23. More on the drinking of water during the medieval period
How and where the myth regarding the necessity of drinking beer and wine due to the impurity of water in medieval life began is immaterial. The existing body of evidence is that water was used throughout the era to quench thirst. But many doctors did warn against drinking water with meals, or even just before them. This was based on Galen, who was the source of most medical knowledge for medieval doctors. Galen warned that too much water filled the stomach and did not allow for the proper intake of food, as previously discussed, weakening the digestion which created bad humors, “which flow and drift across the whole body in its cavity”. To Galen, the effect was the same as when the body fasted.
Records of the first water distribution systems in larger cities of Europe began in the medieval period, but in most smaller towns water was free, from community wells and nearby streams and springs. Thus, there are few records describing its use, but neither are there records describing it as unhealthful for consumption. There are records from medieval doctors and writers which described how to detect water which was unsafe to drink. And in 8th century Bavaria, a law was passed which penalized anyone who fouled a public fountain, “with any filth”, requiring them to both clean the fountain of the offending material and pay a fine to the town.
