The King of Dirt: Public Health and Sanitation in Late Medieval Ghent

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Abstract

Taking the office of the coninc der ribauden in Ghent as a case-study, this article reconstructs the enforcement of urban sanitation and preventative health practices during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The coninc managed a wide range of issues perceived as potentially polluting, damaging or threatening to health. Banning waste and chasing pigs as well as prostitutes off the streets, the office implemented a governmental vision on communal well-being. Health interests, as part of a broader pursuit of the common good, therefore played an important yet hitherto largely overlooked role in medieval urban governance.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)82-105
JournalUrban History
Volume46
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

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