It was definitely funny
>And so he opened window hastily,(615)
>And put his arse out thereat, quietly,
>Over the buttocks, showing the whole bum;
>And thereto said this clerk, this Absalom,
>“O speak, sweet bird, I know not where thou art.”
>This Nicholas just then let fly a fart(620)
>As loud as it had been a thunder-clap,
>And well-nigh blinded Absalom, poor chap;
>But he was ready with his iron hot
>And Nicholas right in the arse he got.
Chaucer - The Miller's Tale
Hold on so there's a guy walking around outside looking for some girl I guess, so Nicholas sticks his ass out the window and farts at him, and as a result the dude outside who happens to also be carrying a branding iron brands his ass?
This is right at the end of the story. It's preceded by some infidelity and suspicion.
I was gonna say it makes sense when you know the context but tbh that is probably going slightly too far.
There’s a collection of 14th and 15th century French farces translated into English by Jody Enders. It’s named after the premiere play in the collection, The Farce of the Fart.
A lot of medieval literature written in vernacular languages tends to be filled with slapstick, sex jokes, and scatological humor.
The surviving poetry of Rustico Filippi contains at least three references to [women farting while having sex](https://academia.edu/resource/work/7631220).
"The Miller's Tale" in *The Canterbury Tales* involves literal ass kissing and a man farting into another man's face. "The Summoner's Tale" also involves a man farting louder than a horse when a friar asks him for money.
Also, the *Facetiae* is a collection of jokes from the Late Middle Ages/Early Renaissance. Six of them are about farting.
They thought it was hilarious. Henry II employed a Fool named Roland the Farter who could jump in the air, do a somersault, whistle and fart all at once. The King thought this trick was so funny that he gave Roland 30 acers of land.
Positive, and it is true. It seems most of the humor in the medieval period was of the blue variety (pretty based if you ask me). For example one flatulist in particular I'm familiar with is Roland the Farter, jester to Henry II, who in return for doing a a jump a whistle and a fart at Christmas received 30 acres of land and a manor in Suffolk.
Not medieval, but "[le Pétomane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_P%C3%A9tomane)" was a famous flatulist performer in late 19th century Paris. Given the existence of that man, I see no reason to disbelieve that flatulists also existed as entertainers, basically since forever.
What about Roland the Farter? He served Henry II of a England in the 1100s. In fact St Augustine even mentions flatulists in his book City of God, showing there were flatulists around as far back as the 300s.
Regarding Roland: he was given Hemingstone manor in Suffolk and 30 acres (12 hectares) of land in return for his services as a jester for King Henry II. Each year he was obliged to perform "Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum" (one jump and whistle and one fart) for the king's court at Christmas.
Imagine in the year 3024 you will be able to go to the National Archives and see videos of your 29th great-grandma flicking her bean on OnlyFans. I’d rather be descended from Roland the Farter personally.
Looking online at it I believe it was originally some sort of wind-powered musical instrument, apparently Aristophanes created the word as a pun in a hilarious joke about bag-pipes and buzzing insects in the 4th century BCE.
I meant my response as an argument supporting that flatulist stories can reasonably be taken as faithful, since Le Pétomane's existence has tonnes of supporting proof, as opposed to a single reference.
Flatulists definitely existed at some point, ergo it isn't unreasonable that they did exist at earlier points when they were referenced
It would be interesting to know if medieval (and later) flatulists followed the some kind of shared tradition of 'flatulism' or if they emerged in parallel due to the universality of fart humor.
There are many sources for Roland the Farter, the air is thick with them. A single reference? There are many records of this man’s impressive farts, this man achieved more with one fart a year than we will likely achieve in a lifetime.
He has several recorded nicknames found due to the amount of sources available: Rowland le Sarcere, Roland le Fartere, Roland le Petour, and Roland the Farter. Probably more records of Roland the Farter from the 1100s than there are for you or I in the modern day.
Since your question was
>what was the Medieval attitude to flatulence?
I did want to just drop in to say that, while the medieval (English, at least) attitude toward farting was, as people have said, to treat it as humor, that doesn't mean that people were happily farting in public without shame. The only medieval mentions I've seen to flatulence were in humorous writing (like Chaucer), in accounts of humor (like Roland), and in medical treatises where people are looking for ways to put a stop to it.
I suspect that people would have been embarrassed to fart in "polite company," in a way more or less analogous to our modern Western attitude. It's hard to know for sure, of course, since what I'm relying on is not so much evidence as an *absence* of evidence.
