Very often I hear about how it was completely normal to throw your poop onto city streets, or how people didn't wipe their ass etc, but honestly this just seems incredibly far-fetched to me. I know medieval people weren't stupid, I can't imagine them somehow not knowing this being bad. We are naturally averse to shit too, how did they not find it disgusting? Is the whole thing just a myth? Is it a half-truth? Surely people couldn't have thrown their own shit onto the streets just like that for nearly a 1000 years.
Toss your chamber pot into the street? In London, they'll fine you. Here's some previous posts addressing this:
In line with the first post re laws, I should note that similar laws exist in other cities. Siena, for instance, forbade excrement from being tossed into the street at any time, and further laws forbade trash-dumping in places that had become unofficial middens - one clause forbids refuse, and in particular, human excrement, fromthe road along the ditch between Porta San Giorgio and Porta di Follonico. Householders and shopkeepers were responsible for the cleanliness of the street outside their building. Further, Siena also elected four officials in each 'third' of the city, whose responsibility was to inspect the streets and plazas every Saturday. Neglect in cleanliness earned a warning for the locals, and failure to obey resulted in a fine levied on the area.
Doubtless there's always that one fucking arsehole in the neighbourhood who doesn't follow the law, but given how many laws we can turn up against this very common notion, I'm inclined to rule it as 'not sufficiently true'.
As always, if anyone would like to contribute further, please don't hesitate to do so!