Topics related to the dispatch of natural needs are usually shyly ignored by people, although in reality issues of a sanitary, let's say, nature have always been of great importance in the life of human society.
In fact, sewerage and toilet facilities have recently become widespread. But people somehow managed without them. For example, in the Middle Ages, the attitude to the sending of natural needs was somewhat different than it is now. It was determined not only by generally accepted norms of decency, but also by religious views.
For medieval man, the world was polar - everything that is good and beautiful is from God, and everything that is disgusting and disgusting is from the devil. Naturally, urinating and defecation were associated with the devil. The smell of intestinal gas was considered devilish. People believed that sorcerers and witches eat excrement.
At the same time, medieval people did not limit themselves to special rules of behavior in connection with the sending of natural needs. It is now considered indecent to release intestinal gas loudly, although delicate people will pretend not to notice anything. In the Middle Ages, things were a little different. Even kings and princes were not shy about intestinal gases.
For example, the great Count of Sicily Roger I, who ruled the island at the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th centuries, had the habit of releasing intestinal gases without embarrassing the presence of strangers. And he did this even when he received foreign envoys. The level of personal hygiene was about the same. For example, Louis XIV washed only twice in his life - and then only because the court doctors insisted so, fearing for the health of the royal person. This behavior seemed natural, but excessive "cleanliness" was looked upon with suspicion. It is no coincidence that the Europeans were so surprised by the Russian or Eastern customs, which prescribed to take care of themselves, the state of their bodies.
What can we say about ordinary knights, and even more so about peasants or urban mob! Describing the taverns, the authors of that time described in paints how the visitors behaved - they belched, emitted intestinal gases, relieved themselves, without being ashamed of those around them. Educated people were ashamed of such behavior of their fellow tribesmen, but they could not do anything with them - at that time, ideas about etiquette were absent even among the most noble people, more precisely, they were very specific.
The famous medieval thinker Erasmus of Rotterdam paid much attention to this delicate topic in his works. He, of course, criticized the tactless habits of his contemporaries, but admitted that it is better than tolerating, nevertheless, releasing gases in a timely manner so as not to harm his health.
If you can release the gases silently, then this will be the best way out, if not, then it is still better to release the air loudly than to forcibly keep it inside, - wrote Erasmus of Rotterdam in 1530 in the essay "On the Decency of Children's Morals."
As a rule, most of the commoners in those days celebrated their natural needs anywhere. I walked, I wanted "big" or "small" - went. Everyone treated this process as something very mundane, but at the same time they did not shy away from showing each other heaps of excrement on the streets.
More advanced people had chamber pots, the contents of which, in the absence of any special systems and even pits, were simply poured out onto the streets. Fetid streams flowed through medieval cities. People who lived on the second and third floors had a habit not to bother going downstairs, but to pour out the contents of the pots directly from the windows, so a passer-by could be poured over with a stinking liquid at any moment.
In the XIV century, for example, in the area of London Bridge there was only one toilet for 138 houses, so local residents relieved themselves either in the Thames or just on the street. Know, of course, behaved somewhat "decently" - bought chamber pots and actively used them, but such a pot could be in the same room where guests were received, and in this, again, no one saw anything shameful. If the chamber pot was absent, they usually urinated into the fireplace. It got to the point that many ladies in long dresses generally just urinated under themselves. And this was considered in the order of things.
In some palaces, however, there were still separate toilet rooms, but they were usually combined with halls for receiving guests. Therefore, while some guests talked and dined, others could immediately relieve their natural needs. And no one was embarrassed by this state of affairs. For example, in the City Hall of York it was not until the 17th century that a wall was erected to separate the restroom from the meeting room.
In addition, in some large European cities, residential buildings had special toilet rooms on the second or third floors, hanging over the street. One can imagine the indignation of a casual passer-by who happened to pass under such an extension at the most inopportune moment!
The only real sanitary officer of the medieval European city at that time was only rain, but it still had to wait. The rain washed away sewage from the city streets, and then streams of feces flowed through Paris and London, Bremen and Hamburg. Some of the rivers into which they flowed even received characteristic names such as "river-shit".
Even in rural areas, it was easier with sanitary issues, given the less crowded population and the possibility of equipping cesspools in the yards. However, most of the peasants did not bother themselves with the creation of cesspools and relieved themselves in any place.
Against the background of the civilian population, the military approached the matter of equipping latrines much more thoroughly. Back in the days of the Roman Empire, legionnaires, as soon as they settled down to set up a camp, first dug a moat, and secondly - latrina. In the Middle Ages, in simple fortifications, which were simply settlements protected by ramparts, the need was celebrated in an ordinary cesspool. Nobody was puzzled by the construction of special structures. They were available only in stone castles. Here, the equipment of latrines was dictated both by the very specifics of the fortifications and by concern for the safety of the fortress garrison.
