Different eras are associated with different smells. the site publishes a story about personal hygiene in medieval Europe.
Medieval Europe quite rightly smells of sewage and the stench of rotting bodies. The cities did not at all resemble the neat Hollywood pavilions where costume productions of Dumas' novels are filmed. The Swiss Patrick Suskind, known for his pedantic reproduction of everyday details of the era he describes, is horrified by the stench of European cities of the late Middle Ages.
Queen of Spain Isabella of Castile (late 15th century) admitted that she washed only twice in her entire life - at birth and on her wedding day.
The daughter of one of the French kings died from lice. Pope Clement V dies of dysentery.
The Duke of Norfolk refused to bathe, allegedly out of religious belief. His body was covered with ulcers. Then the servants waited until his lordship was dead drunk, and barely washed him off.
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 their bad teeth. Representatives of the nobility, who naturally had healthy white teeth, were usually embarrassed by them and tried to smile less often so as not to show their “shame.”
A manual of courtesy issued at the end of the 18th century (Manuel de civilite, 1782) formally prohibits the use of water for washing, “for this makes the face more sensitive to cold in winter, and heat in summer.”
Louis XIV washed only twice in his life - and then on the advice of doctors. The washing horrified the monarch so much that he swore off ever taking water treatments. Russian ambassadors at his court wrote that their majesty “stinks like a wild beast.”
The Russians themselves throughout Europe were considered perverts for going to the bathhouse once a month - outrageously often (a widespread theory is that the Russian word “stink” comes from the French “merd” - “shit”, so far, however, we recognize as overly speculative).
Russian ambassadors wrote about Louis XIV that he “stinks like a wild beast”
There has long been anecdotal evidence of a preserved note sent by King Henry of Navarre, who had a reputation as a hardened Don Juan, to his beloved, Gabrielle de Estre: “Don’t wash yourself, honey, I’ll be with you in three weeks.”
The most typical European city street was 7-8 meters wide (this is, for example, the width of the important highway that leads to Notre Dame Cathedral). Small streets and alleys were much narrower - no more than two meters, and in many ancient cities there were streets even a meter wide. One of the streets of ancient Brussels was called “One Man Street,” indicating that two people could not separate there.
Louis XVI bathroom. The lid on the bathroom served both to retain heat and at the same time as a table for studying and eating. France, 1770
Detergents, as well as the very concept of personal hygiene, did not exist at all in Europe until the mid-nineteenth century.
The streets were washed and cleaned by the only janitor who existed in those days - rain, which, despite its sanitary function, was considered a punishment from God. The rains washed away all the dirt from secluded places, and stormy streams of sewage rushed through the streets, sometimes forming real rivers.
If in rural areas they dug cesspools, then in cities people defecated in narrow alleys and courtyards.
There were no detergents in Europe until the mid-nineteenth century.
But the people themselves were not much cleaner than the city streets. “Water baths warm the body, but weaken the body and dilate the pores. Therefore, they can cause illness and even death,” stated a 15th-century medical treatise. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that air contaminated with infection could penetrate into cleaned pores. That is why public baths were abolished by the highest decree. And if in the 15th - 16th centuries rich townspeople washed themselves at least once every six months, in the 17th - 18th centuries they stopped taking a bath altogether. True, sometimes I had to use it - but only for medicinal purposes. They carefully prepared for the procedure and gave an enema the day before.
All hygiene measures amounted to only lightly rinsing the hands and mouth, but not the entire face. “Under no circumstances should you wash your face,” doctors wrote in the 16th century, “as catarrh may occur or vision may deteriorate.” As for the ladies, they washed 2-3 times a year.
Most aristocrats saved themselves from dirt with the help of a scented cloth with which they wiped their bodies. It was recommended to moisten the armpits and groin with rose water. Men wore bags of aromatic herbs between their shirts and vests. The ladies only used aromatic powder.
Medieval “cleanies” often changed their linen - it was believed that it absorbed all the dirt and cleansed the body of it. However, the change of linen was selective. A clean, starched shirt for every day was the privilege of wealthy people. That is why white ruffled collars and cuffs came into fashion, indicating the wealth and cleanliness of their owners. The poor people not only did not wash, but also did not wash their clothes - they did not have a change of linen. The cheapest shirt made of rough linen cost as much as a milk cow.
