Spoiler - washed. The conventional wisdom about unscrupulous Europe is more likely to belong to the 17th-18th centuries. From the Roman Empire, the "Dark Ages" (VI-IX centuries) and the early Middle Ages inherited the terms used by the nobility, and hot springs, which were equipped in public baths. Baths were recommended to be visited even by monks, who then tried to adhere to asceticism in everything, including hygiene.
The book of the historian Andrey Martyanov "Walks in the Middle Ages. War, plague, inquisition" (publishing house "The Fifth Rome", 2017) describes the system of baths at that time:
“Another stereotype says: The Middle Ages was the realm of pitch mud, famous for its total lack of hygiene, and an abstract noble knight bathed once in his life, and then accidentally fell into the river.
We will have to upset the carriers of this myth: the average Russian prince of the XII-XIV centuries was no cleaner than a German or French feudal lord. And the latter were not dirtier. The bathing craft in that era was highly developed and, for objective reasons, was completely lost just after the Renaissance, by the onset of the New Age. The gallant XVIII century is a hundred times more odorous than the severe XIV century. An amazing thing, but to personally familiarize yourself with medieval culture hygiene is possible right now, it is enough to come to such an archaic country as Iceland, where the traditions of bathing in natural springs and home baths have been sacredly kept for almost one thousand two hundred years, since the Vikings settled this North Atlantic island.
Dark Ages
The Lombards who conquered Italy not only used the Roman baths, but also committed atrocities in them. A story has come down to us about how the Lombard leader Hilmichius in 572 was poisoned by his own wife Rosemund in Verona at the instigation of the Byzantine exarch Longinus. There are some scandalous details:
“Here, Prefect Longinus began to ask Rosemund to kill Hilmichius and marry Longinus himself. Following this advice, she diluted the poison and after the bath brought him a goblet. so they both died." (Fredegar. Chronicles of long-haired kings. About the kingdom of the Lombards.)
The baths in the city of Verona are excellent, and they are used by the barbarians. But St. Gregory of Tours reports in the third book of the "History of the Franks" about no less piquant events concerning the niece of the king of the Franks Clovis Amalasvinta at the end of the 5th century:
“But when he found out what this harlot had done, how she became a mother-killer because of the servant whom she took as her husband, he heated a hot bathhouse and ordered her to be locked there together with one maid. As soon as she entered the bathhouse filled with hot steam She fell dead on the floor and died."
Again, Gregory of Tours, this time about the monastery of St. Radegunde in Poitiers, VI century: "The new building of the bathhouse smelled strongly of lime, and in order not to damage their health, the nuns did not bathe in it. Therefore, Madame Radegunde ordered the monastery servants to openly use this bathhouse until the bath was in the use of the servants throughout Lent and until Trinity.
From which an unambiguous conclusion is drawn - in the Merovingian Gaul of the era of the Dark Ages, they not only used public baths, but also built new ones. This particular bath was kept at the abbey and was intended for nuns, but until the unpleasant smell disappeared, servants - that is, the common people - could bathe there.
Fast forward across the English Channel and give the floor to Bade, the Venerable Benedictine monk and chronicler, who lived in Northumbria in the 8th century at Wyrmouth and Jarrow Abbey and wrote the Ecclesiastical History of the Angles. The entry dates from approximately the end of the 720s:
"There are salty springs in this land, there are also hot ones, the water of which is used in hot baths, where they wash themselves separately, according to sex and age. This water becomes warm, flowing through various metals, and not only heats up, but even boils."
Bada the Venerable does not confuse anything - hot and salty springs in the modern city of Bath, Somerset are meant. During Roman times there was already a spa called Aquae Salis, and the tradition of bathing continued after the evacuation of the legions from Britain. By the High Middle Ages, it did not disappear, quite the opposite - in the 11th century, Bath (Saxon Hat Bathun, "hot bath") becomes a bishopric, and the first appointed bishop, John of Tours, a Frenchman by birth, immediately becomes interested in such a miracle of nature. As a result, around 1120, at the expense of the Church, John builds three new public baths to replace the Roman baths that have collapsed over the centuries, visits them with pleasure, recommending bathing to the clergy along the way.
Early Middle Ages
In 1138, the anonymous chronicle Gesta Stephani ("Acts of Stephen"), which tells about the reign of the English king Stephen (Etienne) I de Blois, reports:
"Here water flows through hidden channels, warmed not by the labors and efforts of human hands, but from the depths of the earth. It fills a vessel located in the middle of beautiful rooms with arches, allowing the citizens to take lovely warm baths that bring health, which delight the eye. From all parts of England sick people flock here to wash away their illnesses with healing water."
Bath baths operate throughout the Middle Ages, no one forbids or closes them, including later eras and the very conservative Cromwell puritans. In modern times, the waters of Bath become famous for the miraculous healing of Queen Mary of Modena from infertility, they were visited by William Shakespeare, who described the springs in sonnets 153 and 154.
