Were whipping boys real?

by [deleted]

Were whipping boys real? How about whipping girls for princesses? How were royal children punished? Who punished them?

Georgy_K_Zhukov

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ass_ass_ino

Yes. One instance which I am familiar with is Barnaby Fitzpatrick, who was the "proxy for correction" for Prince Edward (Henry VIII's son, later Edward VI). This practice makes some sort of sense when you understand that royalty was seen as being gifted from God, and that harming the royal person (or his heir) was treason and punishable by death. Fitzpatrick and Prince Edward were close friends and so the threat of harm to Fitzpatrick would presumably be enough to keep Edward from misbehaving.

Source: Alison Weir, The Children of Henry VIII

82364

How were whipping boys compensated?

satuon

And a follow-up question: When was the first written mention of the term whipping boy?

trianuddah

Is there any record of when the practise started?