
The Flute of Shame - fortran77
http://www.openculture.com/2020/01/the-flute-of-shame-discover-the-instrument-device-used-to-publicly-humiliate-bad-musicians-during-the-medieval-period.html
======
_0ffh
According to the German Wikipedia article at least, that headline is plain
wrong [1][2]. The Article states explicitly that this was not used to punish
bad musicians, but for infractions against the law which were not deemed
serious enough to warrant harsher punishments.

[1]
[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schandfl%C3%B6te](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schandfl%C3%B6te)
(Original)

[2]
[https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=https%3...](https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=de&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fde.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSchandfl%C3%B6te)
(Google translated)

~~~
empath75
That makes a lot more sense than the story in the article, thanks.

[https://www.medievalists.net/2016/03/why-medieval-torture-
de...](https://www.medievalists.net/2016/03/why-medieval-torture-devices-are-
not-medieval/)

Most medieval torture devices were hoaxes. The Iron Maiden being the most
famous example.

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heftig
The German Wikipedia says that the idea it was being used to humiliate
musicians is a later one:

[https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schandfl%C3%B6te](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schandfl%C3%B6te)

Translated by DeepL:

A pranger flute was a medieval and early modern pillory instrument for the
execution of honorary sentences.

The despicable flute bears its name because of its external resemblance to a
flute. The metal ring, usually hinged, at the upper end of the wooden or metal
flutes was placed around the delinquent's neck and his fingers were then
clamped in the metal clamp on the body of the "flute". This gave the
delinquent, who was writhing in pain, the impression of a playing musician,
which particularly exposed him to the ridicule of the audience. In recent
times the "Schandflöte" is often presented as a punishment for bad musicians,
but like the neck violin, which also resembles a musical instrument, it served
to punish various minor violations of the legal system.

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cs702
By the standards and attitudes of Medieval Europe with respect to torture and
violence, this "flute of shame" looks pretty tame, actually.

It's hard to fathom from a present perspective, but Medieval Europe was
_insanely_ more violent and willing to torture than today's Western societies.
Consider: Homicide rates were one to two orders of magnitude (~10 to ~100
times) greater back then.[a] There was a proliferation of devices designed to
inflict pain and suffering that would make even Dr. Evil blush.[b] Just search
for "medieval torture" online to see what I mean.

Steven Pinker has a good summary of the violent nature of Medial Europe in his
book, "The Better Angels of Our Nature."[c]

\--

[a] [https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/life-
violence-m...](https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/life-violence-
murder-crime-middle-ages/)

[b]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methods_of_torture#Med...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methods_of_torture#Medieval_and_early_modern_instruments_of_torture)

[c] [https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-
Violence/dp/...](https://www.amazon.com/Better-Angels-Our-Nature-
Violence/dp/0143122010)

~~~
NeedMoreTea
The penalties were fairly stiff too -- if anyone is unsure if harsher
sentencing cuts crime, Medieval times are a pretty strong argument against:

Hanging was the penalty for dozens of crimes, not just murder. Hanging was
public and a slow hang unless you bribed the hangman.

Serious crimes would see you hanged, drawn and quartered -- dragged through
the town, hanged almost to unconsciousness, emasculated and gutted (while
conscious if the hangman did his job right), then beheaded and chopped into 4
bits. The head and parts usually went on prominent display like at the gates
of the city.

Then there's the religious offences, which get ugly. Theft from the church
would see you flayed alive (skinned). The skin was sometimes nailed to the
church door. Apostasy (rejecting your required religion) might see you slow
burned alive -- publicly of course. and so it goes on. Medieval Christians
seem like a vengeful lot.

Forgot one: Boiling alive -- the penalty for coin counterfeiting.

~~~
tasogare
> if anyone is unsure if harsher sentencing cuts crime, Medieval times are a
> pretty strong argument against

But it sure was 100% effective against repeat offenses. Not like for instance
the French system where someone can plot a terror attack, get sentenced to 8
years of prison (a shamefully low duration to begin with) and then do it again
(possibly one the attacker role this time). In a way death penalty exists, but
is reserved to the victims of previous convicts.

~~~
rsynnott
Per the article above, Oxford’s homicide rate is believed to have been _one
hundred times_ higher than today (though this was exceptional; normal rate was
moe like 10x higher). Not really great evidence for the ol’ state-sanctioned
murder.

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empath75
I see something like this and wonder if it was some sort of medieval gag gift
and historians are taking it at face value.

~~~
Ididntdothis
I wonder about that too. Or thinking things were used for religious purposes.

~~~
empath75
Looking into this more. The sources for this seem to be sketchy at best —
torture museums and ripley’s, places that sell good stories, not history. A
quick search of google scholar doesn’t find much in support of it. The
earliest references seem to be renaissance artists painting medieval scenes,
but that would have been hundreds of years after this would have been used, I
think.

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chadlavi
"Remove the flute of shame."

"Woohoo!"

"Attach the flute of triumph!"

"D'oh"

------
RickJWagner
I can't think of musical failure (or shame) without remembering Ashley
Simpson's disastrous SNL incident.

Funny how the brain associates things.

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mmhsieh
for the modern context, what might we make?

Keytar of Ignominy? Theremin of Foolishness? Banjo of Incompetence?

~~~
andrewflnr
Don't overthink it. Kazoo of shame.

~~~
kjs3
_Kazoo of shame_

-1 redundant

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onceUponADime
This is something quite- interesting. The disconnect from felt reality to
actual reality.

Capital punishment and brutal punishments never did deter the truely desperat,
who are usually squeezed by society and physics. And yet, they continu
existing.

[https://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/teaching_aids/books_articl...](https://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/teaching_aids/books_articles/JLpaper.pdf)

Our brain creates a raging feeling, that demand pain to be treated out to
percieved wrong doers.

That the wrongdoing might have been to set children in a world with no jobs,
no future and no proper parenting, is ignored.

That it is applied without deterence or change of effect. Ignored.

Just a animal scratching a itch, no matter what.

~~~
harimau777
For sake of argument, what alternative would you advocate? It doesn't seem
just for there to be neither restitution nor punishment.

~~~
onceUponADime
A sort of degrading, but non-lethal or permanent damaging punishment-
something to please the inner monkey and then i would demand that every
punishment be also taken by a innocent citizen in parallel. Without that- its
just prison then reintegration into society..

After that i would remove the ability of the citizenry to influence the level
of punishment, as this is a constant journey towards the death sentence with
torture for all crimes no matter how petty.

~~~
harimau777
I'm not sure that I follow your reasoning. How would inflicting a punishment
on an innocent person be justice?

