In conclusion, both because of their sanitation facilities and a network of water supply, the monasteries constituted a model for the time, all of which was beneficial, although we cannot know to what extent, to the health of its residents [ 77 ] (p. 31) [ 84 ] (p. 364) [ 85 ] (pp. 9–15).

It should be said that the model of a cloister hygienic conditions was quite different from that of any town of that period and have to be studied in conjunction with a number of advantages that were vetoed to other people at the time: vast spaces with the inclusion of some watercourse and an absolute freedom to organize and distribute the edification of its dependencies. According to the usual distribution of the monasteries, the lavatory or the reredorter in the Anglo world was placed at the end of the bedroom and overlooking a river or at least a canal that ran from it and resumed it again later, a similar system to the Roman forica . A drain was located directly under the seats.

At the same time, in the historiography of the Middle Ages it is widely accepted that the monasteries constituted examples of the exceptional hygienic situation compared to the coeval private houses and not just in the Early and High Middle Ages but also during later periods. According to Wright [ 80 ] (p. 50), the monasteries were the guardians of the hygienic practices and culture during the post-Roman period and also they were the pioneers in the water supply and sewerage constructions. In this sense we can refer to the monastery of Cluny (France), in which in the late 11th century there was constructed an inn with forty individual latrines and a worker was assigned to clean them regularly [ 81 ] (p. 62). Nevertheless, it is worth noting that in spite of the fact that after the fall of the Roman Empire monasteries preserved some hygienic traditions, the general sanitary situation should not be overestimated. Usually in monasteries, according to the plans of Christchurch and Canterbury in England or St. Gallen in Switzerland, despite the presence of sanitation facilities their inhabitants expressed a rather reluctant attitude regarding the use of the bathroom, due to the conviction that living surrounded by dirt meant living in holiness [ 82 ] (p. 249) [ 83 ] (p. 55).

According to Leguay [ 77 ] (p. 136), the discovery of the authentic historical data of the Early and High Middle Ages depends on the number of researchers who deal with the search for information and not on the existing amount of the information. Given all the above, we can conclude that in some cities the sewer network, inherited from the Romans, remained effective. Nevertheless it remains much more difficult to find information on the private household sanitation. Analyzing Europe, composed almost exclusively of rural settlements due to the collapse of the city network, we must take into consideration the opinion of Pognon [ 79 ] (p. 286) because, according to him, it is impossible to believe that around the year 1000 in the small wooden castles there were any appropriate sanitation facilities. Most probably only the great lords in their castles and palaces possessed comforts probably similar to those of the important abbeys, but most of the wooden castles owned nothing but a trench dug around the castle which served as a dump place, although the location of the castle on a hill helped to get rid of filth quite easily.

“The uncertainty between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Dark Ages”—this is how Leguay [ 77 ] (pp. 134–136) entitled one of the parts of his study. Certainly this is an appropriate title for defining the situation in a vast geographical area during the Early Middle Ages, which offers us a considerably inferior amount of written sources that hinders largely creation of an authentic historical portrait. In fact, J. P. Leguay wonders if the entrenched consideration that after the fall of the Roman Empire there was no system of sewage disposal is actually correct or it is widely accepted because of the historiographical inertia due to the lack of the data that would offer a distinct vision of Europe during these centuries. It seems that some of the Roman sewers, apart from those previously mentioned in Pavia and Fano, were still in use during the Early Middle Ages, as the citizens, governed by bishops, adapted some practices inherited from the Romans. According to the writings such as Gregory of Tours (d. 595), the Merovingians were busy paving the streets, so at least there was a concern for the urban comfort albeit minimal in some towns [ 77 ] (p. 135). Cassiodorus (d. 585) alluded to the drainage works undertaken by the authorities of Parma under the reign of Athalaric (d. 534); even his successors the Lombards apparently were also concerned to maintain the functioning of the city [ 78 ] (p. 141).

