The Middle Ages is a period in the history of Europe, in which, as is usually imagined in our time, most of the continent was in decline. In many respects the quality of life of medieval society was inferior compared to the period of the Roman Empire that preceded it, or the Renaissance that followed the Middle Ages. One of these aspects is the observance of hygiene rules.
medieval toilet
The concept of hygiene in the Middle Ages can be said to be completely different from the modern one. This, of course, was reflected in the hygiene of the people of those times in their daily lives. Firstly, there was no water supply as such, and when “nature called”, people went, one might say, “to nature”, that is, they used the toilet on the street. Most often it was just a flimsy roofed structure above a hole in the ground. In castles, monasteries and abbeys, these were narrow, cramped rooms for meeting needs. To be fair, these indoor latrines were placed as far away from the rest of the rooms as possible and usually had double doors to keep bad odors out.
Plus, in every room under the bed, just in case, there were chamber pots. One of the most "weird" jobs that came from this lifestyle was the janitor of the royal toilet. Such an honor, as a rule, was awarded to the sons of noble persons. Their duties included assisting the king when he was about to do his thing, as well as removing the results of this "deed".
It goes without saying that the results had to go somewhere. In the absence of a centralized sewage system, people simply made cesspools, which were, in fact, huge, deep pits dug in the ground, into which waste products were dumped. Ironically, this hygienic practice was not entirely hygienic, as the waste, when exposed to air, created favorable conditions for the spread of bacteria, which, in turn, caused dangerous diseases. As for the latrines in the castles, the excrement either fell into the moat or under the walls of the castle. There is a rather interesting and equally controversial version of the capture of the castle of Château Gaillard in Normandy, France after the siege of 1203-1204. Allegedly, the French troops managed to capture the second circle of defensive fortifications, penetrating through the toilet chute that led to the chapel.
The Other Side of the Medal
But let's move from one part of the body to another. How were things in terms of oral hygiene, for example. In the Middle Ages, people's diets included much less sugar, if at all, which was a key factor in their having remarkably healthy teeth than in later centuries, when sugar addiction spread throughout Europe. Before that, people simply rinsed their mouths with water. As for the teeth, they were cleaned by wiping with a piece of cloth. Later, mixtures of herbs and abrasives began to be used for this. A mixture of vinegar and wine was also used to rinse the mouth. In order to freshen their breath, people at that time chewed strong-smelling herbs such as mint, cinnamon, and sage.
If such oral care was still insufficient and the teeth began to hurt, the person was forced to visit the dentist, who believed that the pain was caused by worms that settled in the tooth. By the way, in the Middle Ages, the dentist and the hairdresser were one and the same person, and the treatment of toothache basically came down to removal without anesthesia.
Medieval dentist removes a tooth. (Public domain, 1616 - 1617)
Purity of the body
What was the attitude of medieval people to the general hygiene of the body, in other words, to bathing. Some researchers believe that it was normal not to bathe very often, such as St. Fintan of Clonenach, who was said to have taken a bath only once a year, before Easter, for twenty-four years. However, such examples may come from ordinary church asceticism, when churchmen simply avoided excessive bathing in the same way that they avoided other excesses. Although people of that time took a bath, it seems that they did it less often than we do today.
In fact, only the rich could afford their own bath. The rest of the population had to be content with public baths, which were supposed to house hundreds of people. Bathing in such public baths could not significantly improve the state of cleanliness, since the water was rarely changed, and a huge number of people used it. As a result, the person smelled, to put it mildly. The smell had to be filled with something, for example, bouquets of flowers or herbs, which were tied around the wrist, pinned to clothing and which were supposed to resist unpleasant odors.
Be that as it may, there is another story of medieval bathing. Soap was first used in the Middle Ages, which is confirmed by the presence of soap makers' guilds in large cities. Besides, of course, medieval hygiene today would be seen as inadequate. But what is interesting is how people of the future will consider us, modern people, whether we will seem to them as dirty as the inhabitants of the Middle Ages were to us.
