# A2 — What the narrative chronicles say about the Strasbourg dancing of 1518 Scope: every narrative chronicle or letter other than the council records, Brant's *Annales* (ed. Dacheux) and Specklin (ed. Reuss/Dacheux), which are treated in `A1_council_record.md`. Where I cite those, it is only for comparison and from copies I happened to have. Raw files and URLs: `../sources/A2_SOURCES.md`. Conventions: quotations are given as printed in the edition named, corrected against the page image where I say "image-verified". Anything I did not read myself is marked **UNVERIFIED (from memory)**. Dates are Julian; in 1518 St Mary Magdalene (22 July) fell on a Thursday, so "Friday after Magdalene" = 23 July, "Monday after St Lawrence" = 16 August (computed). --- ## 0. Headline findings 1. **The often-quoted verses "Viel hundert fiengen zu Straßburg an …" are not in Kleinlawel's 1625 chronicle.** They come from an anonymous manuscript ("Chron. MS. Argent. p. 318") printed by Schilter in 1698 under the wrong year **1418**; Hecker (1832) and Babington (1859) copied the verses and the wrong year. Kleinlawel's actual 1518 stanza (pp. 130–131, image-verified) is different: "Ein Seltzam sucht … Viel sind Todt drüber blieben." 2. **A Basel witness nobody in the modern literature seems to use:** the anonymous chronicle preserved in Konrad Schnitt's compilation (written before 1537) has a notice that "several hundred people, women and men, began at Strasbourg to dance and leap in the open market and streets, day and night … and the plague was named St Vitus's dance" — dated **1518** in the manuscript ("Anno XVCXVIII"). The 1902 editor (Bernoulli) moved it to 1418 on Schilter's authority (Basler Chroniken VI, pp. 189, 226–227). It is a prose twin of the Schilter verses and shows that the "many hundreds" tradition is 16th-century, not 17th. 3. **The earliest narrative texts mention no deaths.** Deaths first appear in Specklin (d. 1589) as copied by Wencker ("Etliche stürben dran"), in the anonymous *Kleine Strassburger Chronik* (first third of the 17th c.: "biss etliche starben, erlagen oder miedt wurden") and in Kleinlawel 1625 ("Viel sind Todt drüber blieben"). The Imlin chronicle, the Basel notice, Gebwiler (as quoted by Midelfort and the 2018 exhibition), Brant's *Annales* and the magistrate's letter of 25 July 1518 (as translated by the exhibition) say nothing about anyone dying. 4. **Numbers:** Brant's *Annales*: "uff fünfzig personen" (c. 50). Imlin: one woman → "bey 34 frauwen und man" within four days → "mehr dan 200" within four weeks. Kleine Chronik: the same 34 and "uber 200". Specklin (in the exhibition's French translation): "plus d'une centaine … en même temps". Basel/Schilter: "etliche hundert" / "viel hundert". **The figure 400 rests on a variant reading of the Imlin chronicle**: Reuss's edition "nach der Originalhandschrift" (Alsatia 1873–75; Colmar 1875, p. 26 — both printings) reads "mehr dan 200", whereas Martin 1914 p. 119, quoting the same passage after Witkowski 1879, has "mehr denn 400" (so `A1_council_record.md`, from the page image of Martin). Midelfort's "more than four hundred" (1999, p. 34) and Waller's "as many as 400" (2008) follow Martin/Witkowski. Which reading the manuscript has cannot be settled from here; Reuss claims to print from the original, Witkowski's source is unknown to me. 5. **Nobody names the first dancer.** Imlin: "ein frauw"; Kleine Chronik: "eine frau"; Gebwiler (via Midelfort): "one woman"; magistrate's letter (via the exhibition): "une femme". "Frau Troffea" is Paracelsus only (see `B_paracelsus_and_retellings.md`). 6. **Dates in the chronicles:** Imlin gives the start as "acht tag vor S. Maria Magdalena tag" = **14 July 1518**; the Kleine Chronik and Brant's *Annales* say "umb S. Margredentag / um Margarethen". Imlin's "in 4 wuchen" runs to mid-August; Brant's *Annales* record a ban on dancing "bis Michaelis" (29 Sept) and further orders on the Monday after St Lawrence (16 Aug); the magistrate's letter of 25 July already says the disease "touche à sa fin" (exhibition translation). No chronicle gives an end date. 7. **Vocabulary of illness:** Kleinlawel "Ein Seltzam sucht … auß Vnsinnigkeit"; Brant's *Annales* "ein schwäre erschreckliche krankheit"; Basel "das wütten"; Wencker/Specklin "S. Veits tantz wunderliche chur"; the council's own papers (Schilter) "die armen dantzenden Personen", "der armen menschen halb so ist dantzen"; Gebwiler (via Midelfort) a warning from God that spread "just from looking on"; the physicians (via the exhibition) "maladie naturelle". No text says the dancers were possessed or compelled by St Vitus, though Wencker/Specklin's "denen mans fluchte" alludes to the curse "St Vitus's dance take you", and the whole pilgrimage apparatus treats the saint as the healer. 8. Negative results (no mention of the dancing): Büheler's chronicle (1518 entry is about an embassy to Spain), Trausch, Hertzog's *Chronicon Alsatiae* 1592, Basler Chroniken I (Ryff) and III–V, Beatus Rhenanus's 1518 letters, Erasmus's letters of Sept–Oct 1518 (except a possible joke: "Risi vestras saltationes", to Capito, 19 Oct 1518 — Capito was in Basel, so probably unrelated), Geiler's printed sermons (inconclusive; poor OCR). Gebwiler's own words could not be obtained (Stenzel 1926 not digitised; HathiTrust blocked). Oseas Schad's chronicle is unprinted. --- ## 1. The witnesses in order of composition | # | Text | Written | Author's position | Where I read it | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1 | Council instruction and commission minutes, Friday after Magdalene (23 July) 1518 | 1518 | city clerk / commissioners Claus Böcklin, Caspar Hoffmeister, Martin Herlin | printed by Schilter 1698 pp. 1087–1089 (treated in `A1_council_record.md`; noted here because Schilter's is the *first printing*) | | 2 | Imlin family chronicle, entry for 1518 | one of three hands active 1516–1543 (Reuss) — contemporary or near-contemporary | anonymous Strasbourg burgher-family book, largely copied from Königshofen for the earlier parts | Reuss 1875 p. 26 (image-verified) | | 3 | Hieronymus Gebwiler, Strasbourg chronicle | "early 1520s" (Midelfort) | humanist schoolmaster, Sélestat then Strasbourg cathedral school (UNVERIFIED from memory: c. 1473–1545) | only via Midelfort 1999 pp. 33–35 (English) and the 2018 teachers' dossier p. 12 (French) — Stenzel 1926 pp. 74–75 | | 4 | Anonymous Basel chronicle in Konrad Schnitt's compilation ("Anonymus bei Schnitt") | before 1537 (Schnitt's