Chapter 44

Following Up ... From gschies

Hi,

regarding the tidbit on the “Shame Flute” (see previous chapter),

I’d like to add my two penny’s worth: This ... well, let’s call it “instrument of law enforcement” was not restricted to bad musicians. Instead, it was ahem, “open” to the general population, just like its bigger cousin, the “Schandgeige” (lit. “Violin of Shame”).There is a Wikipedia article in English HERE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrew%27s_fiddle

As you can see, these were pretty small punishments for small misdemeanors like bickering, fighting or badmouthing others. As I said, small stuff that, however, could poison a tightly knit community like a medieval market-town. Since the walls were ringing the town, space was at a premium, and it was difficult to simply avoid another.

So, people used the concept of “Ehrenstrafen” (in essence public humiliation) to keep at least SOME peace in the community. I think, the English know about the pillory (in German it’s called the “Pranger”) or the stocks, where bad people were exhibited for others to at least see, jeer and throw the occasional fistful of rubbish. If one was sufficiently bad, one was put on the “Pranger” (or its North German equivalent, the “Staupsaeule”) as a prelude to being soundly threshed (“gestaeupt”) - in public, of course, preferably on market day. However, there were other means as well, as the asouade, being led through town in mock-procession riding a donkey or being made to ride a wooden donkey on main square. Aggressive women could be forced to carry a heavy stone (called the “Lasterstein”, the “stone of vice”) over some distance - also in public, naturally.

If a town was on a river in Southern Germany, bakers could be punished for baking bread that was too small or light-weight. The procedure was called “Baeckerschupfen”, during which the unlucky baker was dunked at least once. After Enlightenment had set in, all these punishments were declared illegal (humiliating somebody, apparently, is not considered an enlightened procedure).

When all these were abolished, people were still put in the pillory - not by the law, but by gossips. As, as everybody knows, in law, you have remedies, but against gossips? Nowadays, there is the concept of “Shitstorm”, which is gossip being taken to extremes by new technical means and new heights of ignorance and malice. So, one may dream of the days when people were put in the Shrew’s Fiddle on market day - that punishment may even have worked, who knows?

Regards,

H.