Physiological needs exist in a person from the very beginning: the need for food, water, air, sleep, and of course solitude in the toilet. The first sitting toilet belonged to a Sumerian queen in 2600 BC. Now this exhibit is exhibited in the British Museum. In the same period, toilets appeared in Crete. Among the ruins of Knossos, stone stools were found, to which water was supplied with the help of pipes. These were the world's first "flushable" toilets. In the Roman era, there were public toilets. In addition, they were used as a place of communication.
The toilet in the ancient city of Ostia is the same age as the city of Pompeii, and it is more than 2 thousand years old.
On the streets of the city, people did not hesitate to relieve themselves in public. Such niches are built in the ancient city of Perge (Turkey).
Toilet of the castle of forty columns in Cyprus in Paphos (7-12 in)
Roman toilet.
Curiously, the Roman emperor Vespasian introduced a tax on public latrines. Urine was collected in large clay pots and used as a detergent for washing clothes, brushing teeth and tanning leather!
Medieval Europe did not have a sewerage system. There were no public toilets. There were other customs. It was the norm to rectify the need right on the street. Chamber pots poured directly from the window onto the heads of passers-by.
In the castles of England, a medieval toilet is a small niche with a hole down, on which lies a grate.
France toilet
In most castles of the Middle Ages, only wealthy owners could afford to have special premises for natural needs. Similar rooms in England were called wardrobes. They represented an inclined chute for ejection ... or protruded noticeably from the walls, due to which the excretions were thrown out beyond the walls of the castle into the moat without touching the masonry.
In castles, it is surprising that toilets come in single, double, and even with three open cubicles. People of that time were not embarrassed by the presence of "neighbors".
On the wall of the toilet is a tombstone turned upside down.
Toilet with triple cubicles
Toiletries: stationary toilet
Portable pot.
In the castle "Rose" (Austria), the toilet was called the "roar" room, because everything that flew from the toilet room, freezing on the fly, fell to the ground with a roar. on the right is a portable pot.
Medieval toilet in Loket castle. (Czech)
Toilet in Spitz Castle (Switzerland)
For the aristocracy, porcelain or faience items such as vases and tureens were in fashion. The ladies carried with them a burdala - narrow pots that were convenient to slip under puffy skirts.
The first water closet - a toilet with a tank and a water reservoir similar to the modern one - appeared in England in 1590 for Elizabeth I, however, the water had to be poured into the tank yourself.
But starting from the end of the 1870s, there was a fashion for toilet bowls of all shapes and colors, in the Empire and Renaissance styles, richly decorated with modeling, painting, etc.
The first "modern bath" was built in Versailles. In the bachelor's bedroom of the Earl of Cardiff Castle (Wales) was a marble bathtub brought from Rome by Lord Bute had metal inlays of fish and sea creatureswho, underwater, seemed to be in motion.
Pictured below is a small bathroom in another bedroom built later in the castle, paneled in walnut with inlays of 60 marbles.
The bathtub is enclosed in an array of walnut. Washingthe sink is set in a marble slab. The bowl is especially magnificent, where a mermaid combing her hair is depicted in its lower part. Pretty modest furnishings in the bathroom of the royal couple of Nicholas II in the Livadia Palace. Bath with stucco, as well as on the walls of the room. Pay attention to the ring above the bath, where the curtain was unusually attached, covering the person around so as not to splash excess water.
Vestibule of Marie Bourbon or Napoleon's bathroom. Pitti Palace and Museum in Italy.
Stone bath in the archaeological museum of Assisi (Italy).
Washbasin, or washstand in the Vorontsov Palace.
Toothy washbasins with sparse teeth look ominous in a medieval cellar, and in the twilight one feels somehow uncomfortable alone with them. Creative art objects in Krumlov Castle. (Czech)
A plague broke out in India at the end of the 19th century. The result of it was the uncleanliness of the population, both poor people and rich people. (photo from internet)
One of the reasons was the terrible "dirt" of the so-called latrines. A commission was set up to investigate these latrines. The commission was under the impression that the latrines in wealthy homes were dirtier. They were dark, fetid, and infested with worms. And among the “untouchables” caste, on the contrary, the shacks are cleanly swept, and the pots shone. People relieved their needs in the open air. In the upper-class quarters, each room had a drain, both for water and "waste". As a result, the whole house was filled with stench. Sometimes drains from the second floor descended to the first floor. How did the residents manage to sleep there? The same things were in the temples, where, on top of everything else, a garbage dump was added, where crows and kites nested. In the houses of the city, according to the Western model, there were no drains for sewage in the rooms, and chamber pots were placed in the rooms. The servant was obliged to clean up after the owners of the house, as well as after the guests. This is what Mahatma Gandhi wrote in his book.