Now let us speak to Einhard, a remarkable personality no less than Shakespeare, especially if we take into account the era and the environment in which his life proceeded. From about the beginning of the 790s, he labored at the court of the king, and then the emperor of the Franks, Charlemagne, was a member of the intellectual circle created in Aachen by Alcuin, and was one of the prominent figures of the "Carolingian Renaissance". Einhard's love of ancient literature led him to write Vita Karoli Magni ("The Life of Charlemagne").
Aachen, in ancient times the town of Aquisgranum in the province of Belgica, standing on the strategic Roman highway from Lugdunum (Lyon) to Colonia Claudia (Cologne), in Roman times was nothing worthy of attention. With one exception - there were hot springs, about the same as in Bath. But then Charlemagne appears and arranges a winter residence of 20 hectares in Aachen, erecting here a grandiose palace-palatinate with a cathedral, a columned atrium, a courtroom and, of course, superbly equipped baths right in the courtyard. Einhard did not fail to write about this in the 22nd chapter of the biography of the leader of the Franks:
"He also loved to bathe in hot springs and achieved great perfection in swimming. It was out of love for hot baths that he built a palace in Aachen and spent everything there last years life. For bathing at the springs, he invited not only his sons, but also to know, friends, and sometimes bodyguards and the whole retinue; it happened that a hundred or more people bathed together.
And if "a hundred or more people" could fit in the pools, then one can imagine the scale of the structure. Aachen still has 38 hot springs and remains one of the most popular spas in Germany.
Charlemagne also visited the thermal waters in Plombiere-les-Bains, in the Vosges - again, the springs have been known since the time of Roman Gaul, the baths were renovated and rebuilt throughout the Middle Ages and were a favorite vacation spot of the Dukes of Lorraine and the Dukes of Guise. France is generally lucky with hot springs, they are in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Vosges, on the Mediterranean coast, in Aquitaine, on the Rhone. The zealous Romans instantly adapted the natural heat to their needs and built baths with pools, many of which were inherited or restored in the Middle Ages.
Late Middle Ages
In order to assess the appearance and customs of the inhabitants of Baden in 1417, we give an extensive quote about the baths of Baden:
The hotels have many built-in baths, designed exclusively for its guests. The number of these baths, intended both for individual and for general use, usually reaches thirty. Of these, two baths intended for public use are open on both sides, and plebeians and other small people are supposed to dive in them. These simple pools are crowded with men, women, young boys and girls, representing a collection of local commoners.
Baths, located in private hotels, are kept in much greater cleanliness and decency. The rooms for each floor are also divided by wooden partitions, the impenetrability of which is again broken by windows cut into them, allowing bathers and bathers to enjoy light snacks together, chatting and stroking each other at ease, which seems to be their favorite pastime.
(Letter from Poggio Bracciolini to his friend Niccolo Niccoli regarding the Baden baths, 1417)
Conclusions about the freedom of morals in the baths can be drawn independently - and after all, among these people, who behave much more relaxed than our contemporaries in a similar situation, inquisitors with torches do not run around, threatening to immediately burn everyone and everyone for such debauchery and obscene behavior! Moreover, in the same letter, Poggio remarks in passing:
"Monks, abbots, priests also come here, who, however, behave much more cheekily than other men. It seems that they throw off their sacred vows along with the cassock and do not experience the slightest embarrassment, bathing with women and after behind them, coloring their hair with bows of silk ribbons.
More in the Interpreter's Blog about life in the Middle Ages.
Information about the wholesale unwashed Europe in the Middle Ages, stinking streets, dirty bodies, fleas and other "charms" of this kind came mostly from the 19th century. And many scientists of that era agreed and paid tribute to her, although the material itself was hardly studied. As a rule, all conclusions were based on the period of the New Age, when the cleanliness of the body was really not held in high esteem. Speculative constructions without a documentary base and archaeological data led many people astray about life and hygiene in the Middle Ages. But, in spite of everything, the thousand-year history of Europe, with its ups and downs, was able to preserve for posterity a huge aesthetic and cultural heritage.
Myths and reality
Hygiene in the Middle Ages, like everyday life, was unfairly criticized, but the collected material of this period is quite enough to refute all accusations and separate truth from fiction.
The myths about the cultural degradation of medieval Europe, invented by the humanists of the Renaissance, further supplemented and disseminated by the masters of the pen of the New Age (XVII-XIX centuries), were intended to form a certain favorable background for future achievements. AT more these myths were built on inventions and distortions, as well as on the conclusions of the devastating crisis of the fourteenth century. Famine and crop failure, social tensions, disease outbreaks, aggressive and decadent moods in society...
Epidemics that decimated the population of the regions by half or more finally destabilized hygiene in medieval Europe and turned it into a flowering of religious fanaticism, unsanitary conditions and closed city baths. The assessment of an entire era by the worst period quickly spread and became the most obvious historical injustice.
Washed or not washed?
Each epoch in the history of mankind, to one degree or another, differed in its concepts and criteria for the purity of the physical body. Hygiene in Europe in the Middle Ages, contrary to the prevailing stereotype, was not as terrifying as they like to present it. Of course, there could be no question of modern standards, but people regularly (once a week), one way or another, washed themselves. And the daily shower was replaced by a wiping procedure with a damp cloth.
