Enjoying the Filth of the Middle Ages from a Safe Smelling Distance
First, a bit of an apology for having been away for so long but life does intrude. Next, a promise, we have tons of new images from books of hours for the gallery. We’ll be uploading them soon. Finally, we’re thinking of providing some video tutorials on recreating the lettering and art from medieval times with modern tools and materials for art journaling or other popular craft applications. We would appreciate your imput on this idea.
In the medieval sanitation and recycling department, here is a fine list of why medieval London probably smelled worse than we can imagine from our place in time. From, The Telegraph, “Medieval London: 10 disgusting facts:”
1. The inhabitants of medieval London (human and animal) produced 50 tons of excrement a day.
2. In medieval London, there were no pavements – people had to walk on the bare earth. Except, unfortunately, it wasn’t bare earth – the ground was covered with the excrement of both people and animals, as well as animal entrails and rotting food.
To read the rest, follow this link.
2 comments
Reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy grail movie! Those guys hit the nail on the head with how they portrayed “Camelot” with the filth and ignorance of the average person. Isn’t one of the Monty Python members a scholar of medieval history himself:? I remember seeing a documentary about the Crusades on the Learning channel awhile back, and it was written and acted by a member of Monty Python…was it Terry Gillum?(sic).
Hello. I love British history as it is my ancestery. I look forward to your next newsletter and I am also a calligrapher so I would be interested in that very much. Thank you for presenting this to us.