Essay --

The basis of this paper examines the impacts of the social, political, and religious movements through a multi-layer study of the Dancing Plague in Strasbourg from the early 1200s through the early 1500s. By analyzing this historic, but rather odd dancing hysteria, these movements created severe forms of depression, stress, and anxiety that ultimately led to high levels of psychosis within the community. The time period studied includes the Bundschuh uprisings and peasantry gains to Strasbourg citizenship, the religious justifications for diseases and the emergence of powerful saints, and the severe hunger strikes which resulted from years of failed crops and abnormal climate changes. This analysis uses several major sermons from Lutheran theologians such as Matthà ¤us Zell and Martin Bucer, eyewitness reports of those present in Strasbourg before, during, and after the Dancing Plague, and medical reports from Strasbourg physician, Johann Widmann. Likewise, this study challenges the pre-Reformation argument that the Dancing Plague was a form of punishment sent from God, but rather induced by biological and psychological means. The various Strasbourg movements challenged the inequalities and injustices of the Church towards the peasantry, which created severe and impossible living conditions for the peasantry. This in turn, resulted in approximately four hundred citizens dancing feverishly in the streets of Strasbourg in the summer of 1518. Located on the southeastern border of the Holy Roman Empire, Strasbourg, flourished as a major agricultural market and transportation center. The region’s landscape provided equilibrium between the two most important natural resources: grain and wine. The plains abundantly provided the city wi... ...areas designated specifically within the city and were barred from wearing luxurious accessories. Likewise, gamblers were forced to entertain themselves with card and dice players in gambling dens. The crops for the following year improved dramatically, which reinforced the belief that the city was divinely rewarded for purifying the city. However, the excitement was short-lived as Europe became introduced to syphilis. The first acknowledged record of the reported disease was on February 22, 1495 during King Charles VIII invasion of Naples. Syphilis crept into Strasbourg through mercenary pike men, or Landsknechts, on return from the Italian wars and came in contact with Spanish troops who had sexual relations with prostitutes. In the spring of the same year the executive head of the city, or the Ammsister, reported of having a â€Å"bad pox† unseen before in the city.