How did knights in armour go to the toilet? (2024)

FAQs

How did medieval knights go to the toilet? ›

When the person wearing armor was not engaged in warfare, he would simply do what people do today. He would make his way to a toilet (in medieval and Renaissance times usually referred to as a latrine, or garderobe) or some other secluded location, remove relevant parts of his armor and clothes, and heed nature's call.

Indeed, whether people used chamber pots, private toilets or public lavatories, excrements needed to go somewhere, and sewage was not an option. Waterways provided a convenient way of getting rid of waste. But, when privies were far away from a stream, their owners had to dig a cesspit to keep urine and faeces.

Becoming a knight

At around seven years old, the boy was sent away to another noble household. There he worked as a page until he was about 13, when he was made a squire. As a squire he to learned how to fight and use weapons. He would be dubbed, or made a knight, around the age of 21.

A knight wore a coat of mail called a hauberk made of metal rings linked tightly together to protect his body. Underneath this he wore a padded shirt called an aketon. This gave more protection and made wearing the coat of mail less uncomfortable.

The Middle Ages

Dates are uncertain, but it is believed that by the High Middle Ages, bra-like garments meant to support and restrain the breasts were already in use by at least some women in western Europe.

Did knights have good hygiene? They practiced cleaning their hands before eating and washing themselves a couple of times per week, or more often if the need arose to rid themselves of smell.

In the Elizabethan era the king used a luxurious Loo seat named as close stool which had a pewter chamber pot in a wooden box. Squat toilets are supposed to be invented in 1596 in England by sir “john Harrington”. The groom of the stool had the responsibility for the royal toilet need.

Answer and Explanation: People bathed about once a week in the Middle Ages. Private bathing rooms were a luxurious rarity, but most towns had at least one public bathhouse. If someone needed to bathe but did not have bathhouse access, they utilized the river for self cleaning.

They also felt that with the pores widened after a bath, this resulted in infections of the air having easier access to the body. Hence, bathing, particularly at bathhouses, became connected with the spread of diseases.

During the Middle Ages, women could not be granted the title of Knight; it was reserved for men only. However, there were many chivalric orders of knighthood that admitted women and female warriors who performed the role.

Who was the youngest knight in history? ›

The youngest knight in history was Prince George, the future George IV, who was aged three when he was made a knight of the garter in 1765.

Knights were heavily armed and well-trained noblemen on fast horses. When in action, Knights were customarily equipped with letters of protection. These provided immunity from any legal proceedings that might arise – like James Bond, Knights often had a license to kill.

Suits of armour still didn't have a metal plate covering the knight's crotch or buttocks as this made riding a horse difficult, but those areas were protected by strong metal skirts flowing out around the front hips (faulds) and buttocks (culet).

Researchers have found that the steel plate-mail armor worn during the 15th century, which weighed 30 to 50 kilograms, required its wearers to expend more than twice the usual amount of energy when they walked or ran.

Much like the Romans in ancient times, menstruating women in the medieval era also made tampons by wrapping wool or cotton around wooden twigs. Pads were also used in this time, however, the materials were somewhat different.

Medieval underwear: bras, pants and lingerie in the Middle Ages. Men wore shirts and braies (medieval underpants resembling modern-day shorts), and women a smock or chemise and no pants.

While some early cultures didn't wear bras at all, others took cloth in the shape of a bandeau and wore it around their breasts. Over time, women began to wear corsets and girdles designed more to shape their bodies (uncomfortably at that) than to support breasts, although they did provide lift.

In the Middle Ages, people would make use of sticks, moss and other plants. Archaeological findings from cesspits of monasteries in Ireland and Norway included small pieces of cloth that were used like toilet paper.

So worms were treated using bitter, purgative plants such as wormwood or gentian, which would both kill the worms and expel them by provoking a nasty bout of diarrhoea.

How did they brush their teeth in medieval times? ›

How did medieval people brush their teeth? They would rub their teeth and gums with a rough linen. Recipes have been discovered for pastes and powders they might have applied to the cloth to clean and whiten teeth, as well as to freshen breath. Some pastes were made from ground sage mixed with salt crystals.

It is stated in various internet sources that the Queen was in labour for around 30 hours, using the pain relief “Twilight sleep” (actually sedation with scopolamine and morphine). “Twilight sleep” was controversial as women would be sedated throughout labour and then be delivered by forceps.

The Queen has a bath every morning, drawn by her maid while she sips a cup of tea. It's believed that the royals prefer to avoid taking showers, due to their belief that they're for members of the working class.

Do the royals wipe themselves? Nowadays they wipe themselves because it's modern times. Historically, the Groom of the Stool wiped them and it was just about the most coveted position at court.

Hair was cleaned with a mixture of ashes, vine stalks and egg whites. Tonics and balms out of broom and vinegar were made to relieve “itch mites”. Recipes for popular tonics of the day are found in “De Ornatu Mulierum / On Women's Cosmetics” in The Trotula : A Medieval Compendium of Women's Medicine.

The toilets of a castle were usually built into the walls so that they projected out on corbels and any waste fell below and into the castle moat. Even better, waste went directly into a river as is the case of the latrines of one of the large stone halls at Chepstow Castle in Wales, built from the 11th century CE.

In the middle ages, humans couldn't get away from lice. They were an unavoidable part of their life and lice didn't discriminate; they infected all parts of society from serfs to royals. People in the Middle Ages took lice to their grave as well.

Humans have probably been bathing since the Stone Age, not least because the vast majority of European caves that contain Palaeolithic art are short distances from natural springs. By the Bronze Age, beginning around 5,000 years ago, washing had become very important.

The oldest accountable daily ritual of bathing can be traced to the ancient Indians. They used elaborate practices for personal hygiene with three daily baths and washing. These are recorded in the works called grihya sutras which date back to 500 BCE and are in practice today in some communities.

Water was taken from the cistern, heated over an open fire in the back courtyard, delivered to the large metal tub (perhaps lined with a linen sheet, to protect the body from the seams of the metal) via bucket.

What did medieval people use instead of toilet paper? ›

In the Middle Ages, people would make use of sticks, moss and other plants. Archaeological findings from cesspits of monasteries in Ireland and Norway included small pieces of cloth that were used like toilet paper.

Obviously, medieval cities lacked infrastructure that dealt with the disposal of human waste. Instead, waste was simply dumped into rivers or buried in the ground. And although there were rules forbidding the disposal of filth outside people's homes, according to the article, these rules were mostly ignored.

The Introduction of Paper as a Wipe

Although paper originated in China in the second century B.C., the first recorded use of paper for cleansing is from the 6th century in medieval China, discovered in the texts of scholar Yen Chih-Thui.