Dancing Plague of 1518

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 22 May 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1518 one woman's mysterious dance sparked an uncontrollable epidemic, leading up to 400 people to dance wildly for weeks.

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by Dr. Lynneth J. Miller Renberg to explore the bizarre Dancing Plague, discussing the theories of demonic possession, divine punishment, and social protest, finding out how the city struggled to contain this strange phenomenon. The medical missteps, and cultural tensions fueled one of history's most puzzling outbreaks.

How to Survive the Plague

https://open.spotify.com/episode/01e8GRcHkZuHjmUTvlIwRx

Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

Theme music from All3Media. Other music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb.
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0:10.5	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries,
0:16.0	including my own recent two-part series, A World Torn Apart, The Dissolution of the Monastries, and enjoy a new release
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1:06.8	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit,
1:12.6	the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs,
1:17.1	from Holbein to the Huguenose, from Shakespeare to Samarise,
1:21.6	relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft.
1:25.9	Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.
1:54.2	On the 14th of July 1518, a lone woman began to dance involuntarily, seemingly without cause, on the streets of Strasbourg.
2:02.4	In a matter of days, she was joined by dozens of others, also apparently unable to prevent themselves from dancing. Within a matter of weeks, as many as 400 people were cavorting wildly in the public squares and roads, forming
2:07.7	what would become known as a dancing play. Drenched in sweat, limbs thrashing convulsively,
2:14.1	with swollen feet and glazed eyes in some cases, the plague's victims danced continually, uncontrollably, even as they cried out for help.
2:22.3	As hysteria grew, theories of demonic possession and divine punishment abounded, along with calls for religious intervention and the expulsion of outsiders from the city.
2:31.3	Medical officials hoping to cure the fever through over-stimulation
	...

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