In the Middle Ages it was the job of the fuller to prepare wool. What were the necessary steps needed to be taken to do this dirty job?

Scouring came first. "In Roman times, fulling was conducted by slaves standing ankle deep in tubs of human urine and cloth. Urine was so important to the fulling business that urine was taxed. Urine, known as 'wash', was a source of ammonium salts and assisted in cleansing and whitening the cloth.

By the medieval period, fuller's earth had been introduced for use in the process. This is a soft clay-like material occurring in nature as an impure hydrous aluminium silicate. This seems to have been used in conjunction with 'wash'. More recently, soap has been used."


Thickening is the second step. "The second function of fulling was to thicken cloth, by matting the fibers together to give it strength and increase waterproofing (felting). This was vital in the case of woollens, made from short staple wool, but not for worsted materials made from long staple wool. After this stage, water was used to rinse out the foul smelling liquor used during cleansing."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulling

The fuller had to stamp on the wool, while kneedeep in stale urine, for between seven to eight hours.

The Romans might have used slaves; but in the Middle Ages it was a skilled profession done by freemen. If a fuller did not stamp on the wool properly, it would easily gain holes and be ruined.

"Urine was so important to the fulling business that urine was taxed." Gives a whole new meaning to 'spending a penny'.....