compilation); entry dated 1518 in the ms. | anonymous Basel writer; Schnitt was a Basel painter whose continuation ends in 1541 | Basler Chroniken VI (1902) pp. 226–227 (image-verified) | | 5 | "Annales de Sébastien Brant" | compilation from council records, transmitted in 17th-c. copies (Dacheux; Midelfort n. 25: Wencker 1637) | Brant was Stadtschreiber in 1518 | Dacheux 1892 no. 3443 pp. 239–240 (treated in `A1_council_record.md`; OCR only) | | 6 | Daniel Specklin, *Collectanea*, no. 2216 | c. 1580 (before 1589) | city architect | treated in `A1_council_record.md`; here via Wencker's copy (no. 3007) and the exhibition's French translation | | 7 | Anonymous *Kleine Strassburger Chronik* ("Pro memoria", fol. 11–25 of Stadtbibl. ms. 41) | first third of the 17th c. (Reuss) | anonymous burgher; close to Oseas Schad's unprinted chronicle (ends 1616) | Reuss 1889 p. 5 (OCR) | | 8 | Michael Kleinlawel, *Straßburgische Chronick* (rhymed) | printed 1625 | Strasbourg poet (1568–1635, GND 125828799) | 1625 ed. pp. 130–131 (image-verified) | | 9 | Johann Wencker, *Summarische Chronik* | 1637 | ammeister (born 1590, d. 16 Oct 1659: Dacheux's notice) | Dacheux 1892 no. 3007 p. 148 (image-verified) | | 10 | "Chron. MS. Argent. p. 318" (verses) | unknown, before 1698 | unknown | Schilter 1698 pp. 1089–1090 (image-verified) → Hecker 1832 p. 7 → Babington 1859 pp. 84–85 | --- ## 2. The passages ### 2.1 Imlin family chronicle (ed. Reuss 1875), p. 26 — image-verified **Edition.** Rudolf Reuss (ed.), *Strassburg im sechzehnten Jahrhundert (1500–1591). Auszug aus der Imlin'schen Familienchronik, zum erstenmal nach der Originalhandschrift mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen herausgegeben*, "Besonderer Abdruck aus der Alsatia 1873–1874", 2nd enlarged ed., Colmar: Eugen Barth 1875, 126 pp. MDZ bsb11312752 (BSB Als. 213 x). Page image: `https://api.digitale-sammlungen.de/iiif/image/v2/bsb11312752_00034/full/1600,/0/default.jpg` (scan 34 = printed p. 26); OCR `https://api.digitale-sammlungen.de/ocr/bsb11312752/34`. The first printing in *Alsatia* is in the archive.org text `bub_gb_xYkPAAAAYAAJ` (Fraktur OCR, same wording, "mehr dan 200"; printed page not determinable from the OCR). **Manuscript and date (Reuss's Einleitung).** A folio "Elsässische Chronik" of 263 leaves from the C. F. Heitz collection (Bibliothèque alsatique catalogue p. 128 no. 1893), then in the Kaiserliche Landes- und Universitätsbibliothek Strassburg; named after the note on fol. 1 "Diese geschriebene Chronick der Stadt Straßburg fand ich unter alten Familienbüchern. E. F. Imlin, 1823." At least five hands; the main parts were "erst im XVI. Jahrhundert niedergeschrieben worden, und zwar so daß sich vom Jahr 1516 bis zum Jahr 1543 drei Mitarbeiter nachweisen lassen"; a further hand from 1567. The 1518 entry therefore belongs to a hand writing between 1516 and 1543 — the closest thing to a contemporary private chronicle we have. Reuss's Nachträge p. 123 simply refer the reader to Hecker's *Tanzwuth* (1832). **Text (p. 26):** > Anno 1518 iar, acht tag vor S. Maria Magdalena tag hub ein frauw an zu dantzen, das nennt man den Vit dantz. Der dantz weret woll 6 tag, da leiß sey meine herren nach S. Vit gehn Zabern füren, da war sey still und die weil sey noch uff dem weg war, da fingen noch mehr an zu dantzen, bey dem Herrenstall¹ also daß in 4 tagen bey 34 frauwen und man waren. Da verbotten meine herren die drummeln und pfiffer, und fürt ein theil uff die gerwerstub, das ander uff die zimmerleut stub und an dem andern tag da leiß man sey alle nach S. Vitt füren und da dantzen und in 4 wuchen wurden ir mehr dan 200 dantzet. > > ¹ Der Herrenstall befand sich, wie man weiß im Finckweiler, auf der Stelle wo heute die Magazine der Tabakmanufaktur stehen. [Reuss's note] (OCR reads "danken/dank" for "dantzen/dantz"; the image has "dantzen", "dantz", "dantzet".) **Translation.** "In the year 1518, eight days before St Mary Magdalene's day [14 July], a woman began to dance; that is what they call the Vitus dance. The dance lasted a good six days; then my lords [the council] had her taken to St Vitus at Saverne, where she became quiet; and while she was still on the way, more people began to dance, near the Herrenstall [the city stables in the Finkwiller], so that within four days there were about 34 women and men. Then my lords forbade the drums and pipers, and took one part to the tanners' guild-hall, the other to the carpenters' guild-hall; and on the next day they had them all taken to St Vitus, and [they] danced there; and within four weeks more than 200 had danced." **Points.** Start date 14 July; one woman for six days; 34 within four days; guild-halls of the tanners and carpenters; ban on drums and pipers (so music had been allowed at first); pilgrimage to St Vitus at Saverne; "mehr dan 200" in four weeks; **no deaths**; no cause given beyond the name "Vit dantz". ### 2.2 Anonymous Basel chronicle in Konrad Schnitt's compilation — Basler Chroniken VI (1902), pp. 226–227 — image-verified **Edition.** *Basler Chroniken, herausgegeben von der Historischen und Antiquarischen Gesellschaft in Basel*, Sechster Band, bearbeitet von August Bernoulli, Leipzig: S. Hirzel 1902; section "IV. Die Anonyme Chronik bei Schnitt, sammt Fortsetzung, 1495–1541", Einleitung pp. 187 ff.; "Beilage I" pp. 225–227. archive.org id `baslerchroniken04basegoog` (the id is misleading; the scan is vol. VI); page images `https://archive.org/download/baslerchroniken04basegoog/page/leaf246_w1600.jpg` (p. 226) and `leaf247_w1600.jpg` (p. 227). **What the text is (editor, pp. 187–189, OCR only).** Konrad Schnitt, a Basel painter, compiled a *Weltchronik* (ms. "S") around 1537 and continued it year by year to 1541; besides his own Basel chronicle it contains 16th-century notices "aus unbekannter Quelle" which the editor calls the "Anonyme Chronik bei Schnitt" (1495–1537). Beilage I collects "die wenigen Nachrichten aus unbekannter Quelle …, welche die Hs. S aus dem XV. Jahrhundert enthält". On p. 189 the editor explains why the Strasbourg notice is there: "Umgekehrt müssen wir die Nachricht vom St. Veitstanz zu Strassburg ausscheiden, welche in der Hs. die Jahrzahl 1518 trägt, jedoch in Wirklichkeit ins Jahr 1418 gehört" — his only authority being Schilter's misdated "Verordnungen des Raths von Strassburg vom Juli 1418" (footnote to p. 227). The bracketed numbers ([300b], [301], [360], [303], [302], [305b]) appear to be the editor's references to the position in the manuscript; [360] falling out of sequence is consistent with the notice standing among the 16th-century entries of the manuscript, i.e. in its correct 1518 place. (That reading of the bracket numbers is my inference, not the editor's statement.) **Text (pp. 226–227):** > [360] Anno 1418 fiengent etliche hundert menschen, frouwen und man, zů Straszburg an tantzen und springen an offnem marckt und gassen, tag und nacht. Etliche assent nut, bisz innen das wütten vergieng. Und ward die plag sant Vietz tantz genempt¹). > > [apparatus, p. 226:] 20. Hs.: Anno XVCXVIII (statt XIVCXVIII). > [note 1, p. 227:] Ueber den St. Veitstanz s. die Verordnungen des Raths von Strassburg vom Juli 1418, in Schilters Anmerkungen zu Königshofen, S. 1088 ff. Ueber ein früheres Auftreten dieser Krankheit um 1379 s. B. Chron. IV 429. **Translation.