The Medieval Flute of Shame.

December 19, 2024

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In the medieval period things were…different, shall we say.

It has been well documented that punishments for crimes were devilishly malicious and in all honesty sometimes almost artfully impressive.

A visit to somewhere such as the Medieval Torture Museum in Prague will inform of gruesome torture methods such as The Saw and the Iron Maiden. But there once existed a medieval punishment that didn’t rival those for blood-seeking fiendishness, But one which would make you reconsider showboating that great singing voice you thought you had.

They called it the Flute of Shame.

Basically it was an oversized iron flute whose sole purpose was to inflict public shame and a fair degree of pain. It would be clamped around the neck of an unpopular musician, with his or her hands fixed to it, giving the impression that they were playing it.

They would then be paraded around the village for all to see, their humiliation intensified by the jibes of the locals and the barrage of last week’s rotten vegetables getting lobbed at them for good measure.

The overriding purpose of the punishment was to ensure that said musician would never again forget the lyrics of a song, miss a note on their instrument, or perform something considered immoral or offensive.

“At this point in history, social humiliation was hugely popular and was often one of the few means of entertainment small villages and hamlets had.”

Ripley’s Believe It or Not

After their walk of public humiliation was complete they would have another final step to complete – a long stand in the public square with the heavy iron device clasped around their neck. Eventually they were deemed to have suffered enough but the process could last anywhere between a few hours to several days, depending on just how much the musician had irked the public or was deemed to have crossed the very murky line of medieval decorum.

While predominantly used on musicians that had fallen foul of public opinion, it was also used on non-musical performers whose job it was to entertain in public. This included jesters, acrobats, magicians and anyone who may have let their fame go to their head. In short, the Flute of Shame was a major concern for all manner of medieval artisans who dared put forth their talent in the volatile and unpredictable arena of public scrutiny.

There survives an original Shame Flute in The Medieval Crime Museum in Rothenburg, Germany, and another in the Torture Museum in Holland (pictured).