Dance Mania sweeps the Rhineland
1374
Crowds of pilgrims and townsfolk in Aachen and Cologne began dancing uncontrollably, foaming at the mouth, falling exhausted, only to rise and dance again. Contemporaries blamed demons; modern historians point to ergotism, hysterical contagion, or post-traumatic disorder in communities still reeling from plague. The episode crawled along the Rhine for months before dissipating.
In context
Also in 1374 (3 other events on record)
- Petrarch dies bent over a book · Europe · Culture
- Timur conquers Khwarezm after five campaigns · Central Asia · War
- Sacrobosco's Sphere taught at Paris and Oxford · Europe · Science
Before and after in Europe
Before and after in Disaster
Era
Late Middle Ages (1301–1500), one of 874 events from that era on Saeculum.