In 1518, one of the strangest epidemics in recorded history struck the city of Strasbourg. Hundreds of people were seized by an irresistible urge to dance, hop and leap into the air. In houses, halls and public spaces, as fear paralyzed the city and the members of the elite despaired, the dancing continued with mindless intensity. Seldom pausing to eat, drink or rest, many of them danced for days or even weeks. And before long, the chronicles agree, dozens were dying from exhaustion. What was it that could have impelled as many as 400 people to dance, in some cases to death?
Medieval dancing epidemics were not unrelated events: they were linked both in time and space. Every one of the ten or so outbreaks between the late 1300s and 1518 happened along the Rhine and Mosel rivers. In 1374, for instance, the crazed dance gradually spread out from an epicentre around Aachen, Liege and Maastricht to neighbouring towns such as Ghent, Utrecht, Metz, Trier and, eventually, Strasbourg. Moreover, outbreaks of compulsive dancing virtually always struck in or close to places affected by earlier outbreaks. Maastricht, Trier, Zurich and Strasbourg each experienced two or more episodes. There are also several reports of compulsive dancing after 1518. All of these, crucially, took place close to the Rhine, and all but one within a short ride of Strasbourg itself.
How can we explain this striking epidemiological picture? One suggestion is that wild dancing formed part of the ecstatic ritual of a heretical sect, an energetic counterpart of the flagellant’s cult. There are two main difficulties with this theory. First, in lucid moments the dancers implored bystanders and priests to come to their aid. There is absolutely no evidence that the dancers wanted to dance. On the contrary, they expressed fear and desperation. Second, the authorities consistently saw the afflicted not as heretics but as the victims of diabolical possession or divine curse, and treated them accordingly. The dancers were subject to exorcisms or sent on pilgrimages. Never were they hauled before the inquisition.
Other authors have sought a chemical or biological origin for the dancing mania, and the chief contender has been ergot, a mould that grows on the stalks of damp rye. While seductively simple, this hypothesis is untenable. The chemicals contained in ergot do not allow for sustained dancing. They can certainly trigger violent convulsions and delusions, but not coordinated movements that last for days. Yet while the dancers were free from ergot, they almost certainly were delirious. Only in an altered state of consciousness could they have tolerated such extreme fatigue and the searing pain of sore, swollen and bleeding feet. Moreover, witnesses consistently spoke of the victims as being entranced, seeing terrifying visions and behaving with wild, crazy abandon. So what could have plunged hundreds of people into trances so deep that remorseless dancing became possible? Psychologists, neurologists and anthropologists have identified severe psychological distress as a factor increasing the likelihood of an individual entering an altered state. It is unlikely to be a coincidence, therefore, that in the year 1518 many people in Strasbourg were experiencing truly exceptional levels of hunger and mental anguish.
In a spin: the mysterious dancing epidemic of 1518. Endeavour. 2008 32(3): 117-121. doi: 10.1016/j.endeavour.2008.05.001
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