Lavatory of the Middle Ages! how ladies in puffy dresses and knights in armor went to the toilet.
The Middle Ages is not only manners, passionate feelings and feats, but also difficulties in the most banal everyday moments. What did the ladies who wanted to “powder their noses” have to go through? Let’s figure it out today.
Knights, ladies, tournaments, balls and receptions — these are the associations that come to mind when we read or hear about the Middle Ages. Yes, perhaps some of you are now perplexed: what about the plague and wars, but we firmly decided to talk only about the romantic. Well, or not really…
No matter how seductive the aesthetics of a warrior who is ready to go to incredible feats for the sake of his lady of the heart may seem, no matter how much we admire the main characters of “The Song of My Side”, “Ivanhoe” and “Tristan and Isolde”,
the ins and outs of life in the Middle Ages spoils the whole picture. It’s not very pleasant to know how, after a deadly duel, your knight decided to defecate right next to the king-father’s castle. But we are all human … that’s just the question «How did they do it?» never gets out of my head. We’ll figure out!
Flavors but not vanilla
Surely you have heard many times that it would be impossible for a modern person to move around the big cities of old Europe without nose plugs. And this information can be attributed more to facts than to legends.
The people of the Middle Ages were not very worried about the inconvenience to others and went to the toilet right where they had to.
And no fragrances, diffusers and air fresheners for you. The results of «domestic work» were poured directly out of the windows, so it is very possible that the fashion for umbrellas and hats was a commonplace defense against embarrassment.
Take the rubbish out of the hut
Yes, this is what the latrines of the medieval aristocracy looked like. They were called wardrobes and were arranged in such a way that a kind of pipe went down from the ledge, through which waste flowed either into the sea, if the castle was located on the shore, or into a special barrel.
Her «removal» was carried out by special servants, who, by the way, moved up the career ladder many times faster than the others — this occupation was considered so noble and honorable.
This innovative convenience brought comfort to existence. Only the wind and the aroma were considered an obstacle to the calm fulfillment of their biological duty, which at times became so unbearable that the inhabitants of the castle were forced to move to another residence ..
Do it like a knight!
For some reason, there is an opinion that it was so inconvenient to take off the armor that all the most courageous representatives of the Middle Ages went to the toilet right under themselves. We do not undertake to speak for everyone, but such unique ones were rather an exception to the rule.
In general, the knight’s outfit was practical and thought out to the smallest detail. No one wanted to lose the defender of their native land for such a prosaic reason. The warriors of that time wore chain mail armor,
a special jumpsuit, parts of which were easily separated from each other. Thus, the noble sir had to unfasten his mail stockings and lift up his tunic — voila, it’s done!
