Was the dancing plague real? 15 Pieces of Artistic Evidence

Was the dancing plague real? The art depicting the dancing manias over the years 1000-1600 can tell us a lot about the physical circumstances in a way the written accounts cannot. They also can confirm some interpretations of the written accounts. Plus, art is nice to look at. Let’s see what the art of the dancing manias can show us.

Whas the Dancing Plague Real? Yes, we have “Proof”!

Here are 15 examples of artwork related to the dancing manias. Some are of the dancing itself, throughout the years, historical depictions, and depictions relating to the phenomena sweeping through Europe, such as St. Vitus’s lore, St. John’s dance, and the corruption of nuns.

1. The Dancing Mania by Hendrick Hondius

In this woodcut we see many aspects common to the descriptions of dancing mania. The women are mainly the dancers and appear in distress, while men are called in to try to restrain them. We also see a bridge in the background. While it’s not entirely clear if this depicts a specific indcident of dancing mania, we are aware of a bridge incident, seen more clearly in example #10, and described as the 1278 incident at Mosel bridge in my full timeline of dancing mania.

2. Dancing Plague (Tanzende Pest)

Title: Dancing Plague, Tanzende Pest
Artist: UNKNOWN. Comment if you know
Date: UNKNOWN. Comment if you know
Place: Said to be Strasbourg or Alsace

This practically appears to be an ordinary dance, but the title indicates it is of the dancing plagues, and is associated with the 1518 dancing plague in Strasbourg. It appears to be happening outside a church, with many crosses also displayed. We know that the earliest accounts of dancing mania also occurred outside a church, even the very first one in the 600s, as well as the 1518 instance. For whatever reason we also see a pile of skulls.

3. The Dancing Pilgrims at Muelebeek

This drawing has another popular title: “The Epileptic Women of Muelebeek.” This supports the fact that it was not all fun and games, in case the look on the woman’s face was not enough to support that. But this isn’t a normal kind of epilepsy, but some other type of voluntary movements under the same umbrella term. It’s hard to differentiate accounts of ‘dancing’ to involuntary motor attacks, and many historians say, lacking better terms, it was all called dancing. We can’t really be sure from many of the accounts, as often music was employed, closening it to actual dancing, with rhythm and some degree of grace. There seemed to be varying levels among the spectra, blurring the lines between dancing and motor disorder.

The drawing shows the ‘dancers’ at a suburb of Brussels in 1564. The engraved copy of the small drawing, Hendrick Hondius made in 1642. It showed the reported occurrence of med being called in to support dancing women. The women are a bit in distress it seems, and some of the men are carrying bagpipes. We also know music players would be hired, with the notion that this would “hurry along” the illness.

For further reading on this most famouse piece: McAlister, Neil Harding. “The dancing pilgrims at Muelebeek.” Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences 32.3 (1977): 315-319.

4. Corruption in Nunneries

This woodcutting coincides with the madness in the nunneries that went along during the time of the dancing manias. Some of the reported manias did indeed occur in convents, that seemed to be afflicted with the contagious version of dancing plague. This is also mirrored in the modern instances of mass psychogenic illness happening in boarding schools and other places with isolation and strict rules.

The woodcutting depicts a demonic figures making a contract with two nuns. The nuns holding rosaries, it’s unclear the exact narrative that this tells.

5. Dances of Death

Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death (1523–5) , a series of action-packed scenes which sees Death, in the form of a maniacal skeleton, intruding on the everyday lives of people from all walks of life — from pope to physician to ploughman: https://t.co/9hmEI3wVl0 #DayoftheDead pic.twitter.com/Px5K0NZRhk

— The Public Domain Review (@PublicDomainRev) November 2, 2018

Title: Dance of Death
Artist: Hans Holbein
Date: 1523-5
Place: Germany-Switzerland

Hans Holbein’s Dances of Death is entire book of inspiring woodcuts. The story told is merely adjacent to the dancing plagues, that of danse macabre. While there could certainly be an entire art series on danse macabre alone, these nevertheless are some piece of the lore surrounding dance in this era and place.

Death, depicted as a skeleton, a similar figure as the “grim reaper” has a dance with those who have death upon them. In the dancing manias, many took their final breath while under the mysterious condition that willed them to dance to the point of perhaps fatal exhaustion.

6. View of Stausburg

Title: Argentoratum, cuius ob antiquitatem Ptolemeus
Artist: Engraved by Abraham Hogenberg after a map by Conrad Morant
Date: 1582
Place: Hogenburg was Flemish & German

Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace, France, is a very famous town mentioned even by Ptolemy and other older writers. Strasbourg is on the Rhine river. It is a town respected for its science and integrity, with a role in strong Christianity as well.

The map here show’s a bird’s eye view, with the houses along the wide streets and gathering centers. In 1292 Strasbourg was declared a “Free Imperial City” with privileges to rule itself in many ways. The tower in the north stands 142 m high, and was the tallest church up to the 19th century.

This was engraved in 1548 as well as the accompanying Latin texts, together in a sort of atlas, after Munters 1562 Cosmografia.