If you pay attention to works of art, book miniatures and symbols of the cities of that time, then bathing and washing traditions ancient rome were successfully inherited by Europeans, which was especially characteristic of the early Middle Ages. During the excavations of estates and monasteries, archaeologists discovered special containers for washing and public baths. For home washing of the body, the role of a bath was played by a huge wooden tub, which, if necessary, was transferred to the right place, usually in the bedroom. The French historian also notes that private and public baths with baths, steam rooms and pools were commonplace for citizens. At the same time, these institutions were designed for all classes.
Soap of Europe
The use of soap became widespread precisely in the Middle Ages, the hygiene of which is so often condemned. In the 9th century, from the hands of Italian alchemists, who practiced the manufacture of cleaning compounds, the first analogue of a detergent came out. Then mass production began.
The development of soap-making in the states of Europe was based on the presence of a natural raw material base. The Marseille soap industry had at its disposal soda and olive oil, which was obtained through a simple pressing of the fruits of the olive trees. The oil obtained after the third pressing was used to make soap. Soap product from Marseille became a significant commodity of trade already by the 10th century, but later it lost the palm to Venetian soap. In addition to France, soap-making in Europe successfully developed in the states of Italy, Spain, in the regions of Greece and Cyprus, where olive trees were cultivated. In Germany, soap factories were founded only by the 14th century.
In the XIII century in France and England, the production of soap began to occupy a very serious niche in the economy. And by the 15th century in Italy, the production of solid bar soap began in an industrial way.
Hygiene of women in the Middle Ages
Often supporters of "dirty Europe" remember Isabella of Castile, the princess who gave her word not to wash or change clothes until victory was won. This is true, she faithfully kept her vow for three years. But it should be noted that this act received a great response in the then society. A lot of noise was raised, and a new color was even introduced in honor of the princess, which already indicates that this phenomenon was not the norm.
Incense oils, body wipes, hair combs, ear spatulas, and small tweezers were daily hygiene aids for women in medieval Europe. The latter attribute is especially vividly mentioned in the books of that period as an indispensable member of the ladies' toilet. beautiful in painting female bodies were depicted without excess vegetation, which gives an understanding that epilation was also carried out in intimate areas. Also treatise Italian doctor Trotula of Sarlen, dated to the 11th century, contains a recipe for unwanted body hairs using arsenic ore, ant eggs and vinegar.
Mentioning women's hygiene in Europe, it is impossible not to touch on such a delicate topic of "special women's days". In fact, little is known about this, but some findings allow us to draw certain conclusions. Trotula mentions a woman's internal cleansing with cotton, usually before sexual intercourse with her husband. But it is doubtful that such material could be used in the form of a tampon. Some researchers suggest that sphagnum moss, which was widely used in medicine as an antiseptic and to stop bleeding from combat wounds, could well have been used for pads.
Life and insects
In medieval Europe, life and hygiene, although not so critical, still largely left much to be desired. Most of the houses had a thick thatched roof, which was the most favorable place for living and breeding of all living creatures, especially mice and insects. During bad weather and cold seasons, they climbed onto the inner surface and, with their presence, rather complicated the life of the residents. Things were no better with the flooring. In wealthy houses, the floor was covered with slate sheets, which, in winter time became slippery, and to make it easier to move, it was sprinkled with crushed straw. During the winter period, worn and dirty straw was repeatedly covered with fresh, creating ideal conditions for the development of pathogenic bacteria.
Insects have become a real disaster of this era. In carpets, bed canopies, mattresses and blankets, and even on clothes, whole hordes of bedbugs and fleas lived, which, in addition to all the inconveniences, also carried a serious threat to health.
It is worth noting that in the early Middle Ages, most buildings did not have separate rooms. One room could have several functions at once: kitchen, dining room, bedroom and laundry room. At the same time, there was almost no furniture. A little later, wealthy citizens began to separate the bedchamber from the kitchen and dining room.
toilet theme
It is generally accepted that the concept of "latrine" was completely absent in medieval times, and "things" were done where necessary. But that's not the case at all. Toilets are found in almost all stone castles and monasteries and was a small extension on the wall, which hung over the moat, where sewage flowed. This architectural element was called a wardrobe.
City toilets were arranged according to the principle of a village restroom. Cesspools were regularly cleaned by vacuum cleaners, who at night took out the waste products of people from the city. Of course, the craft was not entirely prestigious, but very necessary and in demand in the big cities of Europe. People of this specific profession had their own guilds and representations, like other artisans. In some areas, the sewers were referred to only as "night masters".
Since the 13th century, changes have come to the toilet room: windows are glazed to prevent drafts, double doors are installed in order to prevent odors from entering the living quarters. Around the same period, the first designs for flushing began to be carried out.
The toilet theme reveals well how far from reality the myths about hygiene in medieval Europe are. And there is not a single source and archaeological evidence proving the absence of latrines.
Plumbing and sewerage systems
It is a mistake to assume that the attitude towards garbage and sewage in the Middle Ages was more loyal than it is now. The very fact of the existence of cesspools in cities and castles suggests otherwise. Another conversation is that city services did not always cope with maintaining order and cleanliness, due to economic and technical reasons of that time.
