Men sell swine at market, as shown in a c1510 prayer book. “Pigs were a part of everyday life in medieval English towns,” writes Dolly Jørgensen
BRIDGEMAN/AKG
The abbot of St Mary’s in York could not stand the stench any longer. He complained to King Edward I in 1298 that the air was corrupted and infected in the streets of the Bootham district north of York Minster. He pinned the blame on pigsties along the lanes, swine wandering about the streets, and dung heaps. The court concurred that this was completely unacceptable and ordered the bailiffs to destroy the pigsties by the roads and to ban pigs feeding, or wandering unattended.
At nearly the same time, in London, city authorities ordered the removal of pigsties in the streets and elected four ‘swine killers’, who were ordered to find and eliminate any pigs found on the main roads. They got half of the proceeds of the sale of the carcass for their service.