Medieval Europe isn’t exactly known for its major advances in public health, but a new book is challenging those assumptions. In it, the authors take a multidisciplinary approach to better understand how the citizens of Trondheim, an ancient Norwegian city, grappled with growing concerns about illnesses.
Trondheim’s population exploded in the Early Middle Ages, increasing from roughly 250 around 950 CE to 1,500 by the 12th century, then doubling during the High Middle Ages to about 3,000. It was during this period that monks and other scholars arrived, including the archbishop. With them, they brought new theories of disease spread, notably the miasma theory that illnesses were spread by foul odors.
Read more: “The Medieval Friar Who Foretold Carl Sagan’s “Star-Stuff””
And Trondheim had plenty of foul odors.
Dirt from pits of human waste were actually used to level the town for expansion. To mask the nasty smells, the people of Trondheim relied on fresh wood chips leftover from construction—at least for a time. According to study author Elisabeth Forrestad Swensen of Trondheim’s Museum of Defence History Rustkammeret, this potpourri practice stopped in the mid-13th century as trees grew scarce (possibly because of global climate shifts caused by the eruption of an Indonesian volcano in 1257). With the miasma theory taking hold and the offensive stench returning, something had to be done.
Curiously, Swensen’s analysis of Trondheim’s ancient infrastructure revealed that the number of latrine pits actually dropped during the population explosion and subsequent wood-chip shortage. So where did the waste go? According to Swensen, it was carried out of town… to the farmland where Trondheim grew its food. The result was a population riddled with parasites.
“An analysis of the contents of these latrines reveals that nearly the entire population was infected with roundworms,” Swensen explained in a statement. “Latrine waste was incorporated into manure once it began being transported out of the city center. Roundworms thrive especially well in manure. This manure was spread across the city’s agricultural land where food was grown, allowing the roundworm parasite to enter the food supply, and consequently, the people living in the city.”
Importantly, this isn’t another story about how backwards people were in the Dark Ages. Instead, it’s a lesson about how Medieval populations collectively approached very real public health issues. The waste removal was well-intentioned, and according to prevailing theories of the time, successful too.
“The medical understanding of the period makes it likely that no one saw the connection between the removal of latrine waste and the high degree of parasitic infections in the population,” Swensen wrote. “This well-thought-out plan to ensure the health of the people by treating latrine waste so carefully backfired due to the lack of knowledge about parasites and hygiene.”
They just failed to learn that age-old lesson: Never shit where you eat.
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Lead Image: Axel Christophersen