Christian preachers called for literally walking in rags and never washing, since this was precisely the way to achieve spiritual cleansing. It was also forbidden to wash because this would wash off the holy water that one had 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. Monks and nuns set an appropriate example for other Christians to serve the Lord. They looked at the cleanliness with disgust. Lice were called "God's pearls" and were considered a sign of holiness. Saints, both male and female, usually boasted that water never touched their feet, except when they had to ford rivers. People relieved themselves wherever they had to. For example, on the main staircase of a 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.
The Louvre, the palace of the French kings, did not have a single toilet. They emptied themselves in the courtyard, on the stairs, on the balconies. When in “need”, guests, courtiers and kings either sat down on a wide window sill near an 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 in Versailles, for example, during the time of Louis XIV, life under whom 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 mass in a chapel or cathedral), stood up and relaxed, in a corner, relieved themselves of small (and not very) need.
There is a well-known story about how one day the Spanish ambassador arrived to the king and, going into his bedchamber (it was in the morning), found himself in 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 in fresh air, the unlucky ambassador simply fainted from the stench - the bushes in the park served as a permanent latrine for all the courtiers, and the servants poured sewage there.
Toilet paper didn't come into existence until the late 1800s, and until then people used what they had at hand. The rich had the luxury of wiping themselves with strips of cloth. The poor used old rags, moss, and leaves.
Toilet paper didn't appear until the late 1800s.
The walls of the castles were equipped with heavy curtains, and 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, this never even occurred to anyone, because 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 trousers, consisting of only vertical ribbons in several layers.
Flea control methods were passive, such as scratching sticks. The nobility fights insects in their own way - during Louis XIV’s dinners at Versailles and the Louvre, there is a special page to catch the king’s fleas. Wealthy ladies, in order not to create a “zoo,” wear silk undershirts, believing that a louse will not cling to the silk, because it is slippery. This is how silk underwear appeared; fleas and lice really don’t stick to silk.
Beds, which are frames on turned legs, surrounded by a low lattice and always with a canopy, became of great importance in the Middle Ages. 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 bedbugs were not visible on it.
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 “white” or “black”. If smoke from the stove came out through the chimney, they steamed “white.” If the smoke went directly into the steam room, then after ventilation the walls were doused with water, and this was called steaming “black.”
There was another original way to wash -in a Russian oven. After preparing the food, straw was laid inside, and the 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 major holidays. First of all, men and boys went to wash, and always on an empty stomach.
The head of the family prepared a birch broom, soaking it in hot water, sprinkled kvass on it, and swirled it over hot stones until fragrant steam began to emanate from the broom, and the leaves became soft, but did not stick to the body. And only after that they began to wash and steam.
One of the ways to wash in Russia is a Russian stove
Public baths were built in cities. The first of them were erected by order of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. These were ordinary one-story buildings on the river bank, consisting of three rooms: a dressing room, a soap room and a steam room.
Everyone washed in such baths together: men, women, and children, causing amazement to foreigners who specially came to gaze at a spectacle unprecedented in Europe. “Not only men, but also girls, women of 30, 50 or more, run without any shame or conscience, just as God created them, and not only do not hide from strangers walking there, but also laugh at them with their immodesty “, wrote one such tourist. No less surprising to the visitors was how men and women, extremely steamed, ran naked from a very hot bathhouse and threw themselves into the cold water of the river.
The authorities turned a blind eye to such a folk custom, although with great dissatisfaction. It is not by chance that in 1743 a decree appeared according to which it was forbidden for men and women to steam together in commercial baths. But, as contemporaries recalled, such a ban remained mostly on paper. The final division occurred when they began to build baths, which provided for male and female sections.
Gradually, people with a commercial spirit realized that baths could become a source of good income, and began to invest money in this business. Thus, the Sandunov Baths (built by the actress Sandunova), the Central Baths (owned by the merchant Khludov) and a number of other, less famous baths appeared in Moscow. In St. Petersburg, people loved to visit the Bochkovo and Leshtokov baths. But the most luxurious baths were in Tsarskoe Selo.
This is not a detailed study, but just an essay that I wrote last year, when the discussion about the “dirty Middle Ages” had just begun in my diary. Then I was so tired of the arguments that I simply didn’t post it. Now the discussion has continued, well, here is my opinion, it is stated in this essay. Therefore, some things that I have already said will be repeated there.
If anyone needs links, write, I’ll pull up my archive and try to find them. However, I warn you - they are mostly in English.