In spite of the examples mentioned above, the disintegrating of the urban administrative apparatus during the Early Middle Ages influenced the decline of the quality of the city life and one of the features of this process was the lack of maintenance and construction of the sewage system. Most European cities lost their political and economic importance they had previously. Bologna, for example, was reduced from 70 to 25 ha, while within a vast city area of Trier a small number of inhabitants barely survived, who were insufficient to prevent the decline of the city. The inability to maintain and repair the Roman engineering legacy such as roads, bridges, aqueducts, reservoirs, harbors converted these kinds of structures into the mysterious manifestation of the supernatural powers. During the decay of city life, the major Roman engineering works were transformed within the collective imagination into “devil’s bridges” built in order to challenge man and his heavenly protectors [ 75 ] (p. 29).

Such cities as Fano and Pavia in northern Italy were actually an exception in the European urban life scene, as the Roman sewers continued in use during the Early and High Middle Ages. This fact may suggest that these cities presented better hygienic conditions that any other contemporary town. A testimony, although dated the 14th century, refers to the sewer system in Pavia: “” [ 76 ] (pp. 13–23) (., “Both paved roads of the entire town and conduits of the toilets, which are abundant in all homes, are cleaned by means of the rain that runs into deep and subterranean sewers, and in general all the vaulted sewers are beautiful like underground buildings, and in some cases they have so high vaults that a horse with a knight can pass through them”).

It seems that the crisis in the maintenance of the sewers of the Roman cities occurred in the 3rd–4th centuries AD. Nevertheless some urban centers still functioned uninterruptedly until the 8th century in Italy, Spain, southern Gaul and the Rhineland, therefore the hydraulic constructions were maintained and were still operative [ 75 ] (p. 21). Some aqueducts and sewers functioned in spite of the gradual abandonment and degradation of the cities.

It has been mentioned that London underground sewers might date back from the Roman period, channelling wastewater and storm runoff into the Thames River [ 92 ] (p. 63). The underground sewers of Church Street, in York, are also considered to be from the Roman period [ 95 ], most probably previous to the 2nd to 4th century AD [ 96 ] (p. 221). But, as pointed out by Rogers [ 97 ] (p. 133), “not all towns had sewers and it is important that we do not apply modern attitudes to urban sanitation to the Roman period”.

In the late 12th or early 13th century, the King Philippe-Auguste has been the first to implement open sewers in Paris, France, in the middle of the newly paved streets [ 93 ]. In 1370, the provost Hughes Aubriot improved Paris’ sewers: the open sewer of thebecame underground and vaulted [ 94 ]. In the next years, the same work is done in three other areas of Paris [ 93 ].

Rivers in London and Paris were used as open sewers for centuries. Only in 1357, in London, a proclamation was issued forbidding the throwing of any sort of waste into the Thames or any other waterway [ 90 92 ].

The sewers implemented in Europe during the medieval times were simply open ditches that followed existing drainage pathways and often were directed along the center or roadways [ 86 88 ]. It is worth nothing that the name “sewer” derives its origin just in this period and properly from this latter configuration:1400 AD, “conduit,” from Anglo-French, Old North French“sluice from a pond” (13th century), literally “something that makes water flow”, from shortened form of Gallo-RomanceMiddle French), from Latin- “out” (see ex-) +, fem. of“pertaining to water,” from“water” [ 89 ].

In Medieval Europe, most people lived close to streams, rivers, or other water bodies, because water was not commonly brought into the urban area via aqueducts or pipes as had been done in Antiquity. Urban stormwater runoff and industrial wastewater were the principal waste discharges, mainly tanners and dyers [ 86 ]. As a matter of fact, an official investigation into the state of the Fleet River in London in 1307 AD concluded that the main cause of pollution was tanning waste and butchers’ offal from Smithfield market [ 87 ]. Human faeces were collected and used in backyard gardens. Other wastes were typically stockpiled near the city or fed to pigs [ 86 ], in the case of organic waste.

Burian and Edwards [ 86 ] argued that since during the Dark Ages few technological advances were made, let alone implemented, in Europe, urban infrastructure elements including urban drainage systems were not being improved. In their opinion, the prevailing public perspective of urban drainage during this time period was an unneeded service. However, Markham [ 87 ] stated that the medieval world was more conscious of sanitation than the other renaissance civilization, but it did not prevent Europe succumbing to bubonic plague. In fact, during the Middle Ages, epidemics raged through the majority of European cities.

The Roman Empire fell in early AD along with the concepts of baths, toilets, sewage systems, and basic sanitation. Essentially, very little progress was made from ca . 300 AD through the early 19th century. Emphasis was on wars and very little on development and of course on sanitation and sewerage and drainage systems.