The builders of medieval fortresses thought of equipping latrines in bay windows, carrying them out of the fortress wall. Waste, thus, fell into the moat. If we pay attention to the paintings of Pieter Bruegel or Hieronymus Bosch, we see that toilets were equipped in a similar way in many rich houses of that time. The latrines were carried out beyond the wall of the structure and they seemed to hang over the canals and ditches. This principle of construction made it possible not to worry about creating and cleaning a cesspool on the territory of a fortress or castle. Often, toilets were placed near the chimney, so that visitors to the "establishment" were warmer in severe winters.
In medieval castles, special niches equipped for sending natural excrement were combined with wardrobes - they kept outerwear in them, since they believed that the fumes and the smell of ammonia scared off parasites. The condition of the wardrobes was monitored by squires. It was from cleaning the wardrobes that the novice squire began his service.
In larger castles, however, such toilets could not meet the needs of the numerous fortress garrisons. Therefore, aside from the main fortification, a special tower was built - a dantsker, connected by a gallery - a passage with the main fortress. The tower was fortified, but in the event of a serious siege, the passage was subject to blockade or destruction. By the way, it was the lack of attention to the safety of the dantzker that at one time destroyed the fortress of Chateau Gaillard by Richard the Lionheart. The enemy soldiers were able to get into the fortress through the Danzker passages.
As a rule, the dantzker tower was built over a moat, canal or river. Sometimes they built rather complex structures, in which rainwater was used, accumulated in special tanks, to flush sewage. Such a design, for example, was present in the Burg Eltz castle. If the year was dry and there were almost no rains, then the sewage had to be removed by hand.
In 1183, guests of the Emperor Frederick feasted in Erfurt. During the feast, the floor of the common hall, which was located above the cesspool, could not withstand the effects of the fumes that had been grinding the tree for many years, and collapsed. The guests of the emperor flew straight into the cesspool from a 12-meter height. One bishop, eight princes and about a hundred noble knights who were present at the reception drowned in the sewage. Lucky for Emperor Frederick - he was able to catch hold of a piece of a window and hung in this position for about two hours until he was rescued. The immediate culprit of what happened was just the commandant of the fortress, who, apparently, neglected his duties and did not organize the timely cleaning of the cesspool.
It is interesting that in the Middle Ages monasteries possessed the most "advanced" toilets in the Middle Ages. This was due to the strict monastic customs - it was believed that monks were supposed to live not only in spiritual, but also in physical purity. Therefore, in the monasteries, there were special systems for removing wastewater - either through sewer pipes, or through special ditches that were dug under toilets. Since the natural need in monasteries was most often met by the clock, the monastic toilets were equipped with a large number of openings. The monks tried to keep latrines clean, at least as much as possible, given the realities of the time.
Problems with the organization of sanitary services in European cities persisted even in the 17th century. In the Louvre, the fortress walls had to be completed, since the volume of feces dumped into the moat became so large that it was already protruding beyond the moat. And this was a problem not only for the Louvre, but also for many other European fortresses.
The Palace of Versailles today seems to us a symbol of French sophistication and good manners. But if a modern man had attended a ball in Versailles under Louis XIV, he would have thought that he was in an asylum for the insane. For example, the most noble and beautiful ladies of the court could calmly step back into a corner during a conversation and sit down, sitting down, small and even great need. Sometimes they allowed themselves such behavior even in the cathedral.
They tell the story of how the ambassador of the Spanish court at an audience with King Louis XIV could not stand the stench and asked to postpone the meeting in the park. But in the park, the ambassador simply passed out - it turned out that the park was used mainly for dumping heaps of excrement in the bushes and under trees, as well as for sending large and small needs during walks.
This, of course, may be a bike, but the fact remains - until the 19th century, hygiene in European cities and castles was not going smoothly.
The one who would free the city from the terrible filth would become the most revered benefactor for all its inhabitants, and they would erect a temple in his honor, and they would pray for him, - said the French historian Emile Magn in the book "Everyday life in the era of Louis XIII".
Unfortunately for the Europeans, only time turned out to be such a benefactor. Technological progress and the development of social mores gradually led to the fact that the toilet room began to be considered as an integral component of a comfortable home. Centralized sewerage systems appeared in European cities, and not only representatives of the wealthy segments of the population, but also the most ordinary people, acquired their own toilets.
