If there is one word which describes the state of life in the Middle Ages, from the regal courts of Europe down to the most humble peasant's hovel, it would have to be: Stinky. Sanitation wasn't an important social issue in the Middle Ages, falling somewhere between "equal rights for women" and "earthworm mating rituals." Although medieval Europe has been described by some experts (notably, by my World History professor) as "the armpit of the world" (except that he didn't use the term "armpit," if you get my drift), the people did their best to maintain the highest level of hygiene possible for a society which routinely allowed livestock to feed in their bedrooms. Let's take this opportunity to examine medieval sanitation with a level of research which is only possible to achieve during the time it takes the delivery guy to arrive with the pizza I just ordered. As in all of my articles, you may rest assured that everything here is either: A) documented through extensive scholarly investigation, or B) I have made it up.

In the Middle Ages, waste disposal was conducted by a technological device which we now refer to as the "pig." These pigs, which were kept in both rural and urban environments, enjoyed an extensive diet of waste products, including bones, moldy bread, rotten eggs, broken furniture, rocks, soiled clothing and slow-moving cats. Not only did meandering pigs keep towns free of rubbish, they also provided a secondary benefit for the townspeople whose diet consisted primarily of pigs.

As the urban population grew in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, city officials began to search for an efficient and innovative means of garbage removal which would allow the crowded masses to live free of filth and contamination and to strive toward the budding sense of mercantile prosperity spreading through Europe. But, after thinking about it, they realized this would be a lot of work, so they just told people to fling their junk into the street. With this system, the roadways soon became absolutely clogged with refuse. One notorious street in London garnered the quaint nickname of "Pudding Lane,- which sounds like a lovely little holiday parade district until you realize that, because the street went downhill from the butchers' quarter to the Thames, it was knee-deep in rotting entrails (called "puddin's") which the butchers tossed out to let them ooze down to the river. Knowing that anything they threw out might be lying around for days or even weeks, the people of the Middle Ages became very resourceful in finding uses for things we might consider trash. -- "What are we gonna do with this ol' sheep's bladder?" -- "Oh, put some wine in it and we'll use it to drink out of."

As we search for ways to preserve our resources in the 21st century, we might benefit from reexamining the waste management techniques of the Middle Ages. In fact, when I'm done eating my pizza, I'm going to feed the box to my pig. Maybe it will keep him out of the bedroom for a while.

About Author

Sir Guillaume is a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, where he is a knight, Pelican and baron, much to the dismay of the other members of those orders. His column "I Didn't Expect An Inquisition," which appears monthly in The Crown Prints, has received several awards and was once described as "completely devoid of social value."