** "In the year 1418 [manuscript: 1518] several hundred people, women and men, began at Strasbourg to dance and leap in the open market and the streets, day and night. Some ate nothing until the raving passed off them. And the plague was named St Vitus's dance." **Points.** Written in Basel before 1537 by someone whose other foreign notices the editor could not source; "etliche hundert" (several hundred); market and streets, day and night; not eating; "das wütten" (raving, frenzy) as the state that "passed off"; "die plag"; **no deaths, no pilgrimage, no council**. It is the prose counterpart of the verses Schilter printed in 1698 (§2.8): the same sequence "hundred(s) — women and men — open market, streets — day and night — did not eat — until the raving subsided — the plague was named St Vitus's dance". Either the Strasbourg verses were made from a notice like this, or both descend from a common 16th-century Strasbourg annal. In any case the "many hundreds" formula existed within twenty years of the event. ### 2.3 Hieronymus Gebwiler (ed. Stenzel 1926, pp. 74–75) — NOT retrieved; secondary quotations only I could not find any digitised copy of Karl Stenzel's edition (1926); HathiTrust returned a bot challenge/403 and Google Books' API quota was exhausted. What follows is what two secondary sources say the text says. **Midelfort 1999, pp. 33–35 (from the archive.org scan; notes 23–24 cite Stenzel pp. 74 and 75):** "Writing in the early 1520s, the Alsatian humanist Hieronymus Gebwiler described the dance as God's way of forcing modesty and moderation upon the Strasbourgeois, who needed, he said, to crucify their bodies 'so that Christ's suffering should not be lost upon us.' Gebwiler said that he had seen one woman dance for six days in a row, 'and strong men had to replace one another as guards in the job of protecting her from hurting herself.' It was a 'warning from God that this disease attacked many just from looking on [at her] so much and so often.' … the Council of Twenty-One ordered two guildhalls to be set aside for the dancers and for them to be provided with guards. Gebwiler remembered that 'they danced day and night with those poor people, but toward evening they tied them all onto wagons and took them to St. Vitus of Hohlenstein. And after their pilgrimage there was finished and they were all danced out, they took them home again.' … [the people should] 'keep some moderation in their dancing, and especially to omit shameful and blasphemous dances; they must never dance in the wrong places or with inappropriate persons, as when they dance in cloisters and nunneries with monks and nuns.' … 'and for our obstinacy He will let us sink in a Red Sea of sins.'" **2018 teachers' dossier, p. 12 (Clementz's French, from Stenzel pp. 74–75):** "(…) Il faudrait se souvenir de ces événements pendant mille ans, et limiter les danses, en particulier les danses obscènes et indécentes. Il faudrait aussi éviter de danser en des lieux et avec des personnes qui ne conviennent pas du tout, comme cela arrive dans des couvents avec des moines ou des moniales." **Points (as reported).** Eyewitness ("he had seen one woman dance for six days" — agreeing with Imlin's "woll 6 tag"); contagion by looking on; guild-halls and guards; wagons to St Vitus of Hohlenstein in the evening; dancers came home "all danced out"; cause = God's warning against immodest dancing; **no numbers, no deaths reported in the quotations**. The original German is needed before anything is built on the wording. ### 2.4 "Annales de Sébastien Brant" (Dacheux 1892, no. 3443, pp. 239–240) — treated in `A1_council_record.md`; OCR only, for comparison > 3443. (St. Veits-Tanz.) — Als diss jars um Margarethen ein schwäre erschreckliche krankheit mit St. Vitstanz erhub, also dass uff fünfzig personen damit behafft tag und nacht tantzeten dass jämmerlich zu sehen war, wurden dieselben alle in der Stattcosten verwahrt und zu dem lieben heil. St. Vit im Hohenstein bei Zabern geführt und fast erledigt. Da setzten unsere herren uff und lissen ein gebot üssgon, dass niemand tantzen soll bis Michaelis in der ganzen Statt und burgbann, bei 30 sch. pf. und kein brücken schlagen; wol möchte man bey brautläuften und ersten messen mit Saitenspiel tantzen nach eines jeden conscienz. [p. 240] Darnach uff 2ª post Laurentii ist erkannt den zünfften zedel zu schicken dass jedermann sin kind und die sinen verwart und die bruderschafften ir brüder in ihren kosten undersuchten oder zu den heyligen schickten. — 5ª Mariae Magdalenae. Item als etlich frauen und knaben den bössen dantz tantzen, soll die fermen (?) abstellen und heimlich seitenspiel haben. Item die verordneten herren bringen an des tantzens halb. Erk. in Unser Frauen capell mittwoch ein herlich amt halten, porro erkant die tantzent im Spittal zu dem heiligen schicken und ein opfer von der ganzen Statt wegen dem heiligen bringen. Die leichtfertigen der Statt ein zitlang verwisen, darauf der hh. bedacht des opfers halb zu St. Viten, nämlich ein Zentner wachs zu einer kerzen mit dem rentmeister schicken, und ein erlich ampt und 3 nebenmessen lassen lesen von wegen des Raths und gemeiner Statt wegen. — Pp. Rh. Translation of the opening: "As this year around St Margaret's a grave, terrifying sickness with St Vitus's dance arose, so that some fifty persons afflicted with it danced day and night, which was pitiful to see, they were all kept at the city's cost and led to dear holy St Vitus in the Hohlenstein near Saverne, and almost [all] relieved. Then our lords resolved and issued an order that nobody should dance until Michaelmas in the whole city and its ban, on pain of 30 sh. pf., and no 'brücken' [dancing-platforms] be set up; one might, however, dance to stringed instruments at weddings and first masses, according to each one's conscience." — Fifty dancers; "fast erledigt" (nearly all relieved) by the pilgrimage; **no deaths**. ### 2.5 Anonymous *Kleine Strassburger Chronik* (ed. Reuss 1889), p. 5 — OCR only **Edition.