With the increase in the urban population, approximately from the 11th century, the problem of providing drinking water and the removal of sewage outside the city walls becomes of paramount importance. Often, human waste products were dumped into the nearest rivers and reservoirs. This led to the fact that the water from them was impossible to drink. Various purification methods were repeatedly practiced, but drinking water continued to be expensive pleasure. The issue was partly resolved when in Italy, and later in a number of other countries, they began to use pumps operating on wind turbines.
At the end of the 12th century, one of the first gravity water pipelines was built in Paris, and by 1370, underground sewage began to operate in the Montmartre area. Archaeological finds of gravity lead, wooden and ceramic water pipes and sewers have been found in the cities of Germany, England, Italy, Scandinavia and other countries.
Sanitary Services
On guard of health and hygiene in medieval Europe, there were always certain crafts, a kind of sanitary services, which made their own contribution to the purity of society.
Surviving sources report that in 1291, more than 500 barbers were recorded in Paris alone, not counting street masters practicing in markets and other places. The barber's shop had a characteristic sign: usually a copper or tin basin, scissors and a comb were hung over the entrance. The list of working tools consisted of a razor basin, hair removal tweezers, a comb, scissors, sponges and bandages, as well as bottles of "fragrant water". The master always had to have hot water available, so a small stove was installed inside the room.
Unlike other artisans, laundresses did not have their own shop and mostly remained single. Wealthy townspeople sometimes hired a professional washer, to whom they gave their dirty linen and received clean linen on prearranged days. Hotels and prisons for persons of noble birth acquired their laundresses. Wealthy houses also had a staff of servants on a permanent salary, who were engaged exclusively in washing. The rest of the people, unable to pay for a professional laundress, were forced to wash their own clothes on the nearest river.
Public baths existed in most cities and were so natural that they were built in almost every medieval quarter. In the testimonies of contemporaries, the work of bathhouses and attendants is noted quite often. There are also legal documents that detail their activities and the rules for visiting such establishments. The documents (“Saxon Mirror” and others) separately mention theft and murder in public soaps, which only more testifies to their wide distribution.
Medicine in the Middle Ages
In medieval Europe, a significant role in medicine belonged to the church. In the 6th century, the first hospitals began to function at the monasteries to help the infirm and crippled, where the monks themselves acted as doctors. But the medical training of God's servants was so small that they lacked the elementary knowledge of human physiology. Therefore, it is quite expected that in their treatment the emphasis was placed, first of all, on food restriction, on medicinal herbs and prayers. They were practically powerless in the field of surgery and infectious diseases.
In the 10th-11th centuries, practical medicine became a fully developed industry in the cities, which was mainly dealt with by bath attendants and barbers. The list of their duties, in addition to the main ones, included: bloodletting, repositioning of bones, amputation of limbs and a number of other procedures. By the end of the 15th century, guilds of practicing surgeons began to be established from barbers.
The "Black Death" of the first half of the 14th century, brought from the East through Italy, according to some sources, claimed about a third of the inhabitants of Europe. And medicine, with its dubious theories and set of religious prejudices, obviously lost in this fight and was absolutely powerless. The doctors could not recognize the disease at an early stage, which led to a significant increase in the number of infected and devastated the city.
Thus, medicine and hygiene in the Middle Ages could not boast of great changes, continuing to be based on the works of Galen and Hippocrates, previously well edited by the church.
Historical facts
- In the early 1300s, the budget of Paris was regularly replenished with a tax from 29 baths, which worked every day except Sunday.
- Huge contribution In the development of hygiene in the Middle Ages, the outstanding scientist, doctor of the X-XI centuries, Abu-Ali Sina, better known as Avicenna, introduced. His main works were devoted to the life of people, clothing and nutrition. Avicenna was the first to suggest that the mass spread of ailments occurs through contaminated drinking water and soil.
- possessed a rare luxury item - a silver bath, which accompanied him through the battlefields and travels. After the defeat at Granson (1476), she was discovered in the ducal camp.
- Emptying chamber pots from the window right on the heads of passers-by was nothing more than a kind of reaction of the residents of the house to the incessant noise under the windows, disturbing their peace. In other cases, such actions led to trouble from the city authorities and the imposition of a fine.
- The attitude to hygiene in medieval Europe can also be traced by the number of public city toilets. In the city of rains, London, there were 13 latrines, and a couple of them were placed right on the London Bridge, which connected the two halves of the city.
As hard as it is to believe, the smell of an unwashed body was considered a sign of deep respect for one's health. They say that different times have different flavors. Can you imagine how the unwashed and sweaty bodies of powdered beauties who had not washed for years smelled? And it's not a joke. Get ready to learn some embarrassing facts.
Colorful historical films fascinate us with beautiful scenes, chicly dressed heroes. It seems that their velvet and silk outfits radiate a dizzying fragrance. Yes, this is possible, because actors love good perfumes. But in the historical reality, "incense" was different.
For example, the Spanish Queen Isabella of Castile knew water and soap only twice in her entire life: on her birthday and on her happy wedding day. And one of the daughters of the king of France died from ... lice. Can you imagine how big this zoo was, that the poor lady said goodbye to her life for the love of "animals"?
