8 ms·
Toilets in a Medieval Castle (2018)
- krm01 6y agoA picture or two would have been helpful to spice up the story.
- rosywoozlechan 6y agoThere are pictures in the article?
- omnibrain 6y agoThey don‘t load on iPhone.
- kilroy123 6y agoAlso didn't work for me on iPhone/Safari.
- bdash 6y agoIt looks like the article attempts to embed images in different formats for different browsers, but the source images aren't of the image type they expect which results in broken images for some browsers. <picture> <source srcset="/img/r/p/500x600/8862.jpg.webp?v=1599098401" type="image/webp"> <source srcset="/img/r/p/500x600/8862.jpg.avif?v=1599098401" type="image/avif"> <source srcset="/img/r/p/500x600/8862.jpg?v=1599098401" type="image/jpeg"> <img loading="lazy" src="/img/r/p/500x600/8862.jpg?v=1599098401" alt="Medieval Castle Latrine" class="in_text_image" width="500" height="375"/> </picture> Firefox and Google Chrome both select the image with the image/webp content type, and those URLs do appear to be WebP images. Safari selects the images with the image/jpeg content type, but those URLs appear to point to AVIF images (i.e., image data encoded using AV1 and stored in an HEIF container). AVIF is only supported by Google Chrome. This results in the images appearing as broken placeholders in Safari.
- peterbmarks 6y agoThanks for that. I'm using Safari on macOS and got no images in the article - the ads work flawlessly though. Clicking on them works. I assumed the site had been Hackernews'd
- 082349872349872 6y agohttps://www.google.com/search?q=castle+toilet&tbm=isch https://www.google.com/search?q=castle+toilet&tbm=isch works in my bubble
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoOne of the top images for me is a Roman communal toilet, fyi. AIR I've only ever seen single occupancy toilets in UK castles?
- beders 6y agoChristianity: Be ashamed of your naked body at all times.
- Shared404 6y agoPretty sure the response was saying that not all the images were accurate.
- NateEag 6y agoModern American Evangelicals: Be ashamed of your naked body at all times. Christianity: include a whole book about romance and sex in your sacred text (the Song of Songs). I really wish people would read the Bible before opining on what Christianity says.
- emmelaich 6y agoNot even all evangelicals of course. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Carter_Stapleton https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Carter_Stapleton befriended Larry Flynt.
- NateEag 6y agoYes, you're quite right. I should have limited that claim further. Not all modern American evangelicals are ashamed of sex. Befriending someone does not in any way require that you approve of their choices, though. I would guess Ruth did not approve of Larry's choice to produce pornography, as it's the antithesis of the traditional (approving) Christian view of sex, where sex is deeply interpersonal and sacred, so much so that it can only function as it's meant to in a long-term, committed monogamous relationship, a.k.a. marriage. Pornography turns an individual's sexuality into a performative falsehood that's then commoditized - few approaches to sex could be more opposed.
- bcraven 6y agohttp://www.stephenbiesty.co.uk/galleries_cross_sections_castle.html http://www.stephenbiesty.co.uk/galleries_cross_sections_cast... Stephen Biesty's cross sections are my reference for most engineering.
- gherkinnn 6y agoI still have that book. As fascinating today as it was as a child. Detail, clarity and humour. Simply gorgeous.
- Someone 6y agoIf they don’t show on the page, click the “placeholders” for a page showing the image.
- game_the0ry 6y agoDo you remember the show Modern Marvels on the History channel? Back when it was about actual history and not reality tv... My favorite episode was on bathrooms. Did you know that during large gatherings at the Palace of Versailles people would relieve themselves in hallways, stairways, and even in the gardens? Or that dining room seats in medieval Germany had holes with chamber pots underneath so that people could go while they ate? I miss Modern Marvels.
- tzs 6y agoThis 1974 PBS documentary, "The Natural History of the Water Closet: A Documentary Cantata" [1], is a good musical documentary about the toilet. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJcFO_xF1fI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJcFO_xF1fI
- DonHopkins 6y agoThis 1981 Mel Brooks documentary, "History of the World, Part I" [1], is a good comedic documentary about the portable toilet. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OWMB3ewpNM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OWMB3ewpNM
- Someone 6y agoWhat’s even about relieving themselves in the gardens, as compared to inside the palace? Do I miss some knowledge about French palace customs?
- dmurray 6y agoYeah, if I was visiting Versailles today, I might discreetly relieve myself in the gardens, but I'd stop short of soiling the great halls.
- jakobmartz3 6y agowhy not fertilize the flowers while youre at it
- 6y ago
- pugworthy 6y agoThis reminds me that I should be at Burning Man right now.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoIn the article: >Walls were sometimes whitewashed with a coating of lime-plaster which maximised the light coming from the small window and because lime kills off bacteria. // Surely not. Bacteria weren't part of the mindset of UK castle builders!? I'd expect there right about making it lighter in the garderobe, and possibly over time it was noticed it made the room less smelly?
