Urinalysis, Part 3

William of Malmesbury tells us that William the Conqueror fell from his horse in summer of 1087 while fighting on the continent and suffered painful internal damage. Physicians examined his urine and predicted imminent death. William died in September of that year. The diagnosis prompted him to receive last rights and arrange for his demise.

Abbot John of St. Albans was practiced at medical diagnosis through examination of urine. In 1214, John was ill and, suspecting the illness to be fatal, examined his urine and predicted he had three days to live. He was right.

The Trotula suggested a urine test to determine fertility. A husband and wife seeking to have a child should each urinate into a pot of bran. If in ten days the bran was stinking and full of worms, the person who urinated into it was the infertile one.

Raoul, the Count of Vermandois (reigned 1102 - 1152), fell ill, and his physician recommended he abstain from sexual relations with Ralph's just-married third wife. When the physician later examined Ralph's urine, he realized the advice was going unheeded. He told Ralph that he would be dead in three days. Ralph (we are told) died in three days. The urine told the tale of his activities in bed.

What happens if you pretend to be a physician and get caught? Let's look at the case of Roger Clerk of Wandsworth. Roger charged Roger atte Hacche 12 pence for a diagnosis and cure for Roger's wife that turned out to be a blank parchment wrapped in cloth of gold. Roger Clerk was brought to trial before the Mayor and Aldermen at the Guildhall of London in May 1382. It turns out Roger had no license or training to practice medicine, and the "cure" was fake. His punishment was to be paraded in the streets, sitting backwards on a saddle-less horse, two urine flasks hanging around his neck.

But enough about urine for now. What other punishments might be meted out for offenders? Let's look at some of the judgments set out for those who committed crimes in Medieval England, starting tomorrow.