Sanitation simply did not exist. Among the few great achievements of the Middle Ages were the remarkable castles built throughout Europe. They were small fortresses, cities under a single roof. Some, not so small, contained as many as 1,500 rooms. Their defense, as we all learned in grade school history class, relied in part on the moats that surrounded them. But alas that explanation is not entirely true. In fact, the moats did provide effective protection from invading enemies, but not by design. The castles contained no bathrooms. They did, however, have privies built into the outside walls that were dumped directly into the moats. The moats were nothing more than stagnant cesspools that must have been incomprehensibly disgusting. Only a fool would have crossed through one. Medieval moats highlight the difficulties accompanying waste disposal. In 17th century England, the problem reached staggering proportions.

But pity the plight of one Richard the Raker. He fell through the planks of a public latrine and drowned in the deep pit of excrement below.