Eight myths about the Middle Ages.
Middle Ages. The most controversial and controversial era in human history. Some perceive it as the time of beautiful ladies and noble knights, minstrels and buffoons, when spears were broken, feasts were noisy, serenades were sung and sermons were heard. For others, the Middle Ages were a time of fanatics and executioners, fires of the Inquisition, stinking cities, epidemics, cruel customs, unsanitary conditions, general darkness and savagery.
Moreover, fans of the first option are often embarrassed by their admiration for the Middle Ages, they say that they understand that everything was wrong - but they love the external side of knightly culture. While supporters of the second option are sincerely confident that the Middle Ages were not called the Dark Ages for nothing; it was the most terrible time in the history of mankind.
The fashion to scold the Middle Ages appeared back in the Renaissance, when there was a sharp denial of everything that had to do with the recent past (as we know it), and then, with the light hand of historians of the 19th century, they began to consider this very dirty, cruel and rude Middle Ages... the times since the fall of ancient states and until the 19th century, declared the triumph of reason, culture and justice. Then the myths developed, which now wander from article to article, scaring fans of chivalry, the Sun King, pirate novels, and in general all romantics from history.
Myth 1. All knights were stupid, dirty, uneducated louts
This is probably the most fashionable myth. Every second article about the horrors of Medieval morals ends with an unobtrusive moral - look, dear women, how lucky you are, no matter what modern men are, they are definitely better than the knights you dream of.
We’ll leave the dirt for later; there will be a separate discussion about this myth. As for lack of education and stupidity... I recently thought how funny it would be if our time were studied according to the culture of the “brothers”. One can imagine what a typical representative of modern men would be like then. And you can’t prove that men are all different; there is always a universal answer to this - “this is an exception.”
In the Middle Ages, men, oddly enough, were also all different. Charlemagne collected folk songs, built schools, and himself knew several languages. Richard the Lionheart, considered a typical representative of chivalry, wrote poetry in two languages. Karl the Bold, whom literature likes to portray as a sort of macho boor, knew Latin very well and loved to read ancient authors. Francis I patronized Benvenuto Cellini and Leonardo da Vinci. The polygamist Henry VIII spoke four languages, played the lute and loved the theater. And this list can be continued. But the main thing is that they were all sovereigns, models for their subjects, and even for smaller rulers. They were guided by them, imitated, and respected by those who, like his sovereign, could knock an enemy off his horse and write an ode to the Beautiful Lady.
Yeah, they will tell me - we know these Beautiful Ladies, they had nothing in common with their wives. So let's move on to the next myth.
Myth 2. “Noble knights” treated their wives as property, beat them and didn’t care for a penny.
To begin with, I will repeat what I already said - the men were different. And not to be unfounded, I will remember the noble lord from the 12th century, Etienne II de Blois. This knight was married to a certain Adele of Normandy, the daughter of William the Conqueror and his beloved wife Matilda. Etienne, as befits a zealous Christian, went on a crusade, and his wife remained waiting for him at home and managing the estate. A seemingly banal story. But its peculiarity is that Etienne’s letters to Adele have reached us. Tender, passionate, yearning. Detailed, smart, analytical. These letters are a valuable source on the Crusades, but they are also evidence of how much a medieval knight could love not some mythical Lady, but his own wife.
One may recall Edward I, who was crippled by the death of his adored wife and brought to his grave. His grandson Edward III lived in love and harmony with his wife for more than forty years. Louis XII, having married, turned from the first libertine of France into a faithful husband. No matter what the skeptics say, love is a phenomenon independent of the era. And always, at all times, they tried to marry the women they loved.
Now let's move on to more practical myths, which are actively promoted in films and greatly disrupt the romantic mood of lovers of the Middle Ages.
Myth 3. Cities were dumping grounds for sewage.
Oh, what they don’t write about medieval cities. To the point that I came across the statement that the walls of Paris had to be completed so that the sewage poured over the city wall did not flow back. Effective, isn't it? And in the same article it was argued that since in London human waste was poured into the Thames, it was also a continuous stream of sewage. My rich imagination immediately went into hysterics, because I just couldn’t imagine where so much sewage could come from in a medieval city. This is not a modern multimillion-dollar metropolis - 40-50 thousand people lived in medieval London, and not much more in Paris. Let's leave aside the absolutely fabulous story with the wall and imagine the Thames. This not the smallest river splashes 260 cubic meters of water per second into the sea. If you measure this in baths, you get more than 370 baths. Per second. I think further comments are unnecessary.
