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Where did the saying whipping boy come from?
The term ‘whipping boy’ is first recorded in print in Charles I’s reign, by John Trapp, in his A commentary or exposition upon the five books of Moses: “Rebuke before all: yet not as if they were whipping boyes.”
Did whipping boys actually exist?
A whipping boy was a boy educated alongside a prince (or boy monarch) in early modern Europe, who received corporal punishment for the prince’s transgressions in his presence.
What is whipped Post?
: a post to which offenders are tied to be legally whipped.
What is an antonym for scapegoat?
Opposite of a person or thing that is the object of ridicule or criticism. antagonizer. agitator. antagonist. aggressor.
What was the meaning of the whipping boy?
The whipping boys weren’t hapless street urchins living a life of torment, but high-born companions to the royal princes. They were educated with the princes and shared many of the privileges of royalty. The downside was that, if the prince did wrong, the whipping boy was punished.
Why was the whipping boy not punished by the Prince?
The prince was not punished himself because his royal status exceeded that of his tutor; seeing a friend punished would provide an equivalent motivation not to repeat the offence. An archaic proverb which captures a similar idea is “to beat a dog before a lion”. Whipping was a common punishment of tutors at that time.
Who was the whipping boy in court life?
Sarah Ruhl ‘s 2016 play “Scenes from Court Life, or The Whipping Boy and His Prince” includes whipping boys in its depictions of Charles I and Charles II of England. Some accounts of modern slavery include instances of slaves punished for the offences of a master’s child.
Who was the whipping boy in the Catholic Church?
An adult example often included in discussions of whipping boys is provided by the French Catholic prelates Arnaud d’Ossat (1537–1604) and Jacques Davy Duperron (1556–1618), who were symbolically whipped by Pope Clement VIII in 1593 in proxy expiation on behalf of Henry IV of France (1553–1610), who had renounced Protestantism.