Medieval Latrines

A few weeks ago, I posted this on Twitter, and thought nothing much of it:

I realise that my interest in medieval toilets may seem strange if I don't explain!! 

My research has focused on a twelfth-century Latin poem called Urbanus magnus or The Book of the Civilised Man. This is an expansive poem which contains an immense amount of information about daily life in England in the twelfth century: clothing, food consumption, table manners, speech etiquette, and bodily waste! Yes, I am talking about spit, piss, poo and all other kinds of excretory loveliness!!

Toilet habits in the Middle Ages is becoming a growing topic of scholarly interest, and is moving away from being a taboo subject [see further reading at the end]. 

However, Urbanus magnus is still a rather unknown entity in the scholarship of medieval history (which my PhD hopefully will redress!), so I will likely be talking about or referencing it a lot in upcoming blog posts. 

But, to return to toilets. Urbanus magnus has a wealth if information about where and when to go to the toilet, how to clean oneself, the duties of the personal attendant (precursor to the Groom of the Stool). Yet, there was one quote that when I translated it I thought it was quite interesting:

If two men are seated in the privy, one should not rise until the other one has finished.

I translated this line a while ago, but was reminded of it when the Sochi Winter Olympics were about to begin in 2014. Athletes were complaining about some of the facilities on offer, and this photo made the rounds:

As one could imagine, this set-up runs totally contrary to the notion of modern privacy, but historically is is not that unusual! Indeed, total privacy while attending to nature is a rather recent phenomenon. In the medieval times, you could achieve privacy by defecating outdoors (or if you were allowed to use a single garderobe such as that seen in the Tower of London (top image). Yet, what about this description of communal latrines. I imagine that it would look something like this:

Note: This is from Orford Castle in Suffolk, and would have originally had a short wall separating the two privies, but it's enough to give a sense of what Urbanus magnus may have had in mind!

Photo from: https://asuffolklane.wordpress.com/tag/orford-ness/

And this image of an exterior view of a privy, suggests that it was a triple occupancy privy!:

Photo from: http://www.homeharmonizing.com/2013/04/17/a-dummys-guide-to-the-evolution-of-our-toilets/

However, this was nothing compared to the communal latrines of the classical era, which could fit a much larger number of occupants:

                               

             

Top: Communal Toilets from Ostia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latrine)

Bottom: Reconstruction of the Communal Latrines at Housesteads Roman Fort (http://www.heritage-explorer.co.uk/web/he/imagebythemedetail.aspx?id=2773&large=1)

But before we go and think about how far advanced we are, here's another picture from the Sochi Olympic Park (I'm just being a bit cheeky here!):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25830617

To return to Urbanus magnus and the twelfth century, although the act of urination and defecation may have been somewhat communal indoors, the quote above does reveal a concern for privacy:

If two men are seated in the privy, one should not rise until the other one has finished.

I have interpreted this as a mark of respect. One should rise together so as to avoid seeing the other's naked bottom or witnessing the act!

But, I would be really interested to hear what other people make of this quote! Please feel free to comment below!

And, if you have any information about double-latrines or medieval communal latrines still in existence, or even archaeological evidence for them, I would be intrigued to find out more!

Further Reading:

M. Bayless, Sin and Filth in Medieval Culture: The Devil in the Latrine (New York, 2012)
V. Allen, On Farting: Language and Laughter in the Middle Ages (New York, 2007)