The hygiene of some northern peoples is curious, who washed themselves in a special way - they rubbed themselves with seal fat, and then scraped the fat off themselves along with the dirt. In the summer, they washed by the reservoirs, rubbing the body with sand. A newborn baby was not immediately washed, but wiped with a hare skin and wrapped in a clean hare skin, dust from rotten wood was poured into the legs. Washing began from the third day of life. Instead of diapers, they used dry sphagnum moss, using it as toilet paper, and also put it as diapers under babies. Such hygiene has been preserved to their days.
This is how a witness who visited the Evenks describes: “A young family came to visit a local resident, they went into a warm yaranga, leaving their things in a cold one. When the hostess went out to the cold room for groceries, she heard something moving in the box. She thought that the guests forgot something, and reported it. The guest calmly reported that her children were sleeping in the box. The child moved for two reasons: he wants to eat, or there is a problem with the toilet. Urine in a box with a baby in the dust of a tree rolls into balls, so they are simply shaken out and a new portion is added. If the child is hungry, the woman leans over him, because the baby is lying naked in moss or tree dust, breastfeeding him. Everything is very simple.
Toilets have been found in almost all stone castles and monasteries; perhaps they existed even when these buildings were built of wood. In castles, toilets were usually located on each floor, in each tower, in addition, noble people had their own closets. Most often, such a toilet was a small extension on the wall, from which feces fell down. This architectural element was called a wardrobe and looked like this:
Wardrobes on the walls of a medieval castle
This is what it looked like from the inside
And this is how it looked through the eyes of contemporaries
If a castle or palace had running water and sewerage, then the toilets were provided with a drain to the extent possible. The oldest such toilet that has come down to us belonged to the Duke of Burgundy John the Fearless and dates back to 1405. The perfection of the forms of this device leaves no doubt that by the time of its creation such a toilet was common for the nobility. It's just that his earlier counterparts have not reached us.
In medieval London, there were at least 13 public toilets, at least 2 of them were located directly on London Bridge, the main transport artery that connected the two halves of the city. As befits a medieval city bridge, it was built up with houses, and on the lower tiers there were water mills that pumped water into the city water supply system. The rest were located above two city streams - Fleet and Warbrook.
As a rule, there were several public toilets on one street, which were used by all residents. So, in 1579, there were 3 public toilets for 57 houses on Tower Street, in which 85 people lived. However, in some houses of the townspeople already in the XV century. there were private toilets. They were brought either into streams or into cesspools and sewers.
The first flush toilet was built by Sir John Harrington for Elizabeth I in 1596. During the 18th century. they have become commonplace in the homes of wealthy Londoners.
When Paris "left" the island and set foot on the banks of the river, it was necessary to provide a growing population with a sewerage system. For this purpose, in 1350, the first underground cesspool, the Fosse de St., was built near Montmartre. Opportune, which was bred in the Seine near the Louvre. Even at the beginning of the XIII century. the streets of Paris were paved. Through a specially made gutter in the center of the street, sewage flowed into the river.
It was the stench from the cloaca that made Francis I move his mother to the Tuileries, since it was simply impossible to be in the Louvre. A few decades later, Catherine de Medici built a new luxurious palace here. In 1539, tired of the stench, Francis ordered the townspeople, under the threat of confiscation of their homes, to build cesspools and sewage wells, which from now on should have been in every house. At the same time, the Parisians had to equip toilets in every residential building, but this requirement was not met. In 1606, the king once again forbade to perform natural needs anywhere, except for the outhouses, but few people were embarrassed by this. Just a few days later, his son was caught urinating at the door of his chambers in the Saint-Germain Palace.