The note, which has been preserved from time immemorial and has become a well-known anecdote, gained great popularity. It was written by the loving Henry of Navarre, one of his beloved. The king asks the lady in it to prepare for his arrival: “Do not wash, dear. I'll be with you in three weeks." Can you imagine how palpable that night of love was in the air?
The Duke of Norfolk categorically refused to bathe. His body was covered with terrible rashes that would have led the "clean" to death ahead of time. Caring servants waited until the master was dead drunk, and dragged him away to wash.
Continuing the theme of medieval cleanliness, one cannot but recall such a fact as teeth. Now you will be in shock! Noble ladies showed bad teeth, proud of their decay. But those whose teeth were naturally good covered their mouths with their palms so as not to frighten the “disgusting” beauty of the interlocutor. Yes, the profession of a dentist could not feed at that time :)
In 1782, the "Guidelines of courtesy" was published, where there was a ban on washing with water, which leads to a high sensitivity of the skin "in winter to cold, and in summer to heat." It is interesting that in Europe we, Russians, were considered perverts, since our love for the bath horrified the Europeans.
Poor, poor medieval women! Even before the middle of the 19th century, frequent washing of the intimate area was prohibited, as it could lead to infertility. What was it like on critical days?
The shocking hygiene of women in the XVIII-XIX centuries. ekah
And these days were critical for them in the full sense of this expression (maybe the name has “clung” since then). What kind of personal hygiene products could we talk about? Women used scraps of fabric, and used it repeatedly. Some used for this purpose the floors of the underskirt or shirt, tucking it between the legs.
Yes, and the menses themselves were considered a “serious illness”. During this period, ladies could only lie and get sick. Reading was also forbidden, as mental activity worsened (as the British believed in the Victorian era).
It is worth noting that women in those days did not menstruate as often as their current girlfriends. The fact is that from adolescence until the onset of menopause, a woman went pregnant. When the child was born, then the lactation period began, which is also accompanied by the absence of critical days. So it turns out that medieval beauties had no more than 10-20 of these “red days” in their entire lives (for example, for a modern lady, this figure appears in the annual calendar). So, the issue of hygiene worried women of the 18th and 19th centuries not particularly.
In the 15th century, the first scented soaps were produced. The cherished bars smelled of rose, lavender, marjoram and cloves. Noble ladies began to wash their faces and wash their hands before eating and going to the toilet. But, alas, this "excessive" cleanliness concerned only open parts of the body.
The first deodorant... But first, some interesting details from the past. Medieval women noticed that men respond well to the specific smell of their secretions. Sexy beauties used this technique, lubricating the skin on the wrists behind the ears, on the chest with the juices of their body. Well, the way modern women do it, using perfume. Can you imagine how intoxicating this scent is? And only in 1888 the first deodorant appeared, which brought a little salvation to a strange way of life.
What kind of toilet paper could we talk about in the Middle Ages? For a long time, the church forbade cleansing yourself after going to the toilet! Leaves, moss - that's what ordinary people used (if they did, then not all). Noble clean people had prepared rags for this purpose. It wasn't until 1880 that the first toilet paper appeared in England.
It is interesting that the disregard for the cleanliness of one's own body did not at all mean the same attitude towards one's appearance. Makeup was popular! A thick layer of zinc or lead white was applied to the face, lips were painted in flashy red, eyebrows were plucked.
There was one smart lady who decided to hide her ugly pimple under a black silk patch: she cut out a round flap and glued it over the ugly pimple. Yes, the Duchess of Newcastle (that was the name of the smart lady) would be shocked to learn that after a couple of centuries her invention would replace a convenient and effective remedy called “concealer” (for those who are “not in the know”, there is an article). And the discovery of a noble lady still received a response! The fashionable "fly" has become an obligatory decoration of the female appearance, allowing to reduce the amount of white on the skin.
Well, a “breakthrough” in the matter of personal hygiene occurred by the middle of the 19th century. This was the time when medical research began to explain the relationship between infectious diseases and bacteria, the number of which is reduced many times over if they are washed off the body.
So do not sigh too much for the romantic medieval period: “Oh, if I lived at that time ...” Use the benefits of civilization, be beautiful and healthy!
There are stereotypes in the minds of many people regarding the hygiene of the European Middle Ages. The stereotype fits into one phrase: “They were all dirty and washed only by accidentally falling into the river, but in Russia ...” - then follows a lengthy description of the culture of Russian baths. Maybe for someone these words will cause slight bewilderment, but the average Russian prince of the XII-XIV centuries was no cleaner than a German / French feudal lord. And the latter, for the most part, were not dirtier ...
Perhaps for some, this information is a revelation, but the bathing craft in that era was very developed and, for objective reasons described below, it turned out to be completely lost just after the Renaissance, by the onset of the New Age. The gallant XVIII century is a hundred times more odorous than the severe XIV.
Let's go through public information. For starters, the well-known resort areas. Take a look at the coat of arms of Baden (Baden bei Wien), granted to the city by Holy Emperor Frederick III in 1480.
