History of Consumption and Waste, Medieval World

Building Materials

Building techniques varied widely over the medieval period, with everything from turf houses to grand stone cathedrals. Materials used in construction included stone, marble, brick, wood, and window glass. Building projects in much of Europe intensified after 1000 C.E. as more and more people began moving into urban areas. Old building materials could be reused as foundation or fill for new buildings and streets or to create new land in harbor areas.

Everyday Craft Goods

Everyday craft goods included a variety of items needed for the average household, including pottery, iron cauldrons, leather shoes, fabric clothing, bone combs, and wooden furniture. In general, craftsmen tried to maximize the amount of raw material from a given source; for example, a slaughtered cow generated meat for the butcher, a hide to work into leather, tallow (fat) for candle and soap making, and bones and horns for combs and utensils. However, the production of household goods for sale also generated large quantities of waste, which is often the main evidence for the location of particular craft shops.

Luxury Goods

The higher classes, including secular rulers and churchmen, consumed luxury goods, including gold and silver objects, paintings, sculptures, and books, throughout the medieval period. Many of the medieval objects on display in 21st-century museums such as the Louvre and the British Museum fall into this category of luxury object. The consumption of private books increased dramatically in the later half of the Middle Ages as university education expanded (increasing the demand for textbooks) and private religious devotional books came into use.

Food

Food consumption, while variable over space, time, and social station, was not as sparse in the medieval world as might be assumed. Documents show that beef, pork, fish, bread, produce, and spices were all sold in town markets across Europe, and town governments often attempted to control the quality and prices of the food sold. The consumption quantities were not insignificant: Le Ménagier de Paris, a book written at the end of the 14th century, records that 3,080 sheep, 514 beef cattle, 306 calves, and 600 pigs were slaughtered in Paris butcher shops every week to feed the 200,000 residents, and the royal and noble households consumed more on top of that. Much of the food was grown locally, including produce from urban and extra-urban gardens and livestock raised on nearby fields, but not everything was short-traveled. Even in the Middle Ages, extensive trade networks existed for goods like spices and fish, which came from limited geographical areas. Spices were imported via exchange networks from southeast Asia and Africa. Many locations needed to import fish in order to meet the requirement of fasting from meat during the Christian Lenten holidays.

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