Disgrace

Scheltbrief (Schandbrief) from 1550

An image of shame (also Pittura infamante [pitˈtuːra iɱfaˈmante] ) represents a person in a particularly degrading position or attitude. In the narrower sense, it is used to describe images on medieval and early modern scolding letters .

function

Ordinary citizens publicly accused nobles , sometimes even their princes , of wrongdoing. But merchants and moneylenders also acted against defaulting debtors in this way. The letters were posted on the pillory , on the town hall or on church doors (similar to missions) , and sometimes the addressee received them through a messenger.

Motifs

The enemy has been shown in dealing with dishonorable animals, like the donkey ride and Sauritt, but also together with instruments such as the penal gallows , wheels and Prangern. According to old superstitions, such pictorial tortures and humiliations are transferred directly to the real person. The guarantors of the debtor or his seal were usually "violated" . Around the year 1340, a Thuringian announced that he would make candles for a hangman's wedding from the seal of the Mainz cathedral chapter . Later Hildesheim shame pictures show dishonorable guarantors, "whereby one of the gentlemen sits upside down on the sow, lifts its tail and everyone holds their seal stamp in their hands to press it on the pig's anus". The anti- Judaistic animal metaphor Judensau is based on the same ideas.

See also

• Pillar of shame
• cartoon

literature

• Matthias Lentz - conflict, honor, order. Investigations into the insults and disgrace of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period (approx. 1350 to 1600). With an illustrated catalog of the lore. Hannover 2004. ISBN 3-7752-6017-X review more

Web links

Commons : Pittura infamante  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gerhard Langemeyer (Ed.): Image as a weapon: means and motifs of the caricature in five centuries . Prestel, Munich 1984, p. 354, ISBN 3-7913-0685-5
2. ↑ Gerhard Schmidt , Elisabeth Liskar (ed.): European art around 1300 . Böhlau, Vienna 1986, p. 225, ISBN 3-205-06386-4
3. ^ ^{A b} Gerd Althoff, Hans-Werner Goetz, Ernst Schubert - People in the Shadow of the Darmstadt Cathedral : Primus Verlag 1998 p. 260 ISBN 3-89678-090-5
4. ^ Wolfgang Schild - The history of jurisdiction , Munich: Verlag Georg DW Callwey 1980. License for Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft mbh, Hamburg 1980 p. 153 ISBN 3-930656-74-4
5. ↑ Hildesheim City Archives (PDF; 17 kB) Retrieved on March 14, 2008