A man and a woman in a tub. Shortly before the appearance of the coat of arms, in 1417, Poggio Braccoli, who accompanied the dethroned Pope John XXIII on a trip to Baden, gives a description of 30 luxurious baths. There were two outdoor swimming pools for commoners.
We give the floor to Fernand Braudel (“The Structures of Everyday Life: the Possible and the Impossible”):
- Baths, a long legacy of Rome, were the rule throughout medieval Europe - both private and very numerous public baths, with their baths, steam rooms and loungers for relaxation, or with large pools, with their crowding of naked bodies, male and female interspersed .
People met here as naturally as in the church; and these bathing establishments were designed for all classes, so that they were subjected to senior duties like mills, smithies and drinking establishments.
As for wealthy houses, they all had "soaps" in the basement; there were a steam room and tubs - usually wooden, with hoops stuffed like on barrels. Charles the Bold had a rare luxury item: a silver bathtub, which he carried around the battlefields. After the defeat at Granson (1476), she was found in the ducal camp.
Memo di Filippuccio, Marriage Bath, circa 1320 fresco, Municipal Museum of San Gimignano
In the report of the Parisian Prevost (the era of Philip IV the Fair, early 1300s), 29 public baths in Paris are mentioned, subject to city tax. They worked every day except Sunday.
The fact that the Church looked askance at these establishments is quite natural - since the bathhouses and the taverns adjacent to them were often used for extramarital sexual ****, although, of course, the people were still going to wash there.
J. Boccaccio writes about this directly: “ In Naples, when the ninth hour came, Catella, taking her maid with her and not changing her intention in anything, went to those baths ... The room was very dark, with which each of them was pleased».
Here is a typical picture of the XIV century - we see a very luxurious institution "for the noble":
Not only Paris. As of 1340, it is known that there were 9 baths in Nuremberg, 10 in Erfurt, 29 in Vienna, 12 in Breslau/Wroclaw.
The rich preferred to wash at home. There was no running water in Paris, and street water carriers delivered water for a small fee.
But this, so to speak, is “late”, but what about earlier? With the most that neither is "barbarism"? Here is Eingard, "Biography of Charlemagne":
- He also loved to bathe in hot springs and achieved great perfection in swimming. It was out of love for hot baths that he built a palace in Aachen and spent all the last years of his life there. For bathing, to the springs, he invited not only his sons, but also to know, friends, and sometimes bodyguards and the whole retinue; it happened that a hundred or more people bathed together.
Ordinary private bath, 1356
About soap
There are two versions of the appearance of soap in medieval Europe. According to one, soap has been produced since the 8th century in Naples. According to another, Arab chemists began to make it in Spain and the Middle East from olive oil, lye and aromatic oils (there is a treatise by Al-Razi of 981, which describes a method for making soap), and the Crusaders introduced it to Europe.
Then, as if, around 1100, soap production appeared in Spain, England, France - from animal fat. The Encyclopædia Britannica gives later dates, around 1200.
In 1371, a certain Crescans Davin (Sabonerius), started the production of olive oil soap in Marseille, and is often cited as the first European soap. It then definitely achieved great fame and commercial success. In the 16th century, Venetian and Castile soaps were already being traded in Europe, and many began to start their own production.
Here is a modern reconstruction of a standard public "soap" of the XIV-XV centuries, an economy class for the poor, a budget version: wooden tubs right on the streets, water is boiled in boilers:
Separately, we note that in the "Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco there is quite detailed description monastery baths - separate baths, separated by curtains. Berengar drowned in one of these.
A quote from the charter of the Augustinian Order: “Whether you need to go to the bathhouse, or to another place, let there be at least two or three of you. He who has the need to leave the monastery must go with the one appointed by the ruler.”
And here is from the Valencian Codex of the 13th century:
« Let the men go to the bath together on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, the women go on Monday and Wednesday, and the Jews go on Friday and Sunday.
Neither a man nor a woman gives more than one meah when entering the bath; and the servants of both men and women give nothing, and if men on women's days enter the bath or any of the buildings of the bath, let every ten maravedi pay; also pays ten maravedis whoever peeps in the bathhouse on women's day.
Also if any woman on a man's day enters the bathhouse or is met there at night, and someone offends her or takes her by force, then he does not pay any fine and does not become an enemy, but a person who on other days takes a woman by force or dishonor, it must be thrown off. ”
And the story is no joke at all, how in 1045 several important people, including the Bishop of Würzburg, died in the bathing tub of Persenbeug Castle after the ceiling of the bath collapsed.
Steam bath. 14th century — So there were also steam saunas.
So, the myth evaporates, along with the bath steam. The High Middle Ages was not at all a kingdom of total filth.
The disappearance of bathing in post-Renaissance times was facilitated by both natural and religious-political conditions. "Small ice Age” which lasted until the 18th century led to massive deforestation and a monstrous shortage of fuel - they could only replace it with coal in the New Time.
And, of course, the Reformation had a huge impact - if the Catholic clergy of the Middle Ages treated the baths relatively neutrally (and washed themselves - there are references to visiting the baths even by the Popes), only forbidding the joint washing of men and women, then the Protestants banned them altogether - not in a puritanical this is.
