Hygiene conditions were not particularly prosperous in the Middle Ages, with all the associated consequences. Recently studied crusader droppings show that they suffered from intestinal parasites. These hungry guests made extra victims in times of food shortage.
The research area was fortress Saranda Kolones in Cyprus. In 1191, during the Third Crusade, the English king Richard the Lionheart took the island and had the defensive fortress built. After an earthquake in 1222, the Crusaders left the island and Saranda Kolones was never rebuilt.
In the thirty years that the fort was used, the crusaders defecate a lot. The archaeologists Evilena Anastasiou and Piers D. Mitchell of the University of Cambridge found the remains of this almost a millennium later in the toilets, latrines hewn in the castle walls.
Wash hands after urinating
This unique material could tell them exactly what the crusader intestines were like around 1200. Large amounts of dead worm eggs were found in the excrement:from the whipworm and especially from the roundworm.
These worms could enter the body through poor hygiene:unwashed hands after going to the toilet contaminate food and drinking water and eating unwashed plants on which human excrement had been scattered also spread the worm eggs. In places where human faeces are still used as fertilizer today, many people are still infected with these parasites. They hardly occur in the Netherlands anymore.
Once swallowed, the egg develops into a larva that makes its way through the blood to the lungs. After a lot of coughing and swallowing again, the larva ends up in the intestines. There it grows into a worm of up to 35 centimeters. A single roundworm can lay 200,000 eggs a day and the crusader droppings were full of eggs. The droppings have been compared by the scientists with other material from the fort for verification. However, no eggs were found in this, which means that they only came from the intestines of the Crusaders.
Sneaky assassins
The medieval warriors didn't notice a single worm, but if someone was well infected, he could suffer from it. Stomach pain, constipation, biliary colic and other unpleasantness were part of the daily life of worm carriers. And in situations where healthy and sufficient food was the exception rather than the rule, such as during the Crusades, the worms also took in the much-needed nutrients.
The nobles ate the best, yet 15 to 20 percent of them died of malnutrition during the Crusades. No figures are known about the ordinary foot soldiers, but they will be a lot higher because of their meager meals. The parasites therefore have many deaths on their conscience.