PicoBlog

Hey, hey, now! Easy on the weird, right?

Well, the European Middle Ages were, in many ways, a very weird period. They ate weird food. They put animals on trial. Poor fido. In Germany, they divorced by combat. You read that right. The man and woman could fight it out in a small arena to settle marital disputes.

Lots of weird.

As a trumpet player, I think discovering the “butt trumpet” was probably one of the most weird things I’ve encountered in reading about medieval times and practices. That is, until I learned what it actually is.

So, stick with me and let’s get to the bottom of this.

If you’ve ever watched Monty Python and The Holy Grail, you’ve seen a load of butt trumpets. The animated scenes might even make you squirm in your seat if you’re old fashioned like me. But, like most reasoning and intellectual people, I just wrote those off as silliness and shenanigans by the writers and animators of the film. It’s just pure ridiculousness, right?

Well, yes. And no.

There are actual depictions of people “playing” the butt trumpet (or butt tuba) in medieval manuscripts.

Seriously?

Yes. The image at the start of this post is from an actual illuminated manuscript from the time period.

What Is an Illuminated Manuscript? Illuminated manuscripts are hand-written books with painted decoration that generally includes precious metals such as gold or silver. The pages were made from animal skin, commonly calf, sheep, or goat.

So, WHY are there butt trumpets?

Well, here’s the thing. They are not real in the sense that you play them with your backside. They are just as silly and crude as the ones in The Holy Grail. They are illustrations added for effect. And to be straightforward, they are what they look like: basically a fart joke, usually added by the illustrators to convey sarcasm or irony, or maybe disapproval of what is in the text the illustration is near.

It’s kind of like a thumbs down, or a “pffft” sound. Or to be even more straightforward, it’s imagery of “talking out of your behind.” (aka BS)

Medieval illustrators used iconography and symbolism for almost everything they did. Every illustrated animal represents something commonly recognized by people at the time.

It makes me wonder if the scholarly priests who were writing and illustrating these manuscripts knew that hundreds of years later we’d be talking about this as an interesting tidbit about the history of musical instruments in illustrated form?

Hey! I’m Russ (aka R.K. Slade). I write about marching band, music history, and just about any and everything that pops into my head about all things music. I also write band geek/music historical fiction for young adults. Subscribe to learn more about music and to support an aspiring fiction author!

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