In 1526, Erasmus of Rotterdam states: "Twenty-five years ago, nothing was as popular in Brabant as public baths: today they are gone - the plague taught us to do without them". In Paris, the baths practically disappeared under Louis XIV.
And just in the New Time, Europeans begin to be surprised at Russian public baths and steam rooms, which in the 17th century already noticeably distinguish Eastern Europe from Western. The culture has been lost.
Here is such a story.
Different eras are associated with different scents. the site publishes a story about personal hygiene in medieval Europe.
Medieval Europe, deservedly smells of sewage and the stench of rotting bodies. The cities were by no means like the clean Hollywood pavilions in which costumed productions of Dumas' novels are filmed. The Swiss Patrick Suskind, known for his pedantic reproduction of the details of the life of the era he describes, is horrified by the stench of European cities of the late Middle Ages.
Queen of Spain Isabella of Castile (end of the 15th century) admitted that she washed herself only twice in her life - at birth and on her wedding day.
The daughter of one of the French kings died of lice. Pope Clement V dies of dysentery.
The Duke of Norfolk refused to bathe, allegedly out of religious beliefs. His body was covered with ulcers. Then the servants waited until his lordship got drunk dead drunk, and barely washed it.
Clean healthy teeth were considered a sign of low birth
In medieval Europe, clean healthy teeth were considered a sign of low birth. Noble ladies were proud of bad teeth. Representatives of the nobility, who naturally got healthy white teeth, were usually embarrassed by them and tried to smile less often so as not to show their "shame".
A courtesy manual published at the end of the 18th century (Manuel de civilite, 1782) formally forbids the use of water for washing, "because it makes the face more sensitive to cold in winter and hot in summer."
Louis XIV bathed only twice in his life - and then on the advice of doctors. Washing brought the monarch into such horror that he swore never to take water procedures. Russian ambassadors at his court wrote that their majesty "stinks like a wild beast."
The Russians themselves were considered perverts throughout Europe for going to the bathhouse once a month - outrageously often (the common theory that Russian word“stink” and comes from the French “merd” - “shit”, for the time being, however, we recognize it as overly speculative).
Russian ambassadors wrote about Louis XIV that he "stinks like a wild beast"
For a long time, the surviving note sent by King Henry of Navarre, who had a reputation as a burnt Don Juan, to his beloved, Gabrielle de Estre, has been walking around anecdotes for a long time: “Do not wash, dear, I will be with you in three weeks.”
The most typical European city street was 7-8 meters wide (this is, for example, the width of an important thoroughfare that leads to the cathedral Notre Dame of Paris). Small streets and lanes were much narrower - no more than two meters, and in many ancient cities there were streets as wide as a meter. One of the streets of ancient Brussels was called "Street of one person", indicating that two people could not disperse there.
Bathroom of Louis XVI. The lid on the bathroom served both to keep warm, and at the same time a table for studying and eating. France, 1770
Detergents, as well as the very concept of personal hygiene, did not exist in Europe until the middle of the 19th century.
The streets were washed and cleaned by the only janitor that existed at that time - rain, which, despite its sanitary function, was considered a punishment from the Lord. The rains washed away all the dirt from secluded places, and stormy streams of sewage rushed through the streets, which sometimes formed real rivers.
If cesspools were dug in the countryside, then in the cities people defecate in narrow alleys and courtyards.
Detergents did not exist in Europe until the middle of the 19th century.
But the people themselves were not much cleaner than city streets. “Water baths insulate the body, but weaken the body and enlarge the pores. Therefore, they can cause disease and even death, ”said a fifteenth-century medical treatise. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that contaminated air could penetrate into the cleaned pores. That is why public baths were abolished by royal decree. And if in the 15th - 16th centuries rich citizens bathed at least once every six months, in the 17th - 18th centuries they stopped taking a bath altogether. True, sometimes it was necessary to use it - but only for medicinal purposes. They carefully prepared for the procedure and put an enema the day before.
All hygienic measures were reduced only to light rinsing of hands and mouth, but not of the entire face. “In no case should you wash your face,” doctors wrote in the 16th century, “because catarrh may occur or vision may deteriorate.” As for the ladies, they bathed 2-3 times a year.
Most of the aristocrats were saved from dirt with the help of a perfumed cloth, with which they wiped the body. Armpits and groin were recommended to moisten with rose water. Men wore bags of aromatic herbs between their shirt and vest. Ladies used only aromatic powder.
Medieval "cleaners" often changed their underwear - it was believed that it absorbs all the dirt and cleanses the body of it. However, the change of linen was treated selectively. A clean starched shirt for every day was the privilege of wealthy people. That is why white ruffled collars and cuffs came into fashion, which testified to the wealth and cleanliness of their owners. The poor not only did not bathe, but they did not wash their clothes either - they did not have a change of linen. The cheapest rough linen shirt cost as much as a cash cow.