** Rudolf Reuss (ed.), *Kleine Strassburger Chronik. Denckwürdige Sachen alhier in Strassburg vorgeloffen und begeben 1424–1615*, Strassburg: J. H. Ed. Heitz 1889 (printed for his parents' golden wedding). archive.org `bub_gb_9FQoAAAAYAAJ` (djvu text; page "— 5 —" marker precedes the entry; full-text search puts it on leaf 15). **Manuscript and date (Vorwort pp. v–viii).** Stadtbibliothek Strasbourg, provisional ms. no. 41, 25 leaves folio, acquired from the printer Gustav Silbermann; two sets of notes bound together: fol. 3–10 "Denckwürdige Sachen …" (1552–1592, a hand of "spätestens den ersten Jahren des XVII. Jahrhunderts") and fol. 11–25 "Pro memoria", another hand "in dem ersten Drittel des XVII. Jahrhunderts geschrieben", entries 1424–1615. Reuss thinks both are excerpts from fuller chronicles made by a "bürgerlicher Liebhaber der Vergangenheit"; footnote: the second series "bietet … eine ziemliche Aehnlichkeit mit der, ebenfalls auf der Stadtbibliothek befindlichen, noch ungedruckten Chronik des Pfarrers Oseas Schadaeus, Verfasser des Münsterbüchleins; auch er schliesst 1616 seine Notizen ab." The 1518 entry is thus an early-17th-century summary, probably of the same tradition Schad used — which matters because Midelfort cites "the seventeenth-century chronicle of Oseas Schad" for the figure 200. **Text (p. 5; OCR corrected: "trau"→frau, "Deitm"→Deren, "frthrte"→führte, "holcn"→holen, "zunftlstuben"→zunfftstuben, "etlicbe"→etliche, "erlagcn o 1518. S. Vitts dantz angefangen. > Anno 1518, alss herr Andreas Trachenfels zum 4ten mahl regirender herr ammeister zu Strassburg, undt der Moehrin zunfft oberherr wahr, umb S. Margredentag, hub eine frau ahn zu tantzen, wohl vier tag. Die fürte man gen Zabern zu S. Vit, da wardt sie still. Baldt fingen andere bey dem Herrenstall auch an zu tantzen. Deren wurden in vier tagen auf 34. Von denen führte man vil zu S. Vit, zum holen stein. Es wurden aber diser taentzer in vier wochen uber 200, also dass man ihnen zunfftstuben eingab, und liess sie dantzen biss etliche starben, erlagen oder miedt wurden. Dass wardt S. Vits tantz genandt. **Translation.** "1518. St Vitus's dance began. In the year 1518, when Sir Andreas Drachenfels was ruling ammeister of Strasbourg for the fourth time and was Oberherr of the Moehrin guild, around St Margaret's day a woman began to dance, [for] a good four days. She was taken to Saverne to St Vitus, where she became quiet. Soon others near the Herrenstall began to dance too. Within four days they came to 34. Many of these were taken to St Vitus at the Hohlenstein. But within four weeks these dancers came to over 200, so that guild-halls were given to them and they were let dance until some died, collapsed or grew weary. That was named St Vitus's dance." **Points.** Same skeleton as Imlin (one woman → Saverne → Herrenstall → 34 in four days → >200 in four weeks → guild-halls) but the first woman dances four days instead of six, the start is "umb S. Margredentag" instead of 14 July, and it adds **"biss etliche starben"** — the earliest death notice in a Strasbourg narrative text after Specklin. (St Margaret's day: 13 July in the German usage, 20 July in the Roman calendar — which the Strasbourg calendar used is UNVERIFIED from memory; the exhibition press gives 15 July as the start.) ### 2.6 Johann Wencker (1637), copying Specklin no. 2216 — Dacheux 1892, no. 3007, p. 148 — image-verified **Edition.** L. Dacheux, "La Chronique strasbourgeoise de Jacques Trausch et de Jean Wencker", *Bulletin de la Société pour la conservation des monuments historiques d'Alsace*, 2e sér. XV (1892); "Auszüge aus Wencker's Manuscr. Chronick von 1637 — Pp. Schneegans" (p. 75 ff.). Wencker's manuscript was lost in 1870; Dacheux prints fragments from the papers of Schnéegans, Rœhrich etc. Sigla: "Sp. n° 2216" = the entry corresponds to Specklin's Collectanea no. 2216 (Dacheux, Fragments II, 1890, pp. 488–489); "Pp. Schn." = Papiers Schnéegans. Jean Wencker: born 1590, d. 16 Oct 1659, ammeister (Dacheux's notice "Jean Ier Wencker" in the same volume). **Text (p. 148, between no. 3006 "1517 Hungersnoth" and no. 3008 "1518 Theürung"):** > 3007. S. Veits tantz wunderliche chur. — Domaln erhob sich ein tantzen von jungen und alten, die tantzten tag und nacht, das man ihnen zu Strassburg der Zimmerleut- und Gerberstub gab, und sondere leute bestellet die genug mit ihnen tantzten. Etliche stürben dran. Auf dem Rossmarck schlug man ein gerüst auf, liess sie bey trummel und pfeiffen tantzen, half aber alles nicht. Man schickt viel auf wagen nach S. Veit zum hellensteg hinder Zabern, andre lieffen selbs dahin und fielen also dantzend vor dem bild nieder. Da machte dan ein priester ein mess über ihn, darauf gab man ihnen creuzlein und rothe schue daran oben und unden † mit chrisam gestrichen und mit weyhewasser in S. Viti nammen besprengt, half vilen und trug ein gross opfer, darum nent mans S. Vits tantz; kame vil leute 1518 an, denen mans fluchte, lieff aber auch viel schelmenwerck mit under, da mans anfieng aus Gottes wort zu widerlegen, liess alles nach. — Sp. n° 2216. — Pp. Schn. **Translation.** "St Vitus's dance, a strange cure. — At that time a dancing arose among young and old, who danced day and night, so that at Strasbourg they were given the carpenters' and the tanners' guild-halls, and special people were hired who danced enough with them. Some died of it. On the Rossmarkt a scaffold was put up and they were let dance to drum and pipes, but nothing helped. Many were sent on wagons to St Vitus at the Hellensteg [Hohlenstein] behind Saverne; others ran there themselves and fell down, still dancing, before the image. Then a priest said a mass over them, after which they were given little crosses and red shoes on which, above and below, † was drawn with chrism and sprinkled with holy water in St Vitus's name; it helped many and brought in a great offering; that is why it is called St Vitus's dance. It came upon many people in 1518, those on whom it had been wished as a curse; but much roguery ran along with it too; when they began to refute it from God's word, it all ceased." **Points.