A group of people performing this activity caused the 1278 collapse of a bridge over the Meuse, after which many survivors were miraculously healed at the local St. Vitus chapel. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this activity performed by children traveling to Arnstadt, which may have inspired the story of the pied piper of Hamelin. Hundreds of women performed this activity to exhaustion during a 1518 “mania” in Strasbourg.
ANSWER: dancing [or dance; or dancing mania or dancing plague; accept St. Vitus’ Dance or St. John’s Dance; accept choreomania; accept tarantella or tarantism]
[10e] Ergotism caused by consuming poisoned rye bread is a popular history explanation for both dancing mania and the behavior of these people, whose dealings with Lucifer were purported by the treatise Malleus Maleficarum.
ANSWER: witches [or witchcraft; accept wizards; accept sorcerers or sorceresses; prompt on magicians; prompt on demented people or possessed people; prompt on women]
[10h] A large outbreak of dancing mania occurred in 1374 in this city first founded as the spa town of Aquae Granni. The Karlsschrein in this city’s cathedral holds a set of remains relocated from a chapel designed by Odo of Metz.
ANSWER: Aachen (“AH-kin”) [or Aken or Oche; accept Aix-la-Chapelle]
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