A flatulist, fartist, fartial artist, professional farter or simply farter is an

entertainer An entertainer is someone who provides entertainment in various different forms. Types of entertainers

* Acrobat * Actor * Archimime * Barker (occupation), Barker * Beatboxer * Benshi * Bouffon * Cheerleader * Circus arts, Circus perform ...

often associated with flatulence-related humor, whose routine consists solely or primarily of passing gas in a creative, musical, or amusing manner.

History

There are a number of scattered references to

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

flatulists, who could produce various rhythms and pitches with their intestinal wind.

Saint Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman province), Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced th ...

in '' The City of God (De Civitate Dei)'' (14.24) mentions some performers who did have "such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing."

Juan Luis Vives Juan Luis Vives y March (; ; ; ; 6 March 6 May 1540) was a Spaniards, Spanish (Valencian people, Valencian) scholar and Renaissance humanist who spent most of his adult life in the southern Habsburg Netherlands. His beliefs on the soul, insigh ...

, in his 1522 commentary to Augustine's work, testifies to having himself witnessed such a feat, a remark referenced by

Michel de Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Seigneur de Montaigne ( ; ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), commonly known as Michel de Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularising the the essay ...

in an essay. The professional farters of medieval

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

were called braigetoír. They are listed together with other performers and musicians in the 12th century ''Tech Midchúarda'', a diagram of the banqueting hall of Tara. As entertainers, these braigetoír ranked at the lower end of a scale headed by

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

s, fili, and

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

ers.

An entry in the 13th-century English ''Liber Feodorum'' or ''

Book of Fees The ''Book of Fees'' is the colloquial title of a modern edition, transcript, rearrangement and enhancement of the medieval (Latin: 'Book of Fiefs') which is a listing of feudal landholdings or fief (Middle English ), compiled in about 1302, bu ...

'' lists one Roland the Farter, who held Hemingstone manor in the county of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, for which he was obliged to perform ''"Unum saltum et siffletum et unum bombulum"'' (one jump and whistle and one fart) annually at the court of King

Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...

every Christmas. The ''Activa Vita'' character in the 14th century allegorical poem

Piers Plowman ''Piers Plowman'' (written 1370–86; possibly ) or ''Visio Willelmi de Petro Ploughman'' (''William's Vision of Piers Plowman'') is a Middle English allegorical narrative poem by William Langland. It is written in un-rhymed, alliterative ...

appears to number farting among the abilities desirable in a good entertainer, Trotter quoted a Latin extract from the ''Liber Feodorum'' or ''

'' in which the word was used; "Roland le Pettour had to perform the service of bumbulum to the king on Christmas Day in order to have the right to hold his land." saying: "As for me, I can neither drum nor trumpet, nor tell jokes, nor fart amusingly at parties, nor play the harp." In Japan, during the

Edo period The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...

, flatulists were known as "heppiri otoko" (放屁男), lit. "farting men." The term He-gassen (屁合戦), "farting competitions", is applied to Edo-period art scrolls depicting flatulence.

Notable flatulists

* Roland the Farter, flatulist in the court of King Henry II of England * Le Pétomane, performed in France from 1887 until 1914 *

Mr. Methane Paul Oldfield (born 30 March 1966), better known by his stage name Mr Methane, is a British flatulist who started performing in 1991. He briefly retired in 2006, but restarted in mid-2007. He claims to be the only performing farter in the world ...

, born 1966

References

Notes

{{reflist, group=lower-roman

History

Notable flatulists

See also

References

Notes

Further reading