By 1613, 24 sewers had been built in Paris, only some of them were underground. In the XVIII century. there were many public toilets in the capital, but they were so disgusting that the townspeople avoided them, preferring to relieve themselves right on the street. They especially liked the terraces of the Tuileries Palace, which were so polluted that the Prince of Orleans built several dozen new toilets, in which they tried to keep clean.
The oldest covered cesspools were discovered in Cologne and Triet during excavations of the Roman sewer system. The Roman system of separation of drinking and sewage waters, to the best of its ability, was implemented in the medieval sewerage system not only in France and England, but also in Germany.
In Tartu, 35 public toilets of the 14th-16th centuries were discovered and studied, the oldest of which dates back to 1305. Initially, until the city was walled and the problem of free space did not exist, as one latrine was filled, it was closed and built next to new. However, after the construction of the wall, public toilets began to be cleaned as they filled up. On average, one such toilet was completely filled within 40 years. Archaeologists have found similar, only larger public toilets in Lübeck and other German cities.
In the medieval Swiss city of Schaffhausen, there were about 130 private toilets located in the backyards. Initially, they were wooden, but since the 15th century. they were built of stone. Under such toilets there was a cistern up to 7 m deep, which was emptied by assinizers as it was filled. To all this, it remains to add that in 1739 Vienna became the first city in Europe with a modern sewerage system.
We pass to the most interesting - to toilets and garbage.
Toilets have been found in almost all stone castles and monasteries; perhaps they existed even when these buildings were built of wood. In castles, toilets were usually located on each floor, in each tower, in addition, noble people had their own closets. Most often, such a toilet was a small extension on the wall, from which feces fell down. This architectural element was called a wardrobe and looked like this:
If a castle or palace had running water and sewerage, then the toilets were provided with a drain to the extent possible. The oldest such toilet that has come down to us belonged to the Duke of Burgundy John the Fearless and dates back to 1405. The perfection of the forms of this device leaves no doubt that by the time of its creation such a toilet was common for the nobility. It's just that his earlier counterparts have not reached us.
Toilet of John the Fearless
In medieval London, there were at least 13 public toilets, at least 2 of them were located directly on London Bridge, the main transport artery that connected the two halves of the city. As befits a medieval city bridge, it was built up with houses, and on the lower tiers there were water mills that pumped water into the city water supply system. The rest were located above two city streams - Fleet and Warbrook.
As a rule, there were several public toilets on one street, which were used by all residents. So, in 1579, there were 3 public toilets for 57 houses on Tower Street, in which 85 people lived. However, in some houses of the townspeople already in the XV century. there were private toilets. They were brought either into streams or into cesspools and sewers.
The first flush toilet was built by Sir John Harrington for Elizabeth I in 1596. During the 18th century. they have become commonplace in the homes of wealthy Londoners.
Sir Harrington's toilet
When Paris "left" the island and set foot on the banks of the river, it was necessary to provide a growing population with a sewerage system. For this purpose, in 1350, the first underground cesspool, the Fosse de St., was built near Montmartre. Opportune, which was bred in the Seine near the Louvre. Even at the beginning of the XIII century. the streets of Paris were paved. Through a specially made gutter in the center of the street, sewage flowed into the river.
Parisian storm sewers of the 15th century.
It was the stench from the cloaca that made Francis I move his mother to the Tuileries, since it was simply impossible to be in the Louvre. A few decades later, Catherine de Medici built a new luxurious palace here. In 1539, tired of the stench, Francis ordered the townspeople, under the threat of confiscation of their homes, to build cesspools and sewage wells, which from now on should have been in every house. At the same time, the Parisians had to equip toilets in every residential building, but this requirement was not met. In 1606, the king once again forbade to perform natural needs anywhere, except for the outhouses, but few people were embarrassed by this. Just a few days later, his son was caught urinating at the door of his chambers in the Saint-Germain Palace.
