Many monasteries of the Augustinian order were already very progressive in the Middle Ages: the monks present did their business in separate latrine units and were also able to wash their hands there. Nevertheless, with a twice as high probability, they showed intestinal parasites like the common people, to which such facilities were still lacking. This is shown by a study by Tianyi Wang from the University of Cambridge and her team in the "International Journal of Paleopathology".
The working group examined soil samples from graves that came from various cemeteries from Cambridge. While in the older cemetery of the church of All Saints by the Castle, people with a low social status at that time were buried, there were still wealthy citizens in the monastery walls in addition to the monks who bought there. However, both groups could be distinguished well on the basis of certain features such as metallic clothing elements. Overall sampled Wang and Co 44 graves from the period between the 10th and 14th centuries, the sediments of which they sieve through according to the remains of certain parasites such as round and whip worms: the eggs of the animals are very robust and can also survive in the ground for a long time .
For the scientists, people were considered infected only if they found parasite eggs in the pelvic area – where they were also supposed to find their temporary final rest after the intestines had decayed – or if the amount of such eggs in the abdominal area was four times more frequent than at the head or foot end. But contaminated soil used in the burial could have also entered eggs there.
In fact, Wang and Co found increased amounts of parasite eggs in 11 of the 19 examined monk graves, but only in 8 out of 25 cases among the rest of the population. Studies from other European cemeteries regularly referred to parasites in around a third of the dead: The value could therefore correspond to the burden on people with worms and Co. In contrast, the proportion of the monks is significantly increased, although they lived under more hygienic conditions.
However, since roundworms and whipworms are mainly spread by inadequate hygiene, the researchers suspect that the difference in infection rates between the monks and the general population is due to how both groups handled their excretions. "One possibility is that the monks fertilized their vegetable gardens with their feces, which was not uncommon in the Middle Ages. This could then have led to a repeated infection with the worms, " says the study leader Piers Mitchell.
The infestation may have been uncomfortable for the monks, but he had not permanently damaged them. On the one hand, they also built plants in their monastery gardens or used wild herbs to use them as a worm cure. Medieval writings even indicate how to take them to cover the bitter aftertaste. On the other hand, thanks to the fertilization of better dishes, they lived than the people outside the monastery walls. As a rule, they also became older than the normal people.