** This is Specklin's account (c. 1580) in Wencker's words; the 2018 dossier's French translation of Specklin's own no. 2216 has the same elements plus "plus d'une centaine dansaient en même temps", platforms "au marché aux chevaux et au marché aux grains", and "Beaucoup dansèrent jusqu'à la mort" (Specklin's original, per the transcription of Dacheux 1890 no. 2216 in `A1_council_record.md`, reads "Viel tantzten sich zu tode" and "über 100 zu Strassburg auff einmal" — stronger on deaths than Wencker's "Etliche stürben dran"). Only text with the stage on the Rossmarkt, hired dancers, red shoes and crosses, the curse motif, "schelmenwerck" (fraud), and the Protestant ending. ### 2.7 Michael Kleinlawel, *Straßburgische Chronick* (1625), pp. 130–131 — image-verified **Edition.** *Straßburgische Chronick … zusammengebracht durch einen Liebhaber der Teutschen Poeterey*, Straßburg: Carolus 1625, 198 pp.; MDZ bsb10057089 (BSB 4 P.o.germ. 111 d; VD17 23:247716V; BV001618035). Author Michael Kleinlawel (1568–1635). Page images scan 140 (= p. 130) and 141 (= p. 131). Marginal headings in square brackets; "/" is the printed virgule. **Text (p. 130, the stanzas preceding 1518, for context):** > [Thewrung.] Drumb fiel ein große Thewrung ein / Dan man hat müssen geben / Dreytzehn pfund für ein Fuder wein / Vnd galt die Frucht darneben / Ein viertel achtzehn schilling / doch / [Fürsorg.] That man zu Straßburg wehren / Das sich der gemein Burger noch / Außbringen könt mit Ehren / Dan man that vom Speicher der Statt / Vmb achthalb schilling geben / Ein viertel Frucht / dem / der kein hat / Dem gar armen darneben / That man ein sester Meel zu gleich / Vmb sieben Pfenning messen / Hetten also beyd Arm vnd Reich / In der Thewrung zu essen. > [Sterben.] Eben dieser Thewrung hat auch / Ein sterben angefangen / Drumb die Pfaffen nach ihrem brauch / [Mit Creutzen gangen.] Mit Creutzen vmb sind gangen. > [margin: 1518. H. Andres Trachenfels / das 4. mahl / Ammeister.] Als man Fünffzehen hundert Jahr / Achtzehen hat gezehlet / Zum ampt Andres Trachenfels war / Zum vierten mahl erwehlet / Cladi Böcklin zu dieser frist / Stättmeister ist gewesen / Peter Ellenhardt gleichs fals ist / Zu dem Ampt außerlesen / Hanß Bock * Ritter ward aber mahl / Wie zuvor offt genommen / Egnolph Rödrer ist durch die wahl / Auch zu den Ehren kommen. > [Vits Dantz.] EIn Seltzam sucht ist zu der zeit / Vnder dem Volck vmb gangen / Dan viel Leut auß Vnsinnigkeit / Zu Dantzen angefangen / [p. 131] Welches sie allzeit Tag vnd Nacht / Ohn vnter laß getrieben / Biß das sie fielen in ohnmacht / Viel sind Todt drüber blieben. (Next stanza: "IM Jahr Neuntzehen das ampt war / Jacob Baumgartner geben …") **Translation of the 1518 dance stanza.** "[St Vitus's dance.] A strange sickness at that time went about among the people, for many people out of madness [Unsinnigkeit] began to dance, which they carried on all the time, day and night, without pause, until they fell in a swoon; many died of it." The preceding stanzas: a great dearth (13 pounds for a Fuder of wine, 18 shillings for a Viertel of grain; the city granary sold at 7½ shillings, flour to the very poor at 7 pfennig the sester) and a "dying" that began with the dearth, for which the priests went in procession with crosses. **Points.** Kleinlawel's stanza is short, gives no numbers, no first woman, no Saverne, no council measures; it is the first Strasbourg text to call the dancers mad ("auß Vnsinnigkeit") and to say "viel" died. **It does not contain the "Viel hundert fiengen … " verses** (I grepped the whole book for fiengen/fingen/Zabern/Roßmarck/Plag: nothing for 1518). Midelfort n. 77 quotes Kleinlawel correctly ("Ein Seltzam sucht …", pp. 130–31). ### 2.8 The anonymous "Chron. MS. Argent. p. 318" verses — Schilter 1698 → Hecker 1832 → Babington 1859 **Edition.** Johann Schilter (ed.), *Die älteste Teutsche so wol Allgemeine als insonderheit Elsassische und Straßburgische Chronicke von Jacob von Königshoven*, Straßburg: Josias Städel 1698; "Die XXI. Anmerckung. Vom Veitz-Tantz", pp. 1085–1090 (MDZ bsb11214681, scans 1111–1116; images verified for pp. 1085, 1089, 1090). **Structure of the Anmerckung.** §I (p. 1085): the "Chorisantes" of 1374 after the *Chronicon Belgicum magnum* p. 319 (Latin and German). §II (p. 1087, OCR): "Allein im Jahr 1418. nach des von Königshofen Tode ist der so genannte Veitz-Tantz in Elsas entstanden / und seind die armen Leuthe nach S. Veits Capelle zum Rotestein geschickt worden / derowegen der Magistrat zu Straßburg grosse Sorgfalt getragen und die Anstalten gemacht wie aus folgendem bey dem Archiv befindlichen Registraturen zu ersehen" — followed (pp. 1088–1089) by the two council documents: "INSTRUCTION der armen dantzenden Personen so zu Sant Vit geschickt. Veneris post Magdalene &c. XVIII." and "Dantzende arme personen so zu St. Vit zum Rotestein geschickt. Uff Fritag post Marie Magdalene in presentia Herrn Cladi Böcklin, Caspar Hoffmeisters vnd Martin Herlin …" (Staden Jerg; Balthasar Burgawer the schoolmaster behind the Franciscans and his son Bernhart; Anthon Elinger the cartwright and his wife Apolonia Hußwürt, "von Sanct Martzolff beladen", the bagpipe; Hanß Eckart von Prüssel and his daughter Apolonia; the hospital steward with three horses and a wagon, the Frauenhaus steward with two wagons). Schilter presumably took the abbreviated date "&c. XVIII" to mean 1418 — hence the whole error (my inference; Schilter gives no reason for his date). (Treated in `A1_council_record.md`; Schilter is its first printing.) §III (pp. 1089–1090, image-verified): > §. III. Von dieser Tantz-Plage finden sich folgende Reyme in Chron. MS. Argent. p. 318. > St. Veits Tantz An. 1418. > Viel hundert fiengen zu Straßburg an > Zu tantzen und springen / Fraw und Mann / > An offnen Marck / Gassen und Strassen > Tag und Nacht ihren viel nicht assen > Biß jn das Wüten wieder gelag. > St. Vits Tantz ward genant die Plag. > Diese Tantzsucht wird von etlichen als eine species morbi convulsivi geschetzt / und natürlichen Ursachen zugeschrieben / Inmassen auch der so genannte Tarantismus dahin gezogen wird / … Allein man siehet aus den Actis, daß damahls man diese Kranckheit auch einer übernatürlichen Ursach zugeschrieben / und geistliche Mittel darwider gebrauchet / dahin auch inclinirt Jac. Pancrat. Bruno in Lexico Medico voc. Chorea. **Translation.