Health in Towns and Monasteries

• Health in Towns and Monasteries


  In the medieval period, how healthy people were had a lot to do with the area where they lived
• Living Conditions in Towns

  • Small towns, especially after the Black Death
  • Houses made of wood, crammed together - overcrowding and fires were common problems
• Most towns didn't have clean water supplies or sewerage systems - waste was chucked into the streets or into rivers to be washed away
• Sewage from latrines (pits with wooden seats) leaked into the ground and got into wells
• Businesses and homes weren't separated - butchers, tanners and dyers threw toxic waste into rivers and residential streets
• People had to get their drinking water from rivers and wells that were contaminated
• A water channel called the Great Conduit was built to bring clean water into London, as the Thames was getting too toxic


  13th century
• The government ordered town authorities to keep the streets free of waste

  1388
• Towns introduced public health measures

  1. Tackle waste, sewage and pollution

  2. Create a clean water supply
• Measures taken by towns

  • York and London banned people from dumping waste in the street
  • Built latrines over rivers so that sewage could be carried away
  • London banned any waste from being thrown into the Thames - carters were hired to collect waste and take it out of the city
• Many towns, like York, ordered toxic businesses like butchers, tanners, fishmongers and dyers to move outside the city walls
• Comment and Analysis


  People broke these rules and officials struggled to enforce them. People knew that dirty water and bad health were linked, but they didn't really understand the risks. Town authorities didn't have enough money or knowledge to properly fix these public health issues
• Monasteries


  • Had cleaner water than towns
  • Had good systems for getting rid of waste and sewage
  • Monks had access to books on healing and knew how to grow herbs and make herbal remedies
• Monasteries separated clean and dirty water

  1. Had one water supply for cooking and drinking

  2. Had one for drainage and washing
• Monasteries


  • Most were built near rivers
  • If no river, man-made waterways were built to supply clean water
• Latrines in monasteries


  1. Put in separate buildings

  2. Often built over streams of running water that carried sewage away
• Monasteries


  • Some had hospitals that cared for poor people from the local community when they were sick
  • Gave shelter to travellers
  • Benedictine monks believed caring for the sick was the most important Christian duty
• Infirmaries in monasteries


  • Had their own kitchen that served good meals and meat to help sick monks recover
• It was easier to create healthy living conditions in monasteries than it was towns
• Reasons monasteries had healthier living conditions than towns


  • Monasteries were wealthy, so they could afford to build infrastructure like latrine buildings and waterways to keep their water clean
  • Monastery populations were small and had one leader (the Abbot) - he had the power to enforce rules about cleanliness and waste disposal
  • Getting hundreds of townspeople to adopt cleaner habits was trickier - towns didn't have one person in charge who could easily enforce public health matters