Episode 14: The Dancing Plague of 1518

The Bygone Society Show

Let’s set the scene: Strasbourg, Alsace — now modern-day France — July 1518. At this time, Strasbourg was part of the Holy Roman Empire and a bustling, thriving city located on the Rhine River.

The city was a significant center for trade and commerce, with a population of around 20,000 people. Its streets were narrow and winding, flanked by half-timbered houses with steeply pitched roofs.

On any given day, the city would be filled with merchants selling their wares, craftsmen working in their shops, and townsfolk going about their daily business.

But on July 14th, 1518, something extraordinary started to unfold. In a narrow-cobbled street outside her home, a woman named Frau Troffea began to dance.

Not the kind of dancing you might imagine—no music, no rhythm, no joy. Instead, she moved frantically, her body possessed by an unseen force. Her deeply concerned husband tried to intervene, begging her to stop.

But she wouldn’t…. or couldn’t. She danced on, her feet pounding the pavement without pause, for hours, then days.

By the second and third days, crowds began to gather. Neighbors, porters, beggars, even nuns and priests—everyone came to witness this bizarre spectacle.

Was she bewitched? Cursed? Or simply mad? These were the questions we can imagine were on everyone’s lips as they watched Frau Troffea dance without rest, neither eating nor drinking.

By the fourth day, the city council decided to intervene, fearing that this unnatural display might be a sign of something more sinister. They ordered Frau Troffea to be taken to the shrine of St. Vitus, located some thirty miles away near Zabern, now known as Saverne.

St. Vitus was the patron saint of epileptics and dancers, and it was believed that his intercession might cure her of this madness. But as Frau Troffea was whisked away, something remarkable and terrifying happened.

Others joined in the dance.

I’m Kate Naglieri. Welcome to The Bygone Society Show.

Research, writing and hosting by Kate Naglieri
Production and sound by Jamie Eichhorn
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