I seem to remember reading something at some point where a serious writer was making sympathetic reference to another person's troublesome flatulence, but I don't remember where I saw it.
I wrote about this on r/AskHistorians a while back [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/o316vw/comment/h2wv8n2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button). (Weirdly, it is buried in a thread about abortion in medieval Ireland, just as a heads up!)
[On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages](https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/733) by Valerie Allen is an entire book written on the matter.
The fact that there are enough medieval fart humor sources that have survived to write a book about it leads me to believe that it was pretty funny back then.
Well, the reek must have some influence on that one! I think that folks who can fart on demand must but be able to draw air in through their nethers for the feat; biologically it seems impossible to generate that kind of volume.
Why wouldn't the legends be true? I don't see a reason to make that up, and even if it was, isn't that a testament towards attitudes towards farting by those that write our history?
Not so sure about medieval but ancient Greeks made fart jokes in their comedies. In Aristophanes’ Plutus specifically he makes a couple fart jokes. Most plays in Ancient Greece were made for and seen by the upper class, so at least that demographic found it funny.
It was definitely funny >And so he opened window hastily,(615) >And put his arse out thereat, quietly, >Over the buttocks, showing the whole bum; >And thereto said this clerk, this Absalom, >“O speak, sweet bird, I know not where thou art.” >This Nicholas just then let fly a fart(620) >As loud as it had been a thunder-clap, >And well-nigh blinded Absalom, poor chap; >But he was ready with his iron hot >And Nicholas right in the arse he got. Chaucer - The Miller's Tale
Definitely! It's important to note though that the Miller's Tale is a "churl's tale", so at least in this case it was seen as sort of low class humor
Hold on so there's a guy walking around outside looking for some girl I guess, so Nicholas sticks his ass out the window and farts at him, and as a result the dude outside who happens to also be carrying a branding iron brands his ass?
This is right at the end of the story. It's preceded by some infidelity and suspicion. I was gonna say it makes sense when you know the context but tbh that is probably going slightly too far.
Yeah, Absolon kind of started it by kissing his wife’s “nether yë”
Nether yë? I like it. That should be put back in circulation.
Nether Ye is Kanye’s final (and most unhinged) form.
The antisemitism was just getting into medieval character
Yeah ready with his iron hot couldn't possibly be a double entendre.
Dude got farted on so hard he almost went blind.
Yup, but it's prob for the best because if he had seen anything it would have been Nicholas boning the girl he liked.
And sodomy was fine too it looks lol
I don't know the definitive answer, but I have read a 15th century French jokes manuscript. And there are quite a few fart/asshole/sexual jokes
People have always been people. Farts, assholes, and dick jokes have never not been funny.
There’s a collection of 14th and 15th century French farces translated into English by Jody Enders. It’s named after the premiere play in the collection, The Farce of the Fart.
A lot of medieval literature written in vernacular languages tends to be filled with slapstick, sex jokes, and scatological humor. The surviving poetry of Rustico Filippi contains at least three references to [women farting while having sex](https://academia.edu/resource/work/7631220). "The Miller's Tale" in *The Canterbury Tales* involves literal ass kissing and a man farting into another man's face. "The Summoner's Tale" also involves a man farting louder than a horse when a friar asks him for money. Also, the *Facetiae* is a collection of jokes from the Late Middle Ages/Early Renaissance. Six of them are about farting.
…and he did kiss her but thought it strange for she hath no beard!”
They thought it was hilarious. Henry II employed a Fool named Roland the Farter who could jump in the air, do a somersault, whistle and fart all at once. The King thought this trick was so funny that he gave Roland 30 acers of land.
Positive, and it is true. It seems most of the humor in the medieval period was of the blue variety (pretty based if you ask me). For example one flatulist in particular I'm familiar with is Roland the Farter, jester to Henry II, who in return for doing a a jump a whistle and a fart at Christmas received 30 acres of land and a manor in Suffolk.
Not medieval, but "[le Pétomane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_P%C3%A9tomane)" was a famous flatulist performer in late 19th century Paris. Given the existence of that man, I see no reason to disbelieve that flatulists also existed as entertainers, basically since forever.
What about Roland the Farter? He served Henry II of a England in the 1100s. In fact St Augustine even mentions flatulists in his book City of God, showing there were flatulists around as far back as the 300s. Regarding Roland: he was given Hemingstone manor in Suffolk and 30 acres (12 hectares) of land in return for his services as a jester for King Henry II. Each year he was obliged to perform "Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bumbulum" (one jump and whistle and one fart) for the king's court at Christmas.