The Byzantine tradition in the region—even though decayed and diminished—was followed with some improvements by the relevant structures of the Venetians, the Franks and generally the “Westerners” who ruled several areas around eastern Mediterranean. On the other hand the unstable and unsafe conditions of that era in that very region limited the establishment of more proper sewer networks and hygienic provisions, as it had already started in Western Europe.

Unfortunately very few structures of that period survived either due to their low quality construction—as in Figure 13 b—or to the destruction or incorporation to later networks. The limited remains of sewers in Mystras present mostly the remains of the sewers attached on the surviving buildings [ 100 ], and the few small fragments of sewers at the streets present impromptu stone slab covered constructions.

According to the written sources, it is documented that in the Byzantine cities existed central and secondary sewers and drains, neighborhood ducts network and domestic drainage for rainwater. Also the distinction between public and private sewers is evident, as well as the right of the inhabitants to connect their own sewerage to the central public ducts. The sewers of the ordinary houses were mostly of ceramic pipes and they were differentiated from the public ones due to their size and probably to their construction. Relevant references about residential cesspits conclude that there were also domestic sewers not connected to a public network. In addition there are clear references about separate domestic drains. After several detailed references it is also testified that there were vertical sewers—as in Figure 13 a—serving the lavatories of the upper floors of the residential blocks. Despite all the regulations and codes it is concluded after the written descriptions of that era that the sewerage network of the capital Constantinople was not efficient enough. According to the scripts it can also be assumed that sewerage network existed only in town where the disposal of the wastewater in a river, lake or the sea was possible [ 98 ].

The ancient and Roman tradition, regarding sewerage, seems that had survived in the Eastern part of the Empire, which later was called Byzantine (at least till the. 6th–7th century AD), as it can be concluded by the surviving written sources as legislation codes, building regulations, 99 ]. Moreover the continuation of these relevant to sewerage rules and legislation until the era of the dynasty of Macedonian Emperors (9th–11th century AD) testifies that constructions of that type continued up to that period. On the other hand, most of the scholars assume that during the last centuries of the Byzantine state the actual condition of the sewer network was not relevant to the contemporary detailed legislation about these sanitation matters and was much decayed or even extinct.

7.4. Medieval Islamic Towns: The Case of Al-Andalus (Spain)

From the 8th to the 15th century part of the Spain territory formed the Muslim state of Al-Andalus. The borders of this unique state changed and its territory shrank gradually because of the continuous attacks and conquers of the Christian troops until its disappearance in 1492. As Fletcher [ 101 ] (p. 77) pointed out, Al-Andalus had been the richest, the best-governed, the most powerful, and the most renowned state in the western world. Apart from other aspects of the urban life, the sanitation of the towns of Al-Andalus can be considered significantly more advanced as that of the coeval Christians towns. The widespread presence of latrines in the majority of Andalusian houses, in spite of the wealth differences of their inhabitants, can be seen as a major advantage of domestic sanitation in Medieval Europe, very different from the Christian towns where neither latrines nor subterranean sewer systems were frequent.

In the Islamic Medieval towns, the absence of municipal authorities controlling public hygiene was substituted by the principle of common citizenship, reinforced by the Koranic injunction of not harming another Muslim.

The device of the latrine was composed from a bench with a groove in the middle, connected to a cesspit or a sewer. The Islamic latrine was different from the one used in the Christian territories because one had to squat and couldn’t sit down nor be on foot. Within an Islamic house the privy was always a private and safeguarded place, with the entrance normally from the patio. Usually the room of the latrine was very small and most probably rather uncomfortable.

Siyāsa (Cieza) and Saltés (Huelva) or the suburbs of Caliphal Cordoba demonstrate a most common solution of medieval sanitation consisting in latrines connected to cesspools [104, The evacuation of wastewater was relatively straightforward in rural settlements and small towns of the Islamic medieval towns of Spain—more than half the dwellings that were exhumed in Villa Vieja de Calasparra (Murcia), dating from between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries—had no latrine, and only three houses had their latrines connected to cesspools placed in the street [ 102 ] (pp. 163–175). Moreover, in some rural Andalusian settlements there were no latrines documented. Nevertheless, such settlements as(Cieza) and Saltés (Huelva) or the suburbs of Caliphal Cordoba demonstrate a most common solution of medieval sanitation consisting in latrines connected to cesspools [ 103 105 ] (pp. 219–294). In such settlements the rainwater was discharged directly onto the public street while the residual waters were accumulated within cesspits.

