‘Less Mudslinging and More Facts’: A New Look at an Old Debate about Public Health in Late Medieval English Towns

Abstract

<jats:p>Many current assumptions about health provision in medieval English cities derive not from the surviving archival or archaeological evidence but from the pronouncements of Victorian sanitary reformers whose belief in scientific progress made them dismissive of earlier attempts to ameliorate the quality of urban life. Our own tendency to judge historical responses to disease by the exacting standards of modern biomedicine reflects the same anachronistic attitude, while a widespread conviction that England lagged centuries behind Italy in matters of health and hygiene seems to reinforce presumptions of ‘backwardness’ and ‘ignorance’. By contrast, this paper argues that a systematic exploration of primary source material reveals a very different approach to collective health, marked by direct intervention on the part of the crown and central government and the active involvement of urban communities, especially after the Black Death of 1348-49. A plethora of regulations for the elimination of recognized hazards was then accompanied by major schemes for environmental improvement, such as the introduction of piped water systems and arrangements for refuse collection.</jats:p>

The Black Death and the Future of the Plague

“…It has often been remarked that outbreaks of plague (past and present) disproportionally affect the poor more than the affluent (e.g., Wrightson 2011;Carmichael 1986), and it has been suggested that poverty-induced grain hoarding in crowded homes of poor construction create an environment where plague can flourish: this was the case in Surat (1994) as well as in Peru (1992-94) and in more recent outbreaks in Madagascar (Andrianaivoarimanana et al 2013;WHO 2008). Testing such a hypothesis for historic epidemics requires good urban environmental histories of multiple locations and time periods, as proposed by Guy Geltner (2012) and Carole Rawcliffe (2013). We cannot rely on the traditional assumption that medieval cities were seething sites of filth and vermin; the historical reality is not only much more positive than these modern prejudices would credit, it is also more complex (Rawcliffe 2013).…”

“…Testing such a hypothesis for historic epidemics requires good urban environmental histories of multiple locations and time periods, as proposed by Guy Geltner (2012) and Carole Rawcliffe (2013). We cannot rely on the traditional assumption that medieval cities were seething sites of filth and vermin; the historical reality is not only much more positive than these modern prejudices would credit, it is also more complex (Rawcliffe 2013).…”

Pandemic Disease in the Medieval World

“…It has often been remarked that outbreaks of plague (past and present) disproportionally affect the poor more than the afflu ent (e.g., Wrightson 2011;, and it has been suggested that povertyinduced grain hoarding in crowded homes of poor construc tion create an environment where plague can flourish: this was the case in Surat (1994) as well as in Peru (1992-94) and in more recent outbreaks in Madagascar WHO 2008). Testing such a hypothesis for historic epidemics requires good urban environ mental histories of multiple locations and time periods, as proposed by Guy Geltner (2012) and Carole Rawcliffe (2013). We cannot rely on the traditional assumption that medieval cities were seething sites of filth and vermin; the historical reality is not only much more positive than these modern prejudices would credit, it is also more complex (Rawcliffe 2013).…”

“…Testing such a hypothesis for historic epidemics requires good urban environ mental histories of multiple locations and time periods, as proposed by Guy Geltner (2012) and Carole Rawcliffe (2013). We cannot rely on the traditional assumption that medieval cities were seething sites of filth and vermin; the historical reality is not only much more positive than these modern prejudices would credit, it is also more complex (Rawcliffe 2013).…”