Campuppet - A History
Campuppets have a long and noble heritage.
The discovery and use of Campuppets dates back to the dawn of man. Paleolithic cave paintings found at Lascaux in southwestern France, clearly show human figures attached to poles or sticks (fig.1), being used to annoy very large and angry Sabertooth tigers. There is currently strong scholarly debate over whether these images depict the human form cut out from tree bark and stuck to a stick, or that they represent small, annoying members of the tribe tied to a pole. In either case, these paintings clearly show the early use of Campuppets for entertainment.
In 1905, archeologist uncovered tomb carvings from Babylonia and early Egypt, that show Campuppets being used in ancient religious fertility rituals.(fig.2)
Roman scholars in 80 AD, write of Campuppets being used during the original events at the Colosseum in Rome. The puppets were soon replaced though, when it was discovered that it was much more entertaining to have real people attacked by lions than paper cutouts. Ticket sales jumped dramatically after this, and the lions were much happier. During the middle ages, ownership and use of Campuppets were a privilege reserved for the nobility.
Although originally used as entertainment at this time, it was soon discovered that life size Campuppets could be used as shields and distraction in times of war (fig.3).
At around 1100 AD, knights and nobles began to realize that rather than going into battle themselves, they could send a servant, carrying a life size Campuppet™, into battle and no one would know the difference. This allowed the nobles, on the morning of a battle, to sleep-in, have extra cup of tea and then find out who won in the afternoon.
This use of Campuppets was wildly popular among the nobility and became known as "campuppeting". As you can imagine, the servants called it something else! "Campuppeting" lasted until 1213 AD. It was on a cold, wet December morning in 1213 AD, during what was to become know as the "Battle of Kolderbog", just as the two massive armies were about to do battle, that the servants realized that all the knights and nobles were still in bed.
[Historical Note: On this same day in 1213 AD, the infamous "Kolderbog Peasant Uprising" also took place, which helped lead to the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 AD.] The use of Campuppets fell out of favor after 1213 AD and did not find a revival until the early 1900s.
It was not until World War I that the use of Campuppets during battle was renewed. [See army video below]
The Campuppet™ company was created in 2008 in the hopes that Campuppets will not be used for war, but for peaceful expression. We want to help bring about world peace!