Christian preachers urged to walk literally in rags and never wash, since it was in this way that spiritual purification could be achieved. It was also impossible to wash, because in this way it was possible to wash off the holy water that had been touched during baptism. As a result, people did not wash for years or did not know water at all. Dirt and lice were considered special signs of holiness. The monks and nuns gave the rest of the Christians an appropriate example of serving the Lord. Cleanliness was viewed with disgust. Lice were called "God's pearls" and considered a sign of holiness. Saints, both male and female, used to boast that the water never touched their feet, except when they had to ford a river. People relieved themselves where necessary. For example, on front staircase palace or castle. The French royal court periodically moved from castle to castle due to the fact that there was literally nothing to breathe in the old one.
There was not a single toilet in the Louvre, the palace of the French kings. They emptied themselves in the yard, on the stairs, on the balconies. When “needed”, guests, courtiers and kings either squatted on a wide window sill at the open window, or they were brought “night vases”, the contents of which were then poured out at the back doors of the palace. The same thing happened at Versailles, for example, during the time of Louis XIV, whose life is well known thanks to the memoirs of the Duke de Saint Simon. The court ladies of the Palace of Versailles, right in the middle of a conversation (and sometimes even during a mass in a chapel or a cathedral), got up and naturally, in a corner, relieved a small (and not very) need.
There is a well-known story of how one day the ambassador of Spain came to the king and, going into his bedchamber (it was in the morning), he got into an awkward situation - his eyes watered from the royal amber. The ambassador politely asked to move the conversation to the park and jumped out of the royal bedroom as if scalded. But in the park, where he hoped to breathe fresh air, the unlucky ambassador simply fainted from the stench - the bushes in the park served as a permanent latrine for all courtiers, and the servants poured sewage there.
Toilet paper did not appear until the late 1800s, and until then, people used improvised means. The rich could afford the luxury of wiping themselves with strips of cloth. The poor used old rags, moss, leaves.
Toilet paper only appeared in the late 1800s.
The walls of the castles were equipped with heavy curtains, blind niches were made in the corridors. But wouldn't it be easier to equip some toilets in the yard or just run to the park described above? No, it didn’t even cross anyone’s mind, because the tradition was guarded by ... diarrhea. Given the appropriate quality of medieval food, it was permanent. The same reason can be traced in the fashion of those years (XII-XV centuries) for men's pantaloons consisting of one vertical ribbons in several layers.
Flea control methods were passive, such as comb sticks. Nobles fight insects in their own way - during the dinners of Louis XIV in Versailles and the Louvre, there is a special page for catching the king's fleas. Wealthy ladies, in order not to breed a "zoo", wear silk undershirts, believing that a louse will not cling to silk, because it is slippery. This is how silk underwear appeared, fleas and lice really do not stick to silk.
Beds, which are frames on chiseled legs, surrounded by a low lattice and necessarily with a canopy, in the Middle Ages become of great importance. Such widespread canopies served a completely utilitarian purpose - to prevent bedbugs and other cute insects from falling from the ceiling.
It is believed that mahogany furniture became so popular because it did not show bed bugs.
In Russia in the same years
The Russian people were surprisingly clean. Even the poorest family had a bathhouse in their yard. Depending on how it was heated, they steamed in it “in white” or “in black”. If the smoke from the furnace got out through the pipe, then they steamed “in white”. If the smoke went directly into the steam room, then after airing the walls were doused with water, and this was called “black steaming”.
There was another original way wash -in a Russian oven. After cooking, straw was laid inside, and a person carefully, so as not to get dirty in soot, climbed into the oven. Water or kvass was splashed on the walls.
From time immemorial, the bathhouse was heated on Saturdays and before big holidays. First of all, the men with the guys went to wash and always on an empty stomach.
The head of the family cooked a birch broom, soaking it in hot water, sprinkled kvass on it, twisted it over hot stones until fragrant steam began to come from the broom, and the leaves became soft, but did not stick to the body. And only after that they began to wash and bathe.
One of the ways to wash in Russia is the Russian oven
Public baths were built in cities. The first of them were erected by decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. These were ordinary one-story buildings on the banks of the river, consisting of three rooms: a dressing room, a soap room and a steam room.
They bathed in such baths all together: men, women, and children, causing amazement of foreigners who specially came to gawk at a spectacle unseen in Europe. “Not only men, but also girls, women of 30, 50 or more people, run around without any shame and conscience the way God created them, and not only do not hide from strangers walking there, but also make fun of them with their indiscretion ”, wrote one such tourist. Visitors were no less surprised how men and women, utterly steamed, ran naked out of a very hot bathhouse and threw themselves into the cold water of the river.
The authorities turned a blind eye to such folk custom, albeit with great displeasure. It is no coincidence that in 1743 a decree appeared, according to which it was forbidden for male and female sexes to bathe together in trading baths. But, as contemporaries recalled, such a ban remained mostly on paper. The final separation occurred when they began to build baths, which included male and female sections.
Gradually, people with a commercial streak realized that bathhouses could become a source of good income, and began to invest money in this business. Thus, the Sandunovsky baths appeared in Moscow (they were built by the actress Sandunova), the Central baths (belonging to the merchant Khludov) and a number of other, less famous ones. In St. Petersburg, people liked to visit the Bochkovsky baths, Leshtokovy. But the most luxurious baths were in Tsarskoye Selo.
The provinces also tried to keep up with the capitals. Almost each of the more or less large cities had their own "Sanduns".
Yana Koroleva