Although the most usual place for a cesspit was a street or a cul-de-sac, we can observe such uncommon locations as a stable, a courtyard or the entrance [ 106 ]. We can only guess that such unhygienic arrangements were made due to the lack of available space around the house as it is hard to explain it otherwise.

In an urban environment where there was enough space between the dwellings, where the citizens could have afforded to have private gardens at the back of the house, the existence of cesspits did not affected urban hygienic conditions, in spite of the fact that their cleaning must have provoked some disagreeable smells and contamination.

Apart from the more extensive use of cesspools, a sewer network was present in some medieval Muslim cities of Spain; the presence of sewers is documented through archaeological excavations and written sources. For instance, the presence of sewerage at the end of the 13th century is documented in Muslim Algeciras. One of the Christian prisoners that escaped from the city, while narrating his escape mentioned that he started running through a narrow street and then made his way into a sewer and reached the seashore where he was dumped into a dung heap [ 107 ] (pp. 31–38). Most probably the main city sewer discharged waste water into the sea and partially onto the seashore, where the prisoner happened to fall. In an overcrowded town, a sewer system implied a notable hygienic improvement.

Siyāsa (Cieza)). In Murcia, the latrines were connected to small channels that emptied wastewater into canals located in nearby cul-de-sacs. After that, dirty water was conducted to public sewers that were buried beneath the streets and subsequently passed into huge underground canals to evacuate it outside the defensive walls of the city [ Thanks to archaeological excavations, the town of Murcia offers an excellent example of a sewer network assembled in order to evacuate drain and wastewaters. Archaeological evidence shows that, at least from the eleventh century, this sanitation system was well organized and the use of cesspools was quite exceptional (although latrines connected to cesspools are observed in minor settlements of this region, such as La Villa Vieja de Calasparra and(Cieza)). In Murcia, the latrines were connected to small channels that emptied wastewater into canals located in nearby cul-de-sacs. After that, dirty water was conducted to public sewers that were buried beneath the streets and subsequently passed into huge underground canals to evacuate it outside the defensive walls of the city [ 108 ] (pp. 401–412). Other medieval Spanish towns such as Denia, Malaga, Almeria and Algeciras also had sewerage networks of greater or lesser importance [ 106 ].

The district of Portal de la Magdalena in the town of Lerida serves as an example of an urban area where a sanitation reform took place [ 109 ]. During the Caliphal period the inhabitants of the district made use of latrines connected to the cesspools that were installed in the streets and very close to the facades in order to discharge waste water as soon as possible. Nevertheless, during the 11th century, a fundamental urban reform took place in the district as a sewer network was installed while the cesspools were withdrawn. Not only all the inhabitants of the district must have been involved with such an important urban policy but also some sort of governmental support must have been offered.

The central part of the city where social, economic and religious life of the city was focused and where such significant buildings as the Great Mosque or the residence of the sovereign were placed, naturally received more attention and care in terms of cleanliness. In case of Cordoba we can see how a sewer net interconnected the central part of the city collecting the waste water from the edifice of ablutions of the Great Mosque, the residence of the sovereign or the public baths [ 110 ] (pp. 231–246). The sewers of major size collected used water from the net of minor drains in order to evacuate it directly to the river. The Muslim sewers of Cordoba were still visible until the first part of the 20th century when they were destructed by the city authorities. Today, despite the demolition of the sewers, part of the network is still being preserved beneath some of the current streets surrounding the Mosque of Cordoba. The canals made of sandstone slabs of different sizes were installed during the second half of the 9th century when the modifications of the Mosque took place.