However, no one denies that medieval cities were not at all fragrant with roses. And now you just have to turn off the sparkling avenue and look into the dirty streets and dark gateways, and you understand that the washed and illuminated city is very different from its dirty and smelly underside.
Myth 4. People haven’t washed for many years
It’s also very fashionable to talk about washing. Moreover, very real examples are given here - monks who, out of excess of “holiness,” did not wash for years, a nobleman, who also did not wash out of religiosity, almost died and was washed by servants. They also like to remember Princess Isabella of Castile (many saw her in the recently released film “The Golden Age”), who vowed not to change her underwear until victory was won. And poor Isabella kept her word for three years.
But again, strange conclusions are drawn - lack of hygiene is declared the norm. The fact that all the examples are about people who took a vow not to wash themselves, that is, they saw this as some kind of feat, asceticism, is not taken into account. By the way, Isabella’s act caused a great resonance throughout Europe, a new color was even invented in her honor, everyone was so shocked by the princess’s vow.
And if you read the history of baths, or even better, go to the corresponding museum, you will be amazed at the variety of shapes, sizes, materials from which baths were made, as well as methods of heating water. At the beginning of the 18th century, which they also like to call the century of dirt, one English count even had a marble bathtub with taps for hot and cold water in his house - the envy of all his acquaintances who went to his house as if on an excursion.
Queen Elizabeth I took a bath once a week and required all her courtiers to bathe more often as well. Louis XIII generally soaked in the bath every day. And his son Louis XIV, who they like to cite as an example as a dirty king, since he just didn’t like baths, wiped himself with alcohol lotions and really loved swimming in the river (but there will be a separate story about him).
However, to understand the inconsistency of this myth, it is not necessary to read historical works. Just look at paintings from different eras. Even from the sanctimonious Middle Ages, many engravings depicting bathing, washing in baths and baths remained. And in later times they especially liked to depict half-dressed beauties in baths.
Well, the most important argument. It is worth looking at the statistics of soap production in the Middle Ages to understand that everything they say about the general reluctance to wash is a lie. Otherwise, why would it be necessary to produce so much soap?
Myth 5. Everyone smelled terrible.
This myth directly follows from the previous one. And he also has real proof - Russian ambassadors to the French court complained in letters that the French “stink terribly.” From which it was concluded that the French did not wash, they stank and tried to drown out the smell with perfume (about perfume is a well-known fact). This myth even appeared in Tolstoy’s novel Peter I. The explanation for him couldn’t be simpler. In Russia it was not customary to wear a lot of perfume, whereas in France they simply doused themselves with perfume. And for the Russian people, the Frenchman, who reeked of perfume profusely, was “stinking like a wild beast.” Anyone who has traveled on public transport next to a heavily perfumed lady will understand them well.
True, there is one more piece of evidence concerning the same long-suffering Louis XIV. His favorite, Madame Montespan, once, in a fit of quarrel, shouted that the king stank. The king was offended and soon after this he broke up with his favorite completely. It seems strange - if the king was offended that he stank, then why shouldn’t he wash himself? Yes, because the smell did not come from the body. Louis had serious health problems, and as he grew older his breath began to smell bad. There was nothing that could be done, and naturally the king was very worried about this, so Montespan’s words were a blow to a sore spot for him.
By the way, we must not forget that in those days there was no industrial production, the air was clean, and the food may not be very healthy, but at least it was free of chemicals. And therefore, on the one hand, the hair and skin did not become greasy longer (remember our air in megacities, which quickly makes washed hair dirty), so people, in principle, did not need to wash longer. And with human sweat, water and salts were released, but not all those chemicals that are abundant in the body of a modern person.
Myth 7. Nobody cared about hygiene
Perhaps this particular myth can be considered the most offensive for people who lived in the Middle Ages. Not only are they accused of being stupid, dirty and smelly, but they also claim that they all enjoyed it.
What had to happen to humanity at the beginning of the 19th century for it to like everything being dirty and lousy, and then suddenly suddenly stop liking it?
If you look through the instructions on the construction of castle toilets, you will find interesting notes that the drain must be built so that everything goes into the river, and does not lie on the bank, spoiling the air. Apparently people didn’t really like the stench after all.