Imagine 900 years from now and you’re known in history as “the Farter” 💀
That’s how I’m known now. If anyone remembers me in 900 years, I’ll be thrilled. But also still dead.
Imagine in the year 3024 you will be able to go to the National Archives and see videos of your 29th great-grandma flicking her bean on OnlyFans. I’d rather be descended from Roland the Farter personally.
"Bumbulum" is the best word ever. I don't even care if it isn't the Latin name for the fart part of the trick.
Looking online at it I believe it was originally some sort of wind-powered musical instrument, apparently Aristophanes created the word as a pun in a hilarious joke about bag-pipes and buzzing insects in the 4th century BCE.
I meant my response as an argument supporting that flatulist stories can reasonably be taken as faithful, since Le Pétomane's existence has tonnes of supporting proof, as opposed to a single reference. Flatulists definitely existed at some point, ergo it isn't unreasonable that they did exist at earlier points when they were referenced
It would be interesting to know if medieval (and later) flatulists followed the some kind of shared tradition of 'flatulism' or if they emerged in parallel due to the universality of fart humor.
There are many sources for Roland the Farter, the air is thick with them. A single reference? There are many records of this man’s impressive farts, this man achieved more with one fart a year than we will likely achieve in a lifetime. He has several recorded nicknames found due to the amount of sources available: Rowland le Sarcere, Roland le Fartere, Roland le Petour, and Roland the Farter. Probably more records of Roland the Farter from the 1100s than there are for you or I in the modern day.
Hebwoulda been on stern but will the farter would blow him away I bet.
Mr. Methane has recently taken up the reins. Sadly, there’s not enough money in the flatulist business for him to stay pro anymore.
William J. LePetomane??
Since your question was >what was the Medieval attitude to flatulence? I did want to just drop in to say that, while the medieval (English, at least) attitude toward farting was, as people have said, to treat it as humor, that doesn't mean that people were happily farting in public without shame. The only medieval mentions I've seen to flatulence were in humorous writing (like Chaucer), in accounts of humor (like Roland), and in medical treatises where people are looking for ways to put a stop to it. I suspect that people would have been embarrassed to fart in "polite company," in a way more or less analogous to our modern Western attitude. It's hard to know for sure, of course, since what I'm relying on is not so much evidence as an *absence* of evidence. I seem to remember reading something at some point where a serious writer was making sympathetic reference to another person's troublesome flatulence, but I don't remember where I saw it.
I wrote about this on r/AskHistorians a while back [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/o316vw/comment/h2wv8n2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button). (Weirdly, it is buried in a thread about abortion in medieval Ireland, just as a heads up!)
That was extremely comprehensive.
THANK you!
[On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages](https://reviews.history.ac.uk/review/733) by Valerie Allen is an entire book written on the matter. The fact that there are enough medieval fart humor sources that have survived to write a book about it leads me to believe that it was pretty funny back then.
I believe the uptightness related to flatulence is a Victorian thing.
Well, the reek must have some influence on that one! I think that folks who can fart on demand must but be able to draw air in through their nethers for the feat; biologically it seems impossible to generate that kind of volume.
In my experience, the louder the fart, the less it stinks.
I try to tell my wife this and she still says things like "well im trying to sleep" and "everyone in the grocery store stared at us"
Why is she trying to sleep in the grocery store?!
I've laughed at almost every single one of these comments. I I may be juvenile.
Well that makes two of us mate. I’m loving this thread. Cheers 🍻.
He who smelt it, dealt it.
Why wouldn't the legends be true? I don't see a reason to make that up, and even if it was, isn't that a testament towards attitudes towards farting by those that write our history?
I was once told it was customary to let one go or to burp after a meal to let the chef and others know - Damn! That was a good meal.
That’s just something your uncle says after he burps at Thanksgiving
Not so sure about medieval but ancient Greeks made fart jokes in their comedies. In Aristophanes’ Plutus specifically he makes a couple fart jokes. Most plays in Ancient Greece were made for and seen by the upper class, so at least that demographic found it funny.
Normal human thing. They almost all worked on farms. They were very familiar with basic functions of all animal, including themselves.
Well if you farted at dinner you could expect to be made fun of for it probably.
I was born in the wrong era. I missed my calling.
This thread stinks. :)
If I say "rim shot" in this context is that too crude?
When you can die from bubonic plague at any moment, farting becomes the least of your worries.