7. St. Vitus in the Cauldron

In the legend of St. Vitus, the young boy was tortured for his beliefs in a cauldron, which he escaped from but was later martyred. As he passed, he imposed dancing, as either a curse or a healing it is unclear. But in any case, it related to God. The red shoes the dancers were sometimes given to wear may also be associated with the cauldron martyrdom of St. Vitus, symbolizing his hot feet as he was fed into it. This painting hangs at the Warsaw National Museum and is by an unknown artist.

8. The Fool’s Dance

This drawing has the title of Stultorum Chorea, chorea being the medical name for the condition of dancing mania. When thee dancing plagues first appeared, they were under the duty of clergy to fix. Over time, and thanks to some polymaths into medical science like Paracelsus, the condition began to take on a medical view and was called chorea.

There are many small inscriptions throughout this work. Dancing mania was also seen as something more commonly affecting the lower and uneducated classes. This perhaps links the work to the title of “The Fool’s Dance.”

9. St. Vitu’s Grotto

Title: “Interior of the grotto of Saint Vitus above Saverne”
Artist: Engelmann
Date: 1828
Place: Germany

The grotto of St. Vitus near Saverne is a place where those afflicted with dancing mania were sometimes brought in attempts to relieve them. This lithograph shows the cave beneath a small mountain that overlooks Alsatian Plain. To the right of the centerpiece of the altar is a figure of St. Vitus in a cauldron.

The image is from the Societé d’Histoire & d’Archeologie de Saverne et Environs from Henri Heitz and Jean Joseph Ring. I have not been able to find the location on maps, but perhaps there is still a shrine somewhere. You can read about the trips to the grotto in What Caused Dancing Mania?

During that 1518 plague, many were taken to St. Vitus’ chapels, strapped to wagons. They were given a blessed cross and red shoes and danced before his image. Reports came back that those who went on the pilgrimage to St. Vitus’ shrine did recover. So it seems to have worked.

The particular Vitus shrine historically discussed was in a cave in a Vosges promontory named Vixberg, on Vitus’ mountain, west of Saverne. Notably, “There, the dancers’ bloodied feet were placed into red shoes before they were led around with a wooden figurine of the saint.” [Bart]

They had to go up a narrow path to the grotto, usually travelled on Easter and Vitus day June 15th. Others who would go included epileptics, hysterical and infertile women, and farmers with sick cattle. It is difficult to find information on what this mountain is called now.

What Caused Dancing Mania?

11. Bridge

One of the earlier depictions, Wohlgemuth shows those who fell into the river while dancing upon it. Many considered that to be punishment from God. Like many dancing plague incidents, there is no clear reason why the dancing began.

According to this distinct occurrence of dancing mania, two hundred peasants began dancing impiously on the Mosel bridge, eventually causing it to collapse. Hecker states the peasants “would not desist until a priest passed who was carrying the Host (“Body of Christ”) to a person that was sick, upon which, as if in punishment of their crime, the bridge gave way, and they were all drowned.”

The Real timeline of Dancing Mania

12. Pied Piper

The Pied Piper is a folktale that may or may not be based on true events. A piper (instrument player) was hired to remove rats from the city but was never paid. As revenge on the town, he played a tune on his pipe that lured away all the children in town. People has memorials to it, so it must be based on something. But one of the dancing plagues involved a group of traveling children, many of whom never returned, so many link the Pied piper to this particular dancing plague.

However, many state the year of the pied piper as 1284, whereas people cite the dancing plague involving the traveling children as 1237. Others say the piper was a metaphorical figure of dans macabre and the children died of natural causes due to environmental factors of hardship.

The Real timeline of Dancing Mania

13. 1021 Dance Epidemic

Included in a type of fancy woodcut newspaper, we have here the Dance Epidemic of 1021 in Kölbigk, Germany.

On Christmas Eve, 18 people began the dance outside the church dedicated to St. Magnus the Martyr. A priest tried to give mass, but the noise stopped him. He ordered them to stop, and they formed a “ring dance of sin,” involving claps, leaps, and chants. As a punishment, the priest ordered them to dance for a year. So the dancers did not stop until the following Christmas, allegedly. Some “fell asleep” and never awoke.

Detailed by Hecker, this was near to Bernburg, the tales says that eighteen peasants, began disturbing the service in the churchyard. The priest, according to Hecker named Ruprecht, inflicted the classic year-long dancing curse upon them.

Real Timeline of Dancing Mania

14. St John’s Fire

St. John’s dance for some reason has been associated with the dancing manias and St. Vitus. Saint Vitus day on June 28 and St. John’s on June 15th, as well as the afflictions setting in at the end of spring. St. John’s festival was also known to get rowdy.

I could not find an exact connection to St. John and the practice of dances. It was well-known though, that the revels of St. John’s day could leave people with lingering effects. It could very well be that connection with the time of year again, in late spring, and be more related to the cyclic change of climate during that time of year, to those susceptible.

What Caused Dancing Mania?

15. 1823 Comic

Lastly a more contemporary depiction of St. Vitus dance, and this time with more upper class folk. By this time St. Vitus dance was a neurological disorder (Sydenham’s chorea) and a sort of a meme. The book it’s from is a comical collection of different pathologies. There may be something demon-esque in the background.

Was the dancing plague real? now you may believe

There are a great many more artworks related to adjacent phenomena to dancing mania, but mainly these where the ones I found to be most related. Now we have a better idea of the visual representation of the mysterious dancing mania in artwork.