By 1613, 24 sewers had been built in Paris, only some of them were underground. In the XVIII century. there were many public toilets in the capital, but they were so disgusting that the townspeople avoided them, preferring to relieve themselves right on the street. They especially liked the terraces of the Tuileries Palace, which were so polluted that the Prince of Orleans built several dozen new toilets, in which they tried to keep clean.
Yellow crosses on the facades of the houses of medieval cities meant that it was strictly forbidden to urinate here.
Public toilet XV century.
Parisian cesspool. Photo of the 19th century
The oldest covered cesspools were discovered in Cologne and Triet during excavations of the Roman sewer system. The Roman system of separation of drinking and sewage waters, to the best of its ability, was implemented in the medieval sewerage system not only in France and England, but also in Germany.
In Tartu, 35 public toilets of the 14th-16th centuries were discovered and studied, the oldest of which dates back to 1305. Initially, until the city was walled and the problem of free space did not exist, as one latrine was filled, it was closed and built next to new. However, after the construction of the wall, public toilets began to be cleaned as they filled up. On average, one such toilet was completely filled within 40 years. Archaeologists have found similar, only larger public toilets in Lübeck and other German cities.
In the medieval Swiss city of Schaffhausen, there were about 130 private toilets located in the backyards. Initially, they were wooden, but since the 15th century. they were built of stone. Under such toilets there was a cistern up to 7 m deep, which was emptied by assinizers as it was filled. To all this, it remains to add that in 1739 Vienna became the first city in Europe with a modern sewerage system.
Public toilets in Tartu.
Schiffhausen. View from the bottom of the toilet tank to its vault. The number 1 indicates a point.
Garbage removal
As early as the beginning of the 20th century, Western archaeologists wrote about the lack of archaeological evidence of the dangerous sanitary condition of the cities of medieval Europe. Dirt on the streets in a medieval city was just as unacceptable as in a modern metropolis. As soon as the process of medieval urbanization turned a cluster of several hundred wooden shacks into a settlement with mostly stone houses surrounded by a city wall, governments began to solve the problem of garbage that confronted them. As a rule, this was done in the following ways: the streets were paved with stone, dumps were arranged outside the city wall, to which specially created services removed waste. Of course, littering on the streets is strictly prohibited. It has been archaeologically proven that the notorious gutters in the middle of the streets were not filled with sewage, they served as storm drains and led rainwater into the river. All modern storm sewers are arranged according to the same principle.
Another thing is that in the Middle Ages, as today, this prohibition was observed by far from all citizens. It should also be taken into account that the volumes of household waste produced by a medieval city cannot be compared with modern cities, even if the population in them is equal. The Middle Ages did not know the packaging, which makes up the lion's share of modern garbage. The medieval townsman did not throw cigarette butts, plastic bags or candy wrappers on the pavement; his household garbage consisted mainly of biological waste, some of which was already being recycled. Worn out clothes ended up in junk shops, and then collected as raw materials for paper production.
In 1280, the king forbade citizens to litter on the streets of London. In 1347 Londoners were again prohibited by royal edict from throwing waste into the street, into the Thames or the city's streams. However, this did not apply to toilets, which could still be located above these waterways, but now you had to pay for the right to build from here. By the 16th century toilets over streams were finally banned, and soon they were removed underground.
The ban seemed to be both solid and liquid MSW. This means that from the end of the XIII century. in London it was impossible to just pour slop out of the window into the street - this was monitored and fined. Of course they broke the law. In 1414, a special network of informers was created to monitor the observance of these instructions. However, the streets were dirty.
By law, the townspeople had to pour slop and throw garbage into cesspools and sewers. Cesspools were located at each house, and the assistants had to clean them once a week. In 1427 a commission was set up to oversee the work of the assinisers. In 1531, King Henry VIII issued a law on sewerage, according to which the Assinization Commission was not only revived, but also received a nationwide status. Under it, city services were created, including in London. And, although cesspools often remained overcrowded and the streets dirty, this issue was dealt with. A Londoner's complaint about his neighbor who does not clean his cesspool has been preserved, dating back to the 20th years of the 15th century. The very existence of such a document indicates that this state of affairs was considered abnormal and condemned by the public.