** "Of this dancing plague the following rhymes are found in a Strasbourg manuscript chronicle, p. 318. St Vitus's dance, A.D. 1418. Many hundreds began at Strasbourg to dance and leap, woman and man, in the open market, lanes and streets; day and night many of them did not eat, until the raving subsided again. St Vitus's dance the plague was called." Schilter adds that some regard the dancing sickness as a species of convulsive disease with natural causes (like tarantism), but the records show that at the time a supernatural cause was also assumed and spiritual remedies used. **Reception.** Hecker, *Die Tanzwuth* (1832) p. 7 with footnote: "Straßburg wurde von der 'Tanzplage' im Jahr 1418 heimgesucht …", citing "Königshoven … Anm. 21 von Veitz-tantz. S. 1085 f." and the six verses in modernised spelling. Babington's translation (*Epidemics of the Middle Ages*, 3rd ed. 1859, pp. 84–85): "Many hundreds of men and women began to dance and jump in the public market-place, the lanes, and the streets of Strasburg. Many of them ate nothing for days and nights, until their mania again subsided. The plague was called St. Vitus's Dance." Midelfort (n. 22) notes that Martin 1914 "mercilessly disposes of ignorant suggestions that this major outburst occurred … in 1418". The verses have since been attached to Kleinlawel in some modern accounts (UNVERIFIED which ones, from memory); the attribution is wrong. **Relation to the Basel notice.** Compare §2.2: "etliche hundert menschen, frouwen und man, zů Straszburg an tantzen und springen an offnem marckt und gassen, tag und nacht. Etliche assent nut, bisz innen das wütten vergieng. Und ward die plag sant Vietz tantz genempt." Same content, same order, same key words (hundert / frouwen und man / tantzen und springen / offnem marckt und gassen / tag und nacht / assent nut / wütten / plag / genempt). The "Chron. MS. Argent." is unidentified (a 16th/17th-century Strasbourg manuscript chronicle with the notice on its p. 318); the Basel copy proves the wording is older than 1537. ### 2.9 Oseas Schad(aeus) — not seen Reuss (1889) says Schad's unprinted chronicle (Stadtbibliothek Strasbourg; ends 1616) closely resembles the "Pro memoria" notes; Midelfort (p. 34) cites "the seventeenth-century chronicle of Oseas Schad" for "soon two hundred were afflicted". I have not seen it; the Kleine Chronik's "uber 200" is presumably the same tradition. ### 2.10 Negative and inconclusive results - **Sebald Büheler** (Dacheux, BSCMHA XIII, 1887–88, pp. 21–150; born 29 Aug 1529, painter): entries no. 68 (1516), no. 69 (p. 18, "Fol. 13": "Anno domini .1518. seindt die gesanndten vonn den stetten Nammlich von Straszburg, Augspurg vnnd Nuremberg zu vnnserem aller gnädigsten herrenn dem Kayser inn Hispaniam ablegiert worden."), no. 70 (1520). **No dance entry.** - **Jacques Trausch** (d. 1610; BSCMHA XV pp. 1–74): no 1518 dance entry in the printed fragments. - **Bernhard Hertzog, *Chronicon Alsatiae* (1592)**: whole book OCR'd and grepped (1518, M.D.XVIII, tantz/dantz, Veit, Zabern, seltzam, unsinn): the 1518 annal (pp. 165–166 of the "Beschreibung des untern Elsas") is about the Augsburg diet, Luther and Cajetan. **Nothing on the dance.** - **Basler Chroniken I** (Ryff): 1518 only "Pestis Basileae". Vols. III–V (files in `sources/climate/`): grepped, nothing. Vol. VI: see §2.2. - **Beatus Rhenanus, *Briefwechsel*** (Horawitz–Hartfelder 1886): 1518 letters (e.g. no. 76 to Jakob Sturm, Basel 15 July 1518, dedication of Janus Pannonius) are literary; greps for saltat/chorea/tripud/Viti: nothing. - **Erasmus, Allen vol. III**: Ep. 867 to Beatus Rhenanus (Louvain, c. 15 Oct 1518) describes the journey Basel → Strasbourg (arrival "ante prandium ad horam ferme nonam", hospitality of Schürer, Gerbel, Gebwiler, Rudolfinger) — nothing on dancers; Ep. 883 to Gerbel (20 Oct 1518) greets Sturm, Gebwiler and Rudolfinger — nothing. Ep. 877 to Wolfgang Capito, Louvain 19 Oct 1518 (p. 416, ll. 36–38): "Syluestri libellus e mantica sublatus est; itaque rogo vt exemplar mittas. Risi vestras saltationes. Bene vale, optime, et amicum syncerum prestare perge." ("I laughed at your dancings.") Allen has no note on "saltationes". Capito was at Basel in 1518 (UNVERIFIED from memory: cathedral preacher there until 1520) and the letter also greets "domino Bero" (UNVERIFIED from memory: Ludwig Baer of Basel), so "vestras" most naturally means Basel's; a reference to the Strasbourg dancers is possible but unproven. - **Geiler von Kaysersberg** (*Emeis* 1517, *Narrenschiff* sermons 1520, *Navicula* 1511): no passage on St Vitus's dance or Saverne found; only witches' dream-dancing and "sant Velins siechtagen" (epilepsy). Inconclusive (bad OCR). - **Chroniken der deutschen Städte, Strasbourg volumes** (Closener, Königshofen; files in `../sources/context/`): end before 1518; nothing. - **Not searched for lack of time:** Thomas Murner; Colmar, Sélestat, Speyer chronicles; 1518 pamphlets (VD16); Rohmann 2013; Martin 1914 (A1). - **Covered by A1, not duplicated here:** Wilhelm Rem's Augsburg notice of 1518 (CDS 25 p. 88), the Duntzenheim chronicle résumé (Jung 1830 → Dacheux 1897 no. 3981), Specklin no. 2216 in German, Martin 1914 (with his account of how Boersch 1836 and Häser fabricated "1418" in the *Instruction*'s date), and Martin's statement that Goldmeyer's chronicle does not mention the 1518 dance. See `notes/A1_council_record.md`. ### 2.11 The 2018 exhibition "1518, la fièvre de la danse" Musée de l'Œuvre Notre-Dame, Strasbourg, 20 Oct 2018 – 24 Feb 2019; curator Cécile Dupeux; scientific collaboration Georges Bischoff and Élisabeth Clementz; catalogue *1518 : la fièvre de la danse*, dir. Cécile Dupeux, Éditions des Musées de Strasbourg 2018 (AGORHA record; ISBN 9782351251614 per the press kit; not online). **Documents shown, with shelfmarks (press kit and teachers' dossier):** Archives départementales du Bas-Rhin **12 J 1495** (letter of the magistrate to Bishop Wilhelm, 25 July 1518, with the physicians' advice); Archives de la Ville de Strasbourg **Série III 200/15** (deliberations of the commission, 23 July 1518; note to the confraternities; instructions for those sent to Saverne); AMS **1 MR 3 f° 72 r** (leaf of 2 Aug 1518 signed by Brant); AMS **X 140** (dance ban of 15 June 1547); BNU Strasbourg **R 102 687** (Kleinlawel 1625) and **M 2.893.2** (Schilter 1698); Bibliothèque de médecine, Université de Strasbourg **J 119 956** (Hecker 1832) and **JR 14 358,1** (Paracelsus, ed. Huser 1589). **Transcriptions/translations printed in the teachers' dossier (pp. 11–12, French by É. Clementz):** AMS III 200/15 (23 July: the same names as in Schilter — Staden Jerg etc.); ADBR 