- pengaru 6y agoYou don't have to know the why to appreciate lime plasters stay clean/grow less mold in dank environments through experience.
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoDoesn't "because" say they knew why. If it just said "which" instead of because then I'd agree with you. Perhaps there was some mediaeval theory relating lime and pestilence?
- Jtsummers 6y agoA lot of things were done in h the past despite people not knowing why. The because should be read as a retrospective reason. The originators of the practice at have just found it dealt with odor and so they did it, in retrospect we can add the actual reason it helped.
- pengaru 6y agoI don't see a problem with the author using a more modern terminology for "cause" than would have existed at the time, to describe what anyone working with lime plasters appreciates on a basic level; the stuff stays exceptionally white and clean. Personally I don't like their saying just that it kills off bacteria. It's an antimicrobial/fungicide in general because of its elevated Ph. I'd prefer the article take the opportunity to educate me about the practical value of lime plaster than restrict itself to the limited education of medeivil minds.
- 6y ago
- throw0101a 6y agoIf anyone is interested in medieval-y topics the Shadiversity channel run by Shad M. Brooks is pretty good: * https://www.youtube.com/user/shadmbrooks/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/shadmbrooks/videos He's done a few videos on castles specifically.
- arkitaip 6y agoEveryone should give Shad a follow. Dude is planning on building a medieval experience park on land he've recently purchased and it's going to be fun to follow his journey.
- DonHopkins 6y agoSo that's what the weird shaped Lego was for!
- hermitcrab 6y agoReminds me of the story of the dwarf toilet Ninja, who put the ass into assassination: https://jpninfo.com/47201 https://jpninfo.com/47201
- tomcam 6y ago> besiegers used just such a latrine shaft in 1203-4 CE to gain entry to Chateau Gaillard Wonder who got picked for that job
- grawprog 6y agoDunno, but it sounds pretty shitty.
- 082349872349872 6y ago> "Watch and learn, son, or you'll be passing wrenches for the rest of your life". https://yosefk.com/blog/the-cardinal-programming-jokes.html https://yosefk.com/blog/the-cardinal-programming-jokes.html
- beeper-beeps 6y agoThe Wikipedia article mentions that a solider named Ralph found the shaft, no word on whether he did the climbing though. > Following this, Philip ordered a group of his men to look for a weak point in the castle. They gained access to the next ward when a soldier named Ralph found a latrine chute in use through which the French could clamber into the chapel.
- tomcam 6y agocorrect term is that Ralph "got the shaft"
- watwut 6y agoSomeone who pissed the troops leader last month. Reminds me stories from WWII about kids in camps hiding themselves in outside toilettes during sweeps to survive.
- lb1lf 6y ago-No history of medieval toilets is complete without reference to Erasmus von Lueg, 15th-century robber baron and lord of the Slovene Predjama castle. He allegedly met his maker while relieving himself - having made a nuisance of himself to the Habsburgs, they laid siege to the castle to no avail -as there was a hidden passageway which let the besieged come and go more or less as they pleased. The solution? Bribe a servant into lighting a lamp in a window when Erasmus went to the latrine prior to bed - a latrine the Habsburgs had aimed their cannon at in the daytime. The rest, as they say, is (apocryphal) history.
- softblush 6y agoThis probably is just a urban legend type story. Or do you have evidence to point at? Even the Wikipedia page on Erasmus of Lueg states there is no evidence to back this up.
- Aperocky 6y agoWould be quite surprised if 15th century artillery had any accuracy near that - And also if they did have such accuracy it's highly likely that the siege would have ended lot sooner.
- ledbettj 6y agoHow about the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_latrine_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erfurt_latrine_disaster ?
- rachitwatts 6y agome (sitting in the toilet): let's read something interesting on hackernews. Hackernews: What about an article on ancient toilets?
- theodric 6y agoJust last night I dreamed of my wife and I jumping through the garderobe's hole and into the water below to escape pursuers. The simulation is breaking down! ｓｙｎｃｈｒｏｎｉｃｉｔｉｅｓ
- santojleo 6y agoI find it shocking the toilet hasn’t been reinvented.
- userbinator 6y agoThat's because the digestive systems of humans haven't been, either.
- kwhitefoot 6y ago> then called a privy Such things were still called a privy in my childhood.
- hnarn 6y agoThe word "garderobe" (Old French "garder", to watch/guard + "robe", clothing) is interesting, because it's the modern word for a wardrobe in many European languages. According to Merriam-Webster, the word came into English in the 15th century and was primarily used to "provide English speakers with a word for a room or closet in which to store clothing". From there, it was then used for private bedrooms/bathrooms, until the word went out of fashion in the 19th century and today is only seen to refer to exactly what this article is about, historical bathrooms/toilets in castles.