the Butt Trumpet

Have you ever come across this bizarre signboard in KCD 2? It might remind you of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But the so-called "butt trumpets" weren't invented by the Pythons. Similar illustrations have been preserved in medieval illuminated manuscripts, where they were part of the marginalia...

These drawings depict figures, often naked and playing trumpets with their buttocks. They were most often painted by monks and nuns on parchment or vellum and decorated the edges of books. They were called marginalia and could be glosses, scribbles, critiques or illuminations.

Medieval manuscripts were more interactive than today's textbooks - the pictures served a bit like icons that you had to think about. Moreover, their readers were often not fully literate, so visual elements that made it more interesting were common.

But why a trumpet in the butt? Such an image could symbolize vices, sins or criticism of church authorities. In some cases, however, it could simply be a form of grotesque humor. Even in the Middle Ages, people were jokers.

The "butt trumpet" motif can also be found in Dante's Divine Comedy, where he describes the demon Malacoda, who, as a signal to leave, makes a sound using his background: "ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta", which can be translated as "and he made a trumpet out of his butt".