In January 1421, at the initiative of the newly elected mayor of Coventry, the city council adopted new sanitary regulations. Let's dwell on them in more detail. So: when cooking, it was forbidden to throw waste under the table or throw it out into the street, grazing pigs was allowed only outside the city wall, butchers had to slaughter cattle there. Citizens were forbidden to throw waste in their yard, on the street or in the river, they had to take it out of the city to one of three landfills. In addition, the inhabitants of the city were obliged to keep the street clean in front of their house, shop or workshop and clean it every Saturday. Those who lived on the banks of the river had to clean it periodically so that during floods the water would flow freely into the diversion channels.
The first Parisian landfill appeared at the beginning of the 13th century. It was located in the same place as the famous city gallows of Montfaucon. This landfill existed until the 18th century. In the XV century. several more dumps were created outside the city walls. It was here that garbage collectors brought solid waste. In 1348, Parisians were forbidden, under pain of imprisonment, to throw their rubbish into the street. In 1404, businesses along the banks of the Seine, mainly slaughterhouses and tanneries, were prohibited from throwing waste into the river.
The situation was similar in Germany. Even in the XIII century. Mayor of Munich forbade residents to throw garbage into the street and into city streams.
How the European medieval toilet was arranged and how the disposal of household waste was organized in medieval cities.
Medieval toilets were of several types.
For example, outdoor Wardrobe, over a cesspool, moat, canal or where no road passes.
Model of the internal toilet of the defensive castle
closer
Here they are, wardrobes
Here the faeces are dumped into the water, of course it must be flowing
Please do not confuse the Wardrobe with Ein Dansker - a toilet in the form of a defensive structure in the conventhouses of the Teutonic Order in the form of a bay window or the protection of the tower and the gallery-way to it strongly extended beyond the perimeter. There were two in one, sit, poop on the heads of the enemies and shoot back.
The outhouse is marked in red, at the bottom there is a cesspool
Feces or flowed down the wall from the side where it is still not a pity. Here are examples of such toilets. It should also be borne in mind that castles are ancient buildings. Much water has flown under the bridge since they were built. And it is likely that the contents of these "cabins" did not flow down onto the heads of those passing by, but into the forest that surrounded the castle. Years passed, the terrain changed, where there was an impenetrable forest, a tourist trail became.
So it seems that everything fell right on their heads.
Let's pay attention to how they approached the matter responsibly. Apparently, this castle wall faced the road and therefore the feces descended through the pipe.
At the bottom, this matter was removed.
Schematic representation of the "Needroom in the section" at the bottom we see the sewer
A few more sketches
Previously, there was a barrel below, where the waste flowed
Locks in the cut, you can play the game "Find the closet"
Find?
Here, you can see the cleaning process, if you look closely of course
Since such a conversation has come up, I want to mention the often encountered image of a medieval outhouse, which is cited as an example of the fact that everything fell right on passers-by.
Here is the snippet.
And here is the painting itself.
It is called "The World Upside Down" on it, Peter Bregeil the Elder depicted Flemish folk proverbs and sayings. This scene with priests from the closet means the proverb “They go together to the same closet” and means they are in agreement with each other.
The double toilet itself looked like this. There was no need to stick fifth points out the window.
Notice the bunch of dried herbs, medieval flavoring
Here's another, sit comfortably, chat with a friend.
Single.
I noticed that in almost all cases the toilet was made in such a way that it was possible to sit down comfortably. Of course, not on bare stones, there were special seats protecting the tender place from rough bricks. Therefore, it was unnecessary to stand in the “eagle pose”.
Sometimes, when I go into a modern toilet stall and see traces of the fact that an “eagle” has been in it, I involuntarily wonder why they risk being injured so much? Well, wipe this headband, and sit comfortably. Maybe their genitals are arranged in a special way, that they come into contact with the rim? An ordinary person does not have such a problem, his mucous membranes do not touch the rim. What is the difference between touching the skin of the fifth point on the toilet seat from touching the subway rail with the palm of your hand? And here and there skin. There are microbes here and there. With hands there is even more risk, you can forget, not wash and put something in your mouth. And that's it, it's ready to bring the infection. With the fifth point, there is no such risk.
