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DiScOvErInG HiStOrY Hygiene


The small size of medieval towns meant that streets were very narrow and winding. Streets were not paved and could become very muddy in bad weather. There were no drains or rubbish collections. Household rubbish was thrown out onto the street. People used chamber-pots instead of toilets. Waste and the contents of chamber-pots were thrown out of windows onto the streets below. This meant it could be dangerous for passers-by.


The narrow width of the streets, the dirt and the waste meant there was much disease in medieval towns. Diseases such as typhoid, cholera and leprosy


were common.


Leprosy resulted in open sores all over the body. If someone developed it, they had to leave the city. Lepers ended up living in colonies near to the town.


Fig 4.21 York, England – a medieval town ✣ By the way


Fig 4.22 Waste being thrown out of the window onto the street below.


The Black Death


Rats were everywhere in these dirty towns. In 1347 fleas from Asia were carried to Europe on rats in ships. These fleas brought a terrible plague which became known as the Black Death or sometimes the Bubonic Plague.


It is thought that the Black Death originally came from Mongolia and travelled along trade routes and via military campaigns. It was first documented on at least one ship that arrived into the port of Messina in 1347. The people on the ships were dead or dying from the plague. From here the plague spread all across Europe and north Africa and it is estimated that it killed about one third of Europe’s population (25 million people).


The Black Death was caused by bacteria in the bites of fleas. The fleas were able to move around because they lived on the many rats that existed in towns, ports and villages all over Europe. The Black Death caused boils (black, smelly, pus-filled swellings) that spread all over the body. It also attacked the victim’s


100


Because so many houses were built of wood at this time, fires were very dangerous. The Great Fire of London in 1666 resulted in 13,000 houses being burnt down!


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