Madīnat al-Zahrā’ (Cordoba) serves as a perfect example of a settlement built with a previous well studied architectural plan where two subterranean pipe systems were designed for water supply and wastewater discharge. The models of this sophisticated sewer system, although the use of the hydraulic installations lasted only 75 years, must have been looked for in the Oriental Islamic world. The complexity of such sewer network that was capable to evacuate waste and rain water promptly was not a common characteristic of the towns in Al-Andalus. As we can observe in the majority of Andalusian towns, a rather simple small-scaled sewer network was used. It should be pointed out that normally only some districts of the town were provided with sewer network while the inhabitants of other urban areas, normally out of the city center, made use of latrines connected to cesspools. The installation and maintenance of sewers must have been costly and a technically complicated process that not all of the citizens could have afforded. The collaboration among neighbors was obligatory in order to have it functioning in the neighborhood, also the utilization of sewer network was not free of charge. When a citizen wanted to connect the waste pipe of his house to the public sewer, he had to pay a fee to the owners that set the sewer. The owners could deny the request if they observed that a new connection would damage their sewer. Although disputes arose from time to time, the jurists considered that all the users of the sewer bore responsibility for its cleanliness [ The palatine town of(Cordoba) serves as a perfect example of a settlement built with a previous well studied architectural plan where two subterranean pipe systems were designed for water supply and wastewater discharge. The models of this sophisticated sewer system, although the use of the hydraulic installations lasted only 75 years, must have been looked for in the Oriental Islamic world. The complexity of such sewer network that was capable to evacuate waste and rain water promptly was not a common characteristic of the towns in Al-Andalus. As we can observe in the majority of Andalusian towns, a rather simple small-scaled sewer network was used. It should be pointed out that normally only some districts of the town were provided with sewer network while the inhabitants of other urban areas, normally out of the city center, made use of latrines connected to cesspools. The installation and maintenance of sewers must have been costly and a technically complicated process that not all of the citizens could have afforded. The collaboration among neighbors was obligatory in order to have it functioning in the neighborhood, also the utilization of sewer network was not free of charge. When a citizen wanted to connect the waste pipe of his house to the public sewer, he had to pay a fee to the owners that set the sewer. The owners could deny the request if they observed that a new connection would damage their sewer. Although disputes arose from time to time, the jurists considered that all the users of the sewer bore responsibility for its cleanliness [ 111 ] (pp. 52–53) [ 112 ] (p. 116).

A sewer network could only function when a constant flow of water was produced. If there was no constant overflow the sewers would have clogged rapidly. Therefore we can observe how in Murcia water wells inside the courtyards were necessary elements in order to have the sewer network in function, as the citizens used its water to flush the latrine [ 108 ] (pp. 401–412).

cloacae also were reused. Nevertheless, not always the original construction was preserved and adequately used. Sometimes the citizens of medieval towns reused only partially the inherited sewers, most frequently they perforated massive sandstone gutters to set up their cesspits directly on the cloaca as it occurred in Medieval Saragossa or connected a new drain to a Roman cloaca as documented in Cordoba [ Apart from the new-built sewer system the habitants all over the Medieval Islamic world made use of the hydraulic construction of the Roman world such as aqueducts or water channels, some of the Romanalso were reused. Nevertheless, not always the original construction was preserved and adequately used. Sometimes the citizens of medieval towns reused only partially the inherited sewers, most frequently they perforated massive sandstone gutters to set up their cesspits directly on the cloaca as it occurred in Medieval Saragossa or connected a new drain to a Roman cloaca as documented in Cordoba [ 106 ] (p. 149).

cloacae during centuries. In Al-Andalus, in spite of the fact that river water was consumed for human needs, river courses were used as sewers and also as garbage disposal places. Nevertheless, the employment of watercourses as open sewers had been common in the entire Islamic world, even in such cities as Damascus or al-Basra [ When discussing the medieval sanitation system we should remark that rivers were used asduring centuries. In Al-Andalus, in spite of the fact that river water was consumed for human needs, river courses were used as sewers and also as garbage disposal places. Nevertheless, the employment of watercourses as open sewers had been common in the entire Islamic world, even in such cities as Damascus or al-Basra [ 106 ] (p. 275).

In spite of sanitation problems, which were common in medieval Islamic cities such as water contamination, accumulation of garbage within the city walls or the accumulation of cesspools nearby the living space, the existence of sewer networks in the urban environment along with the presence of a latrine within domestic spaces, demonstrate that medieval Islamic sanitation was much more advanced in comparison with the coeval Christian cities.