the presence of foreign troops engendered a climate of uncertainty.
Society turned to drinking and dancing as means to escape the harsh realities of life.
People perceived their world as a battleground between good and evil, with church doctrine permeating daily existence with supernatural significance.
Religious services, saints' days, and rituals played central roles in daily life, with people seeking eternal bliss and expiating sins through penance and prayer.
The narrative unveils a bygone world of arcane rituals, beliefs, practices, and fears, where people believed in Satan's presence on Earth and God's role in sending sickness and death.
Exploration of the Human Brain
The dancing plague offers insights into the capabilities of the human unconscious, highlighting the limits of mental endurance under extreme duress.
It underscores the diverse ways psychic stress manifests today.
Subsequent Manifestations
Subsequent manifestations of similar impulses include instances of demonically possessed nuns and soldiers of World War I rendered mute through fear.
The dancing plague predates Frau Troffea's compulsion by a quarter of a century.
Hardship and Loss of Hope
Traumas and unrestrained supernaturalism led to widespread psychological distress.
The decades preceding Frau Troffea's dance were particularly harsh, marked by famine, sickness, and extreme cold.
A series of calamitous events, including the onset of syphilis and the Ottoman Turk's relentless conquests, led many to believe that God had turned His wrath upon the people of Alsace.
The people of Alsace exhibited unprecedented restlessness, aggression, hostility, and fear, stemming from hunger, destitution, crippling debts, distrust of authority figures, and vivid imaginations filled with visions of ghosts, demons, devils, and vengeful saints, eroding the poor's confidence in their ability to endure life's trials.
This narrative elucidates the loss of hope experienced by the city's inhabitants.
Quotes
Introduction
July 14, 1518: Frau Troffea began dancing in Strasbourg (pg. 1).
No music was playing, and she showed no signs of joy (pg. 1).
She danced throughout the day, unable to stop, collapsing only from exhaustion (pg. 1).
She would resume dancing after brief periods of rest (pg. 1).
On the third day, she continued to dance, drawing dozens of onlookers (pg. 2).
Onlookers and Speculations
Tradesmen, artisans, and nobles watched Frau Troffea's relentless dance (pg. 2).
Some blamed restless spirits or demons for commandeering her soul (pg. 2).
Others believed the affliction was sent from Heaven as punishment (pg. 2).
After several days, Frau Troffea was taken to a shrine in the Vosges Mountains (pg. 2).
Spread of the Dancing Plague
Within days, over thirty people began dancing uncontrollably (pg. 3).
The dancing occurred in houses, halls, and public spaces, causing fear and despair (pg. 3).
People danced day and night, their bodies suffering from fatigue and bleeding (pg. 3).
By early August 1518, the epidemic spread rapidly, with at least a hundred citizens affected (pg. 3).
Within a month, around four hundred people experienced the madness (pg. 3).
The Deadly Turn
The epidemic took a cruel turn, with people dancing until they fell unconscious (pg. 4).
Many died from the dancing plague, with one chronicle suggesting fifteen deaths per day (pg. 4).
The afflicted rarely paused to eat, drink, or rest (pg. 4).
The epidemic finally subsided in late August or early September 1518 (pg. 4).
The sickness threw one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire into turmoil (pg. 4).
Purpose of the Book
The book aims to explain why hundreds of people lapsed into frantic delirium for days or weeks (pg. 5).
It uses historical records, analyses of modern historians, and insights from anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience (pg. 5).
The events of this summer lived long in people's minds, recorded by local merchants, officials, and preachers (pg. 5).
Chronicles were compiled during the epidemic and pieced together later from manuscripts and conversations (pg. 5).
Municipal orders, sermons, and descriptions from physicians also provide information (pg. 6).
Some original accounts were destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, but much had been copied (pg. 6).
Theophrastus von Hohenheim (Paracelsus)
Paracelsus, an alchemist and physician, arrived in Strasbourg in November 1526 (pg. 7).
