The popular perception is that everything was dirty in the middle ages. According to Monty Python all the peasants were "covered in shit". Battlefields turned into stinking fields of rotting corpses. Nobles would just relieve themselves in the corner during banquets.

To what extent did everything really just stink? Where there periods when it was better or worse? (either macro trends or specific events) Did some places smell worse than others (eg Maybe a peasant's hut smelled better than a noble's banquet hall if the peasant did their business outside while the nobles made a mess on the floor)?