Let's go further. There is a well-known story about how one noble Englishwoman was reprimanded about her dirty hands. The lady retorted: “You call this dirt? You should have seen my legs." This is also cited as an example of lack of hygiene. Has anyone thought about strict English etiquette, according to which you cannot even tell a person that he has spilled wine on his clothes - it is impolite. And suddenly the lady is told that her hands are dirty. The extent to which the other guests must have been outraged was to break the rules of good manners and make such a remark.
And the laws that were issued every now and then by the authorities of different countries - for example, bans on pouring slop into the street, or regulation of the construction of toilets.
The problem in the Middle Ages was basically that washing was really difficult back then. Summer doesn’t last that long, and in winter not everyone can swim in an ice hole. Firewood for heating water was very expensive; not every nobleman could afford a weekly bath. And besides, not everyone understood that illnesses were caused by hypothermia or insufficient clean water, and under the influence of fanatics they attributed them to washing.
And now we are gradually approaching the next myth.
Myth 8. Medicine was practically absent.
You hear so much about medieval medicine. And there were no means other than bloodletting. And they all gave birth on their own, and without doctors it’s even better. And all medicine was controlled by priests alone, who left everything to God’s will and only prayed.
Indeed, in the first centuries of Christianity, medicine, as well as other sciences, was practiced mainly in monasteries. There were hospitals and scientific literature there. The monks contributed little of their own to medicine, but they made good use of the achievements of ancient physicians. But already in 1215 surgery was recognized as a non-ecclesiastical matter and passed into the hands of barbers. Of course, the entire history of European medicine simply does not fit into the scope of the article, so I will focus on one person whose name is known to all readers of Dumas. We are talking about Ambroise Paré, personal physician to Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III. A simple listing of what this surgeon contributed to medicine is enough to understand the level of surgery in the middle of the 16th century.
Ambroise Paré introduced a new method of treating gunshot wounds that were then new, invented prosthetic limbs, began performing operations to correct cleft lip, improved medical instruments, and wrote medical works, which were then used by surgeons throughout Europe. And births are still performed using his method. But the main thing is that Pare invented a way to amputate limbs so that a person does not die from blood loss. And surgeons still use this method.
But he didn’t even have an academic education, he was simply a student of another doctor. Not bad for “dark” times?
Conclusion
Needless to say, the real Middle Ages are very different from the fairy-tale world of knightly romances. But it’s no closer to the dirty stories that are still in fashion. The truth is probably, as always, somewhere in the middle. People were different, they lived differently. The concepts of hygiene were indeed quite wild in modern terms, but they existed, and medieval people cared about cleanliness and health as far as their understanding was concerned.
And all these stories... some people want to show how “cooler” modern people are than medieval people, some are simply asserting themselves, and some do not understand the topic at all and repeat other people’s words.
And finally – about memoirs. When talking about terrible morals, lovers of the “dirty Middle Ages” especially like to refer to memoirs. Only for some reason not on Commines or La Rochefoucauld, but on memoirists like Brantome, who published probably the largest collection of gossip in history, seasoned with his own rich imagination.
On this occasion, I propose to recall a post-perestroika anecdote about a trip of a Russian farmer (in a jeep that had a standard radio) to visit an Englishman. He showed farmer Ivan the bidet and said that his Mary washes herself there. Ivan thought - where does his Masha wash? I came home and asked. She answers:
- Yes, in the river.
- And in winter?
- How long is that winter?
Now let’s get an idea of hygiene in Russia based on this anecdote.
I think that if we rely on such sources, our society will turn out to be no purer than the medieval one.
Or let’s remember the program about the partying of our bohemia. Let’s supplement this with our impressions, gossip, fantasies, and we can write a book about the life of society in modern Russia (we are worse than Brantôme - we are also contemporaries of events). And descendants will study the morals in Russia at the beginning of the 21st century based on them, be horrified and say what terrible times those times were...
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In ancient Rus', special attention was paid to the construction of baths, since keeping the body clean was considered the main factor influencing human health. For some, building a bathhouse turned out to be too expensive, which, however, did not stop people from looking for other methods of cleansing - for example, washing in stoves.
Washing in a Russian oven seems to a modern person something completely impossible and unrealistic. For some, such a procedure is just another tradition that has grown rather into a legend, but for representatives of the older generation, such stories are not fiction at all, but quite obvious childhood memories.
Where did the custom come from?
Even in ancient times, Russian people understood that cleanