The Medieval Invention of Toilet Paper

With toilet paper, or rather the sometimes frenzied demand for toilet paper, being in the news recently, it is a good time to look at the medieval origins of this very useful product.

Before we begin, it should be said that the toilet paper we commonly use today is a nineteenth century invention – credited to Joseph C. Gayetty, who began selling his “medicated paper for the water-closet” in 1857. Over the next few decades, the use of toilet paper greatly accelerated, helped along by another invention – the flush toilet.

Prior to this, people used a variety of methods to clean their backsides – the ancient Romans had a sponge on a stick, which after cleanings was placed into a bowl of vinegar to be decontaminated. In the Middle Ages, people would make use of sticks, moss and other plants. Archaeological findings from cesspits of monasteries in Ireland and Norway included small pieces of cloth that were used like toilet paper.

However, in medieval China a new method of cleaning had gradually developed. The invention of paper has traditionally been dated to the year 105 CE, although archaeological evidence shows that it was used even earlier. Paper found many uses within China, and by the sixth century we have our earliest record reference to it being used for personal hygiene. A scholar named Yan Zhitui wrote a letter to his family members, in which he remarked “Paper on which there are quotations or commentaries from the Five Classics or the names of sages, I dare not use for toilet purposes.” This implies that he made use of less-worthy documents for such purposes.

By the ninth century the use of paper for toilet purposes seems to have widespread enough that even foreign writers were noticing it. As part of a work on China and India, the Arabic scholar Abu Zad al-Sirafi does not approve of the practice:

The Chinese are unhygienic, and they do not wash their backsides with water after defecating but merely wipe themselves with Chinese paper.

Still it seems that in medieval China, toilet paper was well-used, at least among the wealthier classes. As part of Joseph Needham’s massive work Science and Civilisation in China, the historian notes that by the fourteenth century, toilet paper was being manufactured on a large scale:

Toilet paper was made from rice straw, the fibres of which were tender and required less time and labour to process; it thus cost less than any other kind of paper. Great quantities of such paper were needed for daily use, and for the imperial court alone, it was specified in 1393 that the Bureau of Imperial Supplies manufactured 720,000 sheets, two by three feet in size, for the general use of the court and 15,000 sheets, three inches square, light yellow, thick but soft, and perfumed, for special supply to the imperial family. The quantity manufactured every year was so great the refuse of straw and lime which accumulated in the imperial factory formed a mound that was called Elephant Mountain. Even early in this century, the annual production of paper for toilet use in Chekiang alone amounted to ten million packages of 1000 to 10,000 sheets each.

Despite its use in China, toilet paper did not catch on with the rest of the world – at least not until the 19th century. However, we do know that people did make use of paper to clean themselves after using toilets, but like Yan Zhitui they would simply get it from books or newspapers that they did not want to keep. For example, in 1747 a British nobleman wrote to his son about an unnamed “gentleman” who would read when having to go to the toilet:

He bought, for example, a common edition of Horace, of which he tore off gradually a couple of pages, carried them with him to that necessary place, read them first and sent them down as a sacrifice to Cloacina (a Roman goddess of the ‘Great Drain’ in Rome’s sewer system)…I recommend you to follow his example. It is better than only doing what you cannot help doing at those moments and it will make any book which you shall read in that manner, very present to your mind.

See also: Did people in the Middle Ages take baths?

Top Image: Photo by Brandon Blinkenberg / Wikimedia Commons

✉Sign up for our weekly email newsletter!

Read More

Categories

  • 16

    At-Home

  • 29

    Business

  • 176

    COVID-19 / Coronavirus

  • 370

    Economy

  • 5

    Education

  • 43

    Entertainment

  • 33

    Environment

  • 9

    Family

  • 0

    FAQ

  • 80

    Frontline Heroes

  • 25

    Government

  • 49

    Handwash Challenge

  • 45

    Healthcare

  • 5

    In Memory Of

  • 4

    Law Enforcement

  • 4

    Medical Equipment

  • 4

    Mental Health

  • 2

    Military

  • 108

    Pandemic

  • 0

    Personal Care

  • 94

    Politics

  • 10

    PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)

  • 33

    Quarantine / Lockdown

  • 13

    Quarantine Art

  • 69

    Quarantivities

  • 1

    Receipes

  • 0

    Relationships

  • 52

    Religion

  • 43

    Safety Tips

  • 10

    Science

  • 129

    Shelter-In-Place

  • 17

    Silver Linings

  • 190

    Social Distancing

  • 6

    Social Justice

  • 1209

    Sports

  • 100

    Technology

  • 887

    Toilet Paper Times

  • 32

    TPT Lexicon

  • 2

    Wildlife

  • 154

    Worldwide

  • TP Times
  • Recent
  • Popular
Mexican rave: the 10 best tequila cocktails – chosen by experts
Quarantivities

Mexican rave: the 10 best tequila cocktails – chosen by experts

  • By  The Toilet Paper Times
A 10-year-old girl has sent more than 1,500 art kits to kids in foster care and homeless shelters during the coronavirus pandemic
Quarantivities

A 10-year-old girl has sent more than 1,500 art kits to kids in foster care and homeless shelters during the coronavirus pandemic

  • By  usa
Mississippi’s Twisted Sisters: TikTok videos during coronavirus go viral
Quarantivities

Mississippi’s Twisted Sisters: TikTok videos during coronavirus go viral

  • By  The Toilet Paper Times
What the Hell Happened This Week? | The Daily Social Distancing Show
Entertainment Quarantivities Social Distancing

What the Hell Happened This Week? | The Daily Social Distancing Show

  • By  video
Coronavirus Update (Live): 98,527,657 Cases and 2,109,991 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic
Toilet Paper Times

Coronavirus Update (Live): 98,527,657 Cases and 2,109,991 Deaths from COVID-19 Virus Pandemic

  • By  usa
Meghan Markle Speaks with Young Victim
Social Justice

Meghan Markle Speaks with Young Victim

  • By  thetoiletpapertimes@gmail.com
Princess Diana Would Have Been Fighting Institutional Racism
Social Justice

Princess Diana Would Have Been Fighting Institutional Racism

  • By  Gary Schwartz
North Carolina Still Can't Race
Social Distancing Sports

North Carolina Still Can’t Race | Waiting for Judge to Rule

  • By  Gary Schwartz
OCT. 26: DISCUSSING NEPAL WHILE EATING TOILET PAPER
Toilet Paper Times

OCT. 26: DISCUSSING NEPAL WHILE EATING TOILET PAPER

  • By  Toy Le Trolle
How to hang toilet paper
Toilet Paper Times

How to hang toilet paper

  • By  Toy Le Trolle
Cheap Chic Weddings 2009 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest
Toilet Paper Times

Cheap Chic Weddings 2009 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest

  • By  Toy Le Trolle
Cheap Chic Weddings 2009 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest
Toilet Paper Times

Cheap Chic Weddings 2009 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest

  • By  Toy Le Trolle

Tags

activities air pollution Amazon Australia bidet Bundesliga canada China climate change deaths death toll disinfectant English Premier League Europe France funny Germany hydroxychloroquine India Italy Japan kids lockdown Lysol masks New York NYC oil industry ppe prayer quarantine shortages soccer songs Spain stats texas Toilet Paper Trump uk unemployment United Kingdom United States W.H.O. White House briefing