12 J 1495: "Ça a commencé avec une femme, puis avec d'autres personnes … les médecins … maladie naturelle due à une conjonction astrale et à la chaleur du moment. Elle touche néanmoins à sa fin …", with the physicians' advice (no wine, barley water, music allowed but not drums and fifes, only "cithares, violons, luths ou orgues positifs"); Gebwiler (Stenzel pp. 74–75) as in §2.3; Specklin (Dacheux 1890 no. 2216, pp. 488–489): "(…) Il se produisit une danse de personnes jeunes et âgées, qui dansaient jour et nuit, jusqu'à ce qu'elles s'écroulent, si bien qu'à Strasbourg plus d'une centaine dansaient en même temps. On leur a réservé des poêles de corporation, on leur a également dressé des pistes de danse au marché aux chevaux et au marché aux grains et on a engagé des personnes qui dansaient avec eux au son des fifres et des tambours. Tout cela ne servit à rien. Beaucoup dansèrent jusqu'à la mort. Alors on les envoya sur des voitures à saint Guy au Hohlenstein près de Saverne ; là on leur donna des croix et des chaussures rouges, et on dit des messes pour eux. … Cela les guérit presque tous. Beaucoup de ceux à qui on avait souhaité le mal de Saint-Guy furent touchés par la maladie. Il y a aussi eu beaucoup de truandages dans tout cela." The dossier also reproduces the back-cover blurb of Waller's French edition ("Le 14 juillet 1518, Frau Troffea … les danseurs moururent par dizaines") under the heading "la fascination actuelle" — i.e. as an example of the modern retelling, not as a source. **Curators' position (press, Rue89 Strasbourg, as saved):** the dancing began on 15 July with one woman; about fifty dancers (Brant's *Annales*: « Cette année, vers la fête de Sainte-Marguerite, une effroyable maladie, la danse de Saint-Guy, s'est propagée, si bien qu'une cinquantaine de personnes dansaient jour et nuit, ce qui faisait peine à voir. »); **the archives record no deaths**; pilgrimages to Saverne from 23 July; later chronicles "peuvent être trompeuses" and "il faut être très prudent" (Clementz). Clementz-Metz lectured again on "Strasbourg 1518 : la danse comme maladie ?" (Barr, 12 Nov 2024). --- ## 3. Comparison table | Text (date of writing) | Start | Numbers | Deaths | How described | Council measures | St Vitus / Saverne | Duration / end | Cause offered | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | Council instruction & minutes, 23 July 1518 (via Schilter 1698 pp. 1088–89; A1) | — | three "huffen" (groups); named individuals | none | "die armen dantzenden Personen", "armen menschen … so ist dantzen", a wife "von Sanct Martzolff beladen" | groups with attendants; ride ahead to Saverne; 3–4 priests, sung masses, led round the altar, pfennig offerings; hospital and Frauenhaus wagons | yes, St Vitus "zum Rotestein" (Hohlenstein) | — | none stated (a religious remedy implied) | | Magistrate to the bishop, 25 July 1518 (via exhibition, French) | "avec une femme, puis d'autres" | — | none | "maladie naturelle due à une conjonction astrale et à la chaleur" (physicians) | diet, no wine, quiet music | (pilgrimage in the parallel record) | "touche à sa fin" already on 25 July | astral conjunction + heat | | Imlin family chronicle (hand of 1516–43) | 14 July ("acht tag vor Magdalena") | 1 → c. 34 in 4 days → >200 in 4 weeks | none | "Vit dantz"; the woman "war still" after the pilgrimage | drums and pipers forbidden; tanners' and carpenters' halls; all sent to St Vitus next day | yes, Saverne | first woman 6 days; ">200" within 4 weeks | none | | Gebwiler (early 1520s; via Midelfort / exhibition) | — | "one woman … six days" | none reported | contagion "just from looking on"; guards to stop her hurting herself | two guild-halls, guards; wagons in the evening | yes, St Vitus of Hohlenstein; home "all danced out" | — | God's warning against immodest dancing | | Basel Anonymus (before 1537; ms. "1518") | — | "etliche hundert" | none | "tantzen und springen … tag und nacht … assent nut … das wütten" | none | none | "bisz innen das wütten vergieng" | "die plag sant Vietz tantz" | | Brant *Annales* (compiled from records; A1) | "um Margarethen" | "uff fünfzig" | none | "schwäre erschreckliche krankheit mit St. Vitstanz"; "jämmerlich zu sehen" | kept at city cost; dance ban until Michaelmas at 30 sh., no platforms; wax candle of one Zentner; masses; guilds and confraternities to look after their own | yes; "fast erledigt" | ban to 29 Sept; orders on 22 July and 16 Aug | none | | Specklin no. 2216 (c. 1580; via Wencker and French transl.) | "1518" | "plus d'une centaine … en même temps" | "Etliche stürben dran" (Wencker); "Beaucoup dansèrent jusqu'à la mort" (transl.) | "wunderliche chur"; young and old; day and night; the curse motif; "schelmenwerck" | guild-halls, hired dancers, stage on the Rossmarkt with drum and pipes | yes; wagons; masses, crosses, red shoes, chrism, holy water | "liess alles nach" when refuted from God's word | curse / fraud / (implicitly) superstition | | Kleine Strassburger Chronik (c. 1600–1633) | "umb S. Margredentag" | 1 → 34 in 4 days → >200 in 4 weeks | "biss etliche starben, erlagen oder miedt wurden" | — | guild-halls | yes, Saverne, "zum holen stein" | first woman 4 days; 4 weeks | none | | Kleinlawel 1625 | "zu der zeit" (1518) | "viel Leut" | "Viel sind Todt drüber blieben" | "Seltzam sucht … auß Vnsinnigkeit"; day and night until they fell in a swoon | none mentioned | none mentioned | — | madness; context of dearth and mortality | | Chron. MS. Argent. verses (via Schilter 1698, "1418") | — | "Viel hundert" | none | "tantzen und springen … Tag und Nacht … viel nicht assen … das Wüten" | none | none | "Biß jn das Wüten wieder gelag" | "die Plag" | | Hecker 1832 / Babington 1859 | 1418 (wrong) | "many hundreds" | none in the verses | "mania" (Babington) | — | — | — | (Hecker's own theory elsewhere) | --- ## 4. Answers to the key questions **(a) Earliest chronicle to mention deaths, and in what words.** None of the texts written within a generation of the event — the council papers, the magistrate's letter (as translated), the Imlin chronicle, Gebwiler (as quoted), the Basel notice, Brant's *Annales* — mentions a death. The first is Daniel Specklin (Collectanea no. 2216, c. 1580): in Wencker's 1637 copy "Etliche stürben dran" ("some died of it"); in Specklin's own text "Viel tantzten sich zu tode" (Dacheux 1890 no. 2216, as transcribed in `A1_council_record.md`; the exhibition's French: "Beaucoup dansèrent jusqu'à la mort"). Then the anonymous Kleine Strassburger Chronik (early 17th c.): "liess sie dantzen biss etliche starben, erlagen oder miedt wurden"; and Kleinlawel 1625: "Biß das sie fielen in ohnmacht / Viel sind Todt drüber blieben." The exhibition's historians state that the archives record no deaths. **(b) Earliest to give a number.