He was fascinated by the dancing plague and determined to understand it (pg. 7).
Paracelsus blamed Frau Troffea, attributing her dancing to a desire to humiliate her husband (pg. 7).
He dubbed her disease "chorea lasciva" and its victims "choreomaniacs." (pg. 7)
He suggested confining and fasting those with lewd thoughts or creating wax models to transfer thoughts and then burn them (pg. 7).
Historical Context and Previous Outbreaks
Paracelsus may have heard of dancing mania before arriving in Strasbourg (pg. 8).
Johannes Trithemius described an outbreak in 1374 across the Low Countries, Germany, and northeastern France (pg. 8).
Seven bouts of uncontrollable dancing occurred in western Europe before 1518 (pg. 8).
The first outbreak was in Kölbigk around 1017, where dancers were cursed to dance for a year (pg. 8).
A Welsh chronicle in 1188 spoke of people dancing and enacting unlawful work during a religious ceremony (pg. 8).
In Erfurt in 1247, one hundred or more children danced out of town, collapsing later, with some dying or suffering tremors (pg. 9).
In Maastricht in 1278, about two hundred people danced on a bridge, which collapsed, killing them (pg. 9).
The late fourteenth-century epidemic, starting in the Rhineland in 1374, spread widely (pg. 9).
Dancers screeched, leaped, and called on God and the saints, with many believing they were possessed by demons (pg. 9).
Priests performed exorcisms, and the epidemic subsided by the end of the year (pg. 9).
Smaller dancing epidemics occurred in Zurich's Water Church in 1418 and near Trier in 1463 (pg. 10).
Significance of the Strasbourg Epidemic
The Strasbourg epidemic was the second largest but is the best-documented due to the printing press and bureaucracy (pg. 10).
It occurred during a critical moment in European history, amidst religious wars and peasant rebellion (pg. 10).
Rejection of Ergotism Hypothesis
Modern authors have suggested ergot, a mold rye, as a cause, inducing delusions and twitching (pg. 11).
Millers in Alsace used distorted faces on flour pipes as reminders of ergot-induced hallucinations (pg. 11).
However, ergotism doesn't account for sustained dancing or the agreement among witnesses that people danced (pg. 11).
Ergot more often causes restricted blood supply, leading to gangrene and excruciating death, with no such reports in Strasbourg in 1518 (pg. 11).
Hysteria and Supernaturalism
The dancing plague is argued to be a form of hysteria triggered by acute anguish and fear (pg. 12).
It manifested as dancing due to a culture steeped in supernaturalism (pg. 12).
People believed in the wrath of God and the saints, making it a pathological expression of desperation and pious fear (pg. 12).
Daily Life and Beliefs
Understanding the dancing plague requires looking at daily life in Strasbourg and its traumas (pg. 13).
Poor harvests, plague, smallpox, and foreign troops created a world of terrifying uncertainty (pg. 13).
Society drank and danced intensely as a means of escaping an intolerable reality (pg. 13).
People imagined their world as a battle between good and evil, with church doctrine infusing daily life with supernatural meaning (pg. 13).
Religious services, saints' days, and rituals were central to daily life (pg. 13).
People hoped for eternal bliss and sought to expiate sins through penance and prayer (pg. 13).
The story reveals a vanished world of arcane rituals, beliefs, practices, and fears (pg. 14).
People believed Satan stalked the Earth and that God sent sickness and death (pg. 14).
Exploration of the Human Brain
The dancing plague provides insight into the potentials of the human unconscious (pg. 15).
It highlights the outer limits of what minds can impel under extreme distress (pg. 15).
It draws attention to diverse ways psychic stress is articulated today (pg. 15).
Subsequent Manifestations
Subsequent manifestations of similar impulses include demonically possessed nuns and soldiers of World War I rendered mute through fear (pg. 16).
The dancing plague occurred a quarter of a century before Frau Troffea's compulsion (pg. 16