Okay, let's write off the mysterious female soul.
Mother dear, are they doing this in skates?
Yes, I feel that future historians will have something to tell about our time.
We return to the Middle Ages.
There were also plugs so that the smell did not spread.
In order not to wander in the dark along the cold corridors, there were internal toilets. There already the servant had to take out the pot.
By the way, if you are Game of Thrones fans, then remember the scene of the murder of Papa Lannister - he was just shot with a crossbow in the castle latrine.
Toilets in city houses were located either with an outlet to a canal or a cesspool.
European houses are usually clung to each other closely, but nevertheless, each house has a backyard with outbuildings and a latrine.
Some city streets had two gutters on either side, those narrower than one in the middle. The water drained there, and during the rains, the ditches served as a storm sewer, diverting water from the streets. The city laws of medieval cities regulated the disposal of waste. Lawsuits were brought against negligent violators.
![](https://i1.wp.com/b.radikal.ru/b31/1810/33/c51a65a89812.jpg)
First city law of Strasbourg
(last decades of the 12th century)
82. Let no one dump manure or garbage in front of his
home if he does not wish to take them out immediately, except
places intended for this, namely: near the meat chests,
also near St. Stephen, and also near the well in the horse market, and
near a place called Gevirke.
Gutter coming from patio
![](https://i0.wp.com/a.radikal.ru/a38/1810/e4/ede737faede6.jpg)
See how the street narrows towards the middle so that everything flows down, including during rain
Gutter as unnecessary sealed up with stone
There were city scavengers called in English Night soil
![](https://i1.wp.com/d.radikal.ru/d27/1810/ca/b6ff602015fa.jpg)
Here you go, a pot for the musicians. Well, the aunt did not like the melody in the night and she doused the stray beggars.
On the one hand, I understand her, when you go to Brussels in the evening from work, tired, you want to go home as soon as possible, and then “Crocodile Gena”, a beggar, like a musician, enters the car. And he starts playing falsely on the accordion or guitar. You sit and endure, since he doesn’t travel more than one station in the car, he needs to mow down the euro. And then comes the second competitor.
But a special tin on holidays. When you listen to “Jingel Bel, Jingel Bel Lala Lala” for the fifth time, you really want to push them off the train. And if there was a pot at hand, I can’t say for sure whether my hand trembled.
Be that as it may, I certainly do not justify such behavior, which of course took place, but was condemned by society and was not considered the norm.
And since we are talking about night vases, here are some medieval chamber pot
Goshok under the bed meticulously displayed by a medieval draftsman
Potty trained since childhood
Even the poor had night vases under their beds
Another baby potty
There were also road urinals to relieve themselves while riding in a carriage.
In later years, they became elegant and richly painted, as indeed all household items of the gallant age.
In the Middle Ages, beauty was not so pursued. Convenient and okay.
In the medieval Swiss city of Schaffhausen, there were about 130 private toilets located in the backyards. Initially, they were wooden, but since the 15th century. they were built of stone. Under such toilets there was a cistern up to 7 m deep, which was emptied by assinizers as it was filled. To all this, it remains to add that in 1739 Vienna became the first city in Europe with a modern sewerage system.
Peizans had simpler toilets
Historical reconstruction
Left closet under a canopy
In the monasteries, moreover, they did not disdain conveniences.
A natural question may arise - what did you wipe yourself with? Yes, mostly dry moss, leaves and straw. There was a bucket in the toilet, he took out the reaper, wiped it off and threw it away. Or there was a jug with water and a sponge, as in the picture from the monastery toilet.
Dry moss was also used as pads during the "red days of the calendar" for women. It was wrapped in cloth and made life easier. Then washed, dried and again. Moss perfectly absorbs, and therefore came to the rescue both on ordinary days and on critical ones.
It is impossible to ignore the fact about the attempts to invent a toilet with a flush.
The Ajax toilet was introduced by John Harrington to Elizabeth I in 1596.
The ingenuity worked in the right direction.
On this progressive note, let me bow and thank progress for the central sewer and flush toilet. (Just like a toast said)
Sources