In 1374 a dancing mania swept over the German city of Aachen. In 1888, historian Justus Hecker describes the symptoms:
They formed circles hand in hand, and appearing to have lost all control over their senses, continued dancing, regardless of the bystanders, for hours together, in wild delirium, until at length they fell to the ground in a state of exhaustion. They then complained of extreme oppression, and groaned as if in the agonies of death, until they were swathed in cloths bound tightly round their waists, upon which they again recovered, and remained free from complaint until the next attack.
This disease spread across Europe and over the Alps into Italy. Records from the time claim that the dancers were often from other regions. They were religious pilgrims. As Robert Barholomew noted:
The behavior of these dancers was described as strange, because while exhibiting actions that were part of the Christian tradition, and paying homage to Jesus, Mary, and various saints at chapels and shrines, other elements were foreign.
Radulphus de Rivo’s chronicle Decani Tongrensis states that “in their songs they uttered the names of devils never before heard of . . . this strange sect.”
Petrus de Herenthal writes in Vita Gregorii XI: “There came to Aachen. . . a curious sect.”
The Chronicon Belgicum Magnumdescribes the participants as “a sect of dancers.”