March 11, 2012
Crappy Areas
Of the Middle Ages
The Middle Ages
people still had to “go” just like men and women of any other time. Facilities
of a special closet in the castle would have been one place to do it. Urinals
and commodes had been other articles of containment. Wiping cloths and servants
had been a basic requirement for any noble. Whatever the duty, rest assured
that business had not been performed in a bathroom.
The
first thing that any pregnant lady asked when entering a castle would be “where
is the bathroom?” However, the idea of a bathroom was not considered until
recently. This idea would be considered an American idea, also, because
European accommodations held separate rooms for the toilet, and in some
instances the bath as well. So, how and where did the people of the Middle Ages
accommodate their basic bodily functions?
Bodily functions were not created in
the 20th century. These were not something that only recent
architects had to worry about when creating a building. And, even though the
title of interior decorator was instituted recently, that does not mean that
there had been no one to actually do any type of decorating. Areas of ease had
not always been full rooms, sometimes they were just pottery. Whatever the
size, these areas had not only been utilitarian, but there had also been a
little bit of comfort to help with the business and make everything move
easily.
Doing
one’s business had been a part of humanity since the first man walked the
earth. Indeed, almost every animal has had to do the same type of business.
Perhaps the idea of doing it in private goes back to the original sin of Adam
and Eve. When they became knowledgeable of their nakedness they could have
become shy of relieving themselves in front of others. Of course, not all had
worried about discharging waste in public. Public excrementation had been
popular in Rome, for instance.
Roman baths had been popular up to
the Middle Ages. There had been some locations that continued the practice even
up to the present time, but by and large when the Romans evacuated territories,
the baths fell into disuse. Toilets had been in the baths placed in a row, or
in a square with many openings for socialization.[1]
Unfortunately, many things linked with the Romans had been destroyed because of
possible associations with demons.[2]
Other reasons that baths had started to decline in popularity, was the fact
that they started to become associated with brothels, a different type of
personal business.[3] Any, or all,
of these reasons could have been the catalyst for moving the duty into a more
private area.
Private areas of the
“necessary” would not have been literally solitary for any of the nobility. The
private came to be called the privy, and also the privy chamber. A servant
would have assisted the lord or lady before, during, and after, use. Clothing had to be adjusted. Cloths for
wiping had to be given and then discarded, and then clothing had to be
readjusted afterwards. Wiping cloths had been used because neither newspapers
nor toilet paper had been invented yet.[1]
So, while toilet paper had not been
invented yet, the latrine had. The general idea of the Roman latrines had been
used for the design of the Medieval castle potties. These lavatories had
usually been in a corner, or closet space, within the private chambers of the
lord.[2]
Another difference between Roman latrines and Medieval garderobes had been that
it was only one hole, instead of many. And, these necessaries had been built in
an upper floor, out over the lower wall to empty toward the outer wall.[3]
Others emptied out into the moat, which made trying to take the donjon even
more of a nasty experience.[4]
If the castle had no moat, the privy shoot would empty out at the bottom of the
wall, where locals would collect the waste to be used as manure for the fields.[5]
An interesting point
about these privy closets was that some had been lavishly decorated. When one
looks upon the area now, they could assume that the men and women of old would
have sat directly upon the plank. However, this may not be an accurate
assumption. Pillows and blankets were placed inside because of the updraft from
the shoot. Double doors had been placed for protection against the smell. [1]
Another reason for the double-door could have been another barrier against the
wind coming up through the shoot, especially during the winter months.
When
it was too cold, or the resident did not want to get up to the closet, there
had been other ways of disposing of their personal waste. Glazed pottery had
been created as urinals.[2]
Commodes, also called pots, were other sources of relief. Women could not use
the urinal, so they had to have something else. A commode was a type of ceramic
basin that the person would have squatted over for relief. Going to the pot
would have been easy because they had been stored under the bed for easy
access.[3]
The servant emptied the urinal, and the pots, and took all of the crappy
business in general.
