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Whilst looking at information upon a different subject (Pied Piper of Hamelin) I came across a mention of the Dancing Plagues or Manias of the Middle Ages as a possible theory behind the tale.
http://www.ims.uni-stuttgart.de/~jonas/piedpiper.html
Others include the mass transportation of people in order to colonise Moravia under the orders of an un-named Sovereign or even a "Children's Crusade" or battle. Children's Crusades already being mentioned here on the FTMB
Children's Crusade: Fact or Fiction?
This article from Csicop provides background on the Dance Manias, obviously debunks certain widely held beliefs about the manias and possible reasons behind the mania.
http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-07/dancing-mania.html
http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/Books/hecker/Death15.htm
Saint Vitus' Dance (or Sydenham's Chorea) is quite often mentioned in regards to the Dance Manias too.
http://saintvitus.com/SaintVitus/
Saint Vitus on the Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15490b.htm
-Having read about the Dancing Manias/Plague before, I assumed that it fell under a mass hysteria category, but the Csicop report seems to point at the likelyhood that it was possibly due to a religious sect picking up more followers whilst on a pilgrimage across Europe.
http://www.ims.uni-stuttgart.de/~jonas/piedpiper.html
Others include the mass transportation of people in order to colonise Moravia under the orders of an un-named Sovereign or even a "Children's Crusade" or battle. Children's Crusades already being mentioned here on the FTMB
Children's Crusade: Fact or Fiction?
This article from Csicop provides background on the Dance Manias, obviously debunks certain widely held beliefs about the manias and possible reasons behind the mania.
[...]
So what is the most likely explanation for dance manias? Based on an examination of a representative sample of medieval chronicles, it is evident that these episodes are best explained as deviant religious sects who gained adherents as they made pilgrimages through Europe during years of turmoil in order to receive divine favor. Their symptoms (visions, fainting, tremor) are predictable for any large population engaging in prolonged dancing, emotional worship, and fasting. Their actions have been "mistranslated" by contemporary scholars evaluating the participants' behaviors per se, removed from their regional context and meaning. Tarantism was a regional variant of dancing mania that developed into a local tradition, primarily in southern Italy.
[...]
http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-07/dancing-mania.html
The Dancing Mania of the year 1374 was, in fact, no new disease, but a phenomenon well known in the Middle Ages, of which many wondrous stories were traditionally current among the people. In the year 1237 upwards of a hundred children were said to have been suddenly seized with this disease at Erfurt, and to have proceeded dancing and jumping along the road to Arnstadt.
When they arrived at that place they fell exhausted to the ground, and, according to an account of an old chronicle, many of them, after they were taken home by their parents, died, and the rest remained affected, to the end of their lives, with a permanent tremor.
Another occurrence was related to have taken place on the Moselle Bridge at Utrecht, on the 17th day of June, A.D. 1278, when two hundred fanatics began to dance, and would not desist until a priest passed, who was carrying the Host to a person that was sick, upon which, as if in punishment of their crime, the bridge gave way, and they were all drowned. A similar event also occurred so early as the year 1027, near the convent church of Kolbig, not far from Bernburg.
According to an oft-repeated tradition, eighteen peasants, some of whose names are still preserved, are said to have disturbed divine service on Christmas Eve by dancing and brawling in the churchyard, whereupon the priest, Ruprecht, inflicted a curse upon them, that they should dance and scream for a whole year without ceasing. This curse is stated to have been completely fulfilled, so that the unfortunate sufferers at length sank knee-deep into the earth, and remained the whole time without nourishment, until they were finally released by the intercession of two pious bishops. It is said that, upon this, they fell into a deep sleep, which lasted three days, and that four of them died; the rest continuing to suffer all their lives from a trembling of their limbs.
It is not worth while to separate what may have been true, and what the addition of crafty priests, in this strangely distorted story. It is sufficient that it was believed, and related with astonishment and horror, throughout the Middle Ages; so that when there was any exciting cause for this delirious raving and wild rage for dancing, it failed not to produce its effects upon men whose thoughts were given up to a belief in wonders and apparitions.
[...]
http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/Books/hecker/Death15.htm
Saint Vitus' Dance (or Sydenham's Chorea) is quite often mentioned in regards to the Dance Manias too.
Saint Vitus is the patron saint of dancers, young people and dogs. There is a disease named after him, Saint Vitus Dance, or Sydenham's Chorea, which can sometimes cause dancing mania.
Sydenham's Chorea got it's name from the Greco- Latin word implying the act of dancing, the word chorea was first applied by Paracelsus to the frenzied movements of religious fanatics who during the middle ages journeyed to the healing shrine of St. Vitus.
chorea
Pronounced As: kr, ko- or St. Vitus's dance, acute disturbance of the central nervous system characterized by involuntary muscular movements of the face and extremities. The disease, known also as Sydenham's chorea (not to be confused with Huntington's disease, a hereditary disease of adults that is sometimes called Huntington's chorea), is usually, but not always, a complication of rheumatic fever. Sydenham's chorea, a disease of children, especially females, usually appears between the ages of 7 and 14. Facial grimacing and jerking movements persist for 6 to 10 weeks and sometimes recur after months or even years. Eventually the symptoms disappear. Although there is no specific treatment, sedatives and tranquilizers are helpful in suppressing the involuntary movements. Technically, it is sometimes called chorea minor or juvenile chorea to distinguish it from several less common choreas, chorea also being a general term for continuous, involuntary jerking movements.
http://saintvitus.com/SaintVitus/
Saint Vitus on the Catholic Encyclopedia:
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15490b.htm
-Having read about the Dancing Manias/Plague before, I assumed that it fell under a mass hysteria category, but the Csicop report seems to point at the likelyhood that it was possibly due to a religious sect picking up more followers whilst on a pilgrimage across Europe.