Public Health in Medieval England (AQA GCSE History)

How bad was public health in Medieval England? - Summary

Public health refers to how communities manage cleanliness and health for everyone.

Public health was awful in towns because of the lack of proper waste disposal. Sewage often ran through the streets, and people dumped their rubbish into rivers or outside their homes. There were no toilets inside the houses. Public toilets (privies) were usually just holes in the ground that were not cleaned and were overused. Waste from industries like butchers and tanners was thrown into rivers, polluting people's drinking and washing water. These conditions made towns dirty and spread diseases like cholera and the plague.

In contrast, monasteries were much cleaner and healthier places. Monks lived by strict routines that included washing regularly. Monasteries were usually built near clean water sources. They often had well-maintained toilets and waste disposal systems. Monks also had access to herbal remedies and medical knowledge, which helped them stay healthier than people in towns.

Conditions of Medieval towns

• Hygiene in Medieval towns was much worse than in 21st-century England

  • This is because people did not know about germs

Unhygienic features of Medieval towns

• There was no sewage system in Medieval towns

  • Human waste was either:

    • placed into rivers and streams, which were the water supply for the town

    • thrown onto the streets

• Many people used communal, outdoor toilets called privies

  • Attached to privies were cesspits to store waste

    • Cesspits often overflowed, spreading more waste onto the streets and into the water supply

• Local tradesmen dispose of their waste in rivers and streams

  • Leather tanning used dangerous chemicals, which ran into the water

  • Butchers and fishmongers dumped guts and blood into the water

IMAGE

A map showing a typical layout of a Medieval town

Attempts to improve public health in Medieval towns

• Local governments attempted to improve public health in Medieval towns

  • People believed that miasma caused disease

    • The actions of local governments aimed to remove bad smells in towns

• Local governments used a variety of methods to improve conditions

Fines

• Local government fined people for dumping rubbish

  • In 1309, the fine for dumping rubbish was 40p

Laws

• It was against the law for butchers to work on the street

• In 1357, London banned people from placing waste in the River Thames

  • The punishment for breaking this law was imprisonment

New jobs

• Local governments created new roles to improve public health:

  • gongfermers

    • Emptied cesspits before they overflowed

    • They sometimes just dumped the waste elsewhere in the town

  • muck rakers

    • Swept the streets and removed the waste

Why didn't public health improve in Medieval towns?

• Public health did not improve because:

  • punishments did not improve conditions in towns

    • When local government introduced fines for dumping waste, people found other places to dispose of their waste

    • Laws were weakly applied due to a lack of law enforcement

  • people had incorrect ideas about what made them ill

    • Miasma caused people to cover up bad smells rather than remove the source of the smell

    • The Theory of the Four Humours did not acknowledge external factors that caused illness

    • Believing that God cause disease made people focus on prayer, rather than hygiene

Conditions of Medieval monasteries

• Monasteries had better hygiene than Medieval towns

Understanding of hygiene

• Monks were well-educated

  • They could read and write

  • They had access to a library of information

• Monks understood that waste should be separated

  • Monasteries had filters in their water system

  • Privies were emptied regularly

    • The waste was used as manure for growing crops

    • Sometimes, urine was collected to bleach wool

The monks' beliefs

• Monks cleaned themselves more regularly than most Medieval people

  • Monks believed that they needed to be clean for God

  • They washed around once a month

Location of monasteries

• Monks were not allowed to interact with the public

  • This kept monks safe during times of epidemic

• Monasteries were usually built by streams, providing a clean water supply

Investment in monasteries

• Many people gave money to the Church

  • The Church could afford to invest money into making conditions good in monasteries

• Monasteries had hospitals, which provided care for the sick

  • Wealthy people invested in monasteries to keep this service available to those in need