Easy access had also
been normal for baths in the Medieval castle. The bath was not in the garderobe,
but was a wood tub that was carried to the user. Some rooms had a separate area
that the bath would be set in. Others would have the bath set up in the great
chamber next to bed. Screens had been set up for some privacy if there had not
been a special enclosed area.[1]
Bathing had not occurred yet in a bathroom, as such.
Bathrooms have been in existence for
only a short period of time. However, the uses that these rooms have seen have
been around since the dawn of mankind. Relieving oneself had to happen
somewhere. Commodes, urinals, and privies had been in existence in the Middle
Ages. These items had been in specific areas used for the Medieval crappy
business.
Bibliography:
AJ.“Ancient Roman
Toilets – Outdoor Toilet System”. Portable Toilet blog. July
25, 2011.
Fry, Plantagenet Somerset. Best Castles.
Cincinnati, OH: David & Charles Books, 2006.
“History of Plumbing – Roman and English Legacy”.
“Plumbing and Mechanical, July
1989”. in Theplumber.com. 1994.
http://www.theplumber.com/eng.html. (accessed March 11, 2012).
“Medicine in
the Middle Ages”. Historylearningsite.com.
2012.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medicine_in_the_middle_ages.htm.
(accessed March 11, 2012).
“Medieval glazed ceramic bottle or urinal”. St.
Albans Museums. (Hertfordshire,
U.K.:
n.d.) http://www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk/content/view/full/14465.
(accessed March 11, 2012).
“Middle Ages Hygiene”. The Middle Ages Website.
N.d. http://www.middle-
ages.org.uk/middle-ages-hygiene.htm.
(accessed March 11, 2012).
Speer-Sims,
Taylor. “Aurora Illinois: In the Civil War.” Research paper for class.
American
“Toilets, Earth
Closets, and House Plumbing”, Sewerhistory.org. 2004.
http://www.sewerhistory.org/grfx/privbath/toilet1.htm#medieval.
(accessed March 11, 2012).
Toy, Sidney. Castles: Their construction &
History. Mineola, NY: 1984.
[1] “Middle Ages
Hygiene”.
[2] “Medieval
glazed ceramic bottle or urinal”. St. Albans Museums. (Hertfordshire,
U.K.: n.d.) http://www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk/content/view/full/14465.
(accessed March 11, 2012).
[3] Bonnie
Speer. Personal communication with author. 2012.
[1] Taylor
Speer-Sims. “Aurora Illinois: In the Civil War.” Research paper for class. (American Military University,
2011), 16.
[2] Sidney Toy,
Castles construction & History, (Mineola, NY: 1984), 73.
[3] “Toilets, Earth
Closets, and House Plumbing”, Sewerhistory.org. 2004.
http://www.sewerhistory.org/grfx/privbath/toilet1.htm#medieval. (accessed March
11, 2012).
[4] “Middle Ages
Hygiene”. The Middle Ages Website. N.d.
http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/middle-ages-hygiene.htm. (accessed March 11,
2012).
[5] Plantagenet
Somerset Fry, Castles: England+Scotland+Wales+Ireland, The Definitive Guide
to the Most Impressive Buildings and Intriguing Sites, (Cincinnati, OH:
David & Charles Books, 2001), 128-129.
[1] AJ. “Ancient
Roman Toilets – Outdoor Toilet System”. Portable Toilet blog. July 25, 2011.
http://porta-potty.blogspot.com/2011/07/ancient-roman-toilets-outdoor-toilet.html.
(accessed March 11, 2012).
[2] “Medicine
in the Middle Ages”. Historylearningsite.com. 2012. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/medicine_in_the_middle_ages.htm.
(accessed March 11, 2012).
[3] “History of
Plumbing – Roman and English Legacy”. “Plumbing and Mechanical, July 1989”. in Theplumber.com.
1994. http://www.theplumber.com/eng.html. (accessed March 11, 2012).
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