** Brant's *Annales* (based on 1518 records): "uff fünfzig personen". The Imlin chronicle (hand of 1516–43): "bey 34 frauwen und man" within four days, "mehr dan 200" within four weeks — this is the earliest narrative figure. "Etliche hundert" is in the Basel notice (before 1537) and "Viel hundert" in the Schilter verses; "plus d'une centaine … en même temps" is Specklin (c. 1580). **400 appears in none of the editions I read**: Midelfort (1999, p. 34) says "The Imlin family chronicle claims that within four weeks, more than four hundred", and Waller's "as many as 400 … by the end of August, one chronicler asserts" cites Martin 1914 and Midelfort; Martin 1914 p. 119 does print the Imlin passage (after Witkowski 1879) with "mehr denn 400" (per `A1_council_record.md`). Reuss's edition from the original manuscript has "mehr dan 200" in both printings. So 200 vs 400 is a variant between two 19th-century transcriptions of the same manuscript (Reuss 1873–75 vs Witkowski 1879), not a chronicle-versus-chronicle disagreement; the Kleine Chronik's independent "uber 200" supports Reuss. **(c) Do any say the dancers were mad, ill, raving, dancing against their will, or compelled by St Vitus?** Ill: Brant's *Annales* "ein schwäre erschreckliche krankheit"; the physicians "maladie naturelle"; Kleinlawel "Ein Seltzam sucht"; Schilter's sources "diese Kranckheit". Mad/raving: Kleinlawel "auß Vnsinnigkeit"; Basel "das wütten", Schilter verses "das Wüten"; Babington "mania". Against their will: not in those words, but Imlin's woman "war still" only after the pilgrimage, Gebwiler's guards had to keep her from hurting herself, the council calls them "arme menschen", and Brant's "jämmerlich zu sehen" all treat it as an affliction; Specklin/Wencker alone insinuates fraud ("schelmenwerck"). Compelled by St Vitus: no text says so; Wencker/Specklin's "denen mans fluchte" refers to the curse formula (the disease as something wished on someone in the saint's name), and every early text treats St Vitus as the healer to whom the sick are sent. **(d) Does any Strasbourg text name a first dancer?** No. Imlin: "hub ein frauw an zu dantzen"; Kleine Chronik: "hub eine frau ahn zu tantzen"; Gebwiler: "one woman" (via Midelfort); the magistrate: "une femme" (via the exhibition). The council minutes name individual dancers (Staden Jerg, Bernhart Burgawer, Apolonia Hußwürt wife of Anthon Elinger, Apolonia daughter of Hanß Eckart) but not a first one. "Frau Troffea" occurs only in Paracelsus. **(e) Dates of beginning and end.** Beginning: Imlin "acht tag vor S. Maria Magdalena tag" = 14 July 1518 (the only day-precise chronicle date); Kleine Chronik "umb S. Margredentag" and Brant "um Margarethen" (13 or 20 July depending on the calendar used); the exhibition says 15 July. Sequence: first woman 6 days (Imlin, Gebwiler) or 4 days (Kleine Chronik) → sent to Saverne → 34 within four days → commission of 23 July → letter of 25 July ("touche à sa fin") → >200 within four weeks (Imlin, Kleine Chronik) → further council orders 16 Aug → ban on dancing until 29 Sept (Brant). End: no chronicle gives a date; the Basel/Schilter tradition says "until the raving subsided", Specklin/Wencker that it ceased once refuted from God's word (a Reformation gloss). The years 1418 (Schilter, Hecker, Bernoulli) are all the same misreading of "&c. XVIII". --- ## 5. Source-critical sketch ``` 1518 council papers (AMS III 200/15; 1 MR 3) ──► Brant "Annales" (17th-c. copies) ──► Dacheux 1892 no. 3443 │ └──► Schilter 1698 pp. 1087–89 (first printing, misdated 1418) ──► Hecker 1832 ──► Babington 1859 ──► Bernoulli 1902 (re-dates the Basel notice to 1418) Imlin family chronicle (hand 1516–43) ──► Reuss, Alsatia 1873–75 / Colmar 1875 p. 26 ("mehr dan 200") ──► Witkowski 1879 ──► Martin 1914 p. 119 ("mehr denn 400") ──► Midelfort 1999, Waller 2008 Gebwiler (early 1520s) ──► Stenzel 1926 pp. 74–75 ──► Midelfort 1999; exhibition 2018 "Strasbourg annal": "hundreds … market and streets … day and night … did not eat … raving … plague named St Vitus's dance" ├──► Basel, Anonymus bei Schnitt (before 1537, ms. dated 1518) ──► Basler Chroniken VI (1902) pp. 226–27 └──► rhymed version in "Chron. MS. Argent. p. 318" ──► Schilter 1698 §III (1418) ──► Hecker/Babington ──► (wrongly) "Kleinlawel" Specklin Collectanea no. 2216 (c. 1580) ──► Wencker 1637 no. 3007 ──► Dacheux 1892 p. 148; Dacheux 1890 (Fragments II) Oseas Schad (unprinted, to 1616) ~ Kleine Strassburger Chronik "Pro memoria" (early 17th c.) ──► Reuss 1889 p. 5 Kleinlawel 1625 pp. 130–31 (independent rhymed summary: "Seltzam sucht … Vnsinnigkeit … Viel sind Todt") ``` Two lines therefore run through the whole later literature: the *administrative* line (council papers → Brant → Schilter/Hecker), which knows fifty dancers, wagons, masses and no deaths; and the *anecdotal* line (Imlin/Schad/Kleine Chronik → 34 and 200; Specklin → the stage, the red shoes, the fraud and the deaths; Kleinlawel → madness and "many dead"). The "hundreds in the streets" formula belongs to a third, very early tradition (Basel before 1537) that gives no numbers beyond "several hundred" and no deaths. --- ## 6. What I could not get, and what I tried - **Gebwiler, ed. Stenzel 1926:** MDZ, archive.org (advanced search), Google Books (API 429), Gallica — no copy; HathiTrust catalogue: bot challenge/403 (saved as `expo2018/hathitrust_gebwiler_stenzel_blocked_page.html`). Not circumvented. - **Oseas Schad's chronicle:** unprinted; no digitisation found. - **Martin 1914, Rohmann 2013, Waller 2009 (book):** not retrieved (Martin is indexed in `../sources/A1_SOURCES.md`; Waller's inside-search on archive.org returned "Item not available"; EUP/academia/researchgate 403). - **Clementz's 2016 review of Waller (Revue d'Alsace):** only a bot-challenge page was obtained. - **The Alsatia 1873–75 page number of the Imlin entry:** not determinable from the Fraktur OCR (the text is at djvu line c. 16100 of `alsatia_bub_gb_xYkPAAAAYAAJ.txt`). - **Wencker's death date:** Dacheux's notice gives born 1590, d. 16 Oct 1659 (the printed page number of that notice could not be recovered from the OCR page markers). - **Not attempted:** Murner; Colmar/Sélestat/Speyer chronicles; VD16 pamphlet search.