The Dancing Plague of 1518 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Grapes

The crisis that was to end in the dancing plague began around 1514 when vegetable crops were frozen in the ground and rain rotted stored grain. The next two years saw blistering heat that punished the grape vines and produced a tiny harvest. In 1517 it finally seemed the area would have a decent crop and help stave off the impending starvation of the people.

However, a surprise cold snap in late April froze the grapes and ruined the grain in the field. The farmers had no grapes to harvest, and the vintners had no wine products to sell. Hunger ran rampant.

Answer: Smallpox

The slow starvation that the people of Alsace faced was made worse by several illnesses that they encountered. Bubonic plague hit in 1517 for the second time in ten years and killed many. Those who contracted leprosy were sent off to a secluded locale and cut off from their friends and relatives. Sweating sickness also reached the area and struck randomly and quickly. Finally, smallpox tore through the land, causing illness, and physical deformities, such as blisters and scabs, left bodily scars. Queen Elizabeth I herself suffered from this disease, and it would have an impact on her reign with raising questions regarding succession.

Answer: Bastille Day

On the morning of July 14, 1518, Frau Troffea stepped out of her home in the town of Strasbourg in the area of Alsace (now France). She then began to dance crazily for hours. Her husband begged her to stop as onlookers started to gather. At first people wrote that they thought she was trying to avoid household work, but they changed their mind when she danced so hard that blood pooled in her shoes. She finally collapsed into sleep, only to begin again the next morning.

That date, July 14, would also go down in history as Bastille Day in 1789. That is when people stormed the Bastille prison beginning the French Revolution and symbolizing the beginning of the French fight against tyranny.

Answer: Vosges

Frau Troffea danced continuously for six full days. She seemed to not be aware that she had bruises and bloody sores on her legs and feet. At first, the town council assumed it was a work of the Devil or a local witch. However, the governor later decreed it was a form of divine punishment that could be taken care of with the intervention of a saint. Frau Troffea was bundled up and taken thirty miles away, on a rough dirt road, to the Vosges Mountains.

Here, in this low, forested mountain range, shrines and grottoes to various saints existed.

It was believed that the pilgrimage to the shrine would have a calming affect.

Answer: Choreomania

The villagers in Strasbourg began to follow the lead of Frau Troffea and dance uncontrollably. It appeared they did this involuntarily and seemed to have an altered state of consciousness. Surprisingly, this type of activity, characterized as "dancing mania", or choreomania, had happened before in Europe beginning as early as the 7th century.

The dancing affected different numbers of people, and lasted for different lengths of time.

Answer: True

The physicians of Strasbourg consulted the astrological charts and viewed the four humors of the body (phlegm, black bile, yellow bile, and blood). After careful analysis, the council gave the verdict that "the dance is a natural disease, which comes from overheated blood", and the best thing was to let the people dance it away.

The city leaders, therefore, built halls with padded walls and few obstructions in which to let the afflicted dance. Others danced in the market (which was shaded) or on a stage near the Black Forest. Two months into this exercise, hundreds of people were dancing their way to exhaustion or death.

Answer: Stringed Instruments

The villagers had continued their frenzied dancing at the behest of the physicians. However, this did not seem to stop them as they continued to sicken and many died of exhaustion, wounds, and starvation. The physicians and council then decided to ban the dancing.

This did not stop the dancers either. So the council banned all forms of music, thinking this might discourage them from dancing. Even whistling was not allowed. The only exception was for "honorable persons" to dance at weddings ONLY via stringed instruments, such as the harp. They felt a gentle melody was less likely to cause the trance-like dancing.

Answer: St. Vitus

By September, the dancers were still continuing even without the music. The council and physicians reviewed the facts and decided that Frau Troffea had good luck after visiting the shrine in the mountains honoring St. Vitus.

He was the son of a pagan from Sicily who had converted to Christianity. He cast out an evil spirit from the emperor's son and was later martyred. Because of this action, he became the patron saint of nervous disorders. Later, dancing to honor him was considered good luck until the dances became frenzied. Thus, the type of dancing that occurred in Alsace would later be called St. Vitus's Dance.

Answer: Red

As the dancers convened at the shrine of St. Vitus, they were each provided a pair of red shoes, small crosses, and a Mass was said for them. Red dye, at the time, was one of the most expensive on the market and only the most wealthy wore that color. Therefore, the red of the shoes was to show their gratitude to the saint and how much it meant for him to absolve them of dancing.

It also represented the pain their legs felt from dancing (as if fire was shooting up). The priests also dipped their hands into consecrated oil and balsam, and smudged the sign of the cross upon the shoes. Lastly, each person was asked to sacrifice a penny at the alter.

The group was then all driven back home in wagons.

Answer: Rye

Many theories over the centuries have been put forward as to what caused this two month stint of mad dancing, resulting in the deaths of almost 400 people. Some theorize that it was a form of mass hysteria. Some say it was a mental breakdown caused by the combination of factors like starvation, sickness, and poverty.

Others blame ergot, which is a fungus that grows on cereal grain, especially rye. The intake of ergot can cause hallucinations and convulsions. However, many speculate that ergot poisoning should not have lasted as long as the dancing craze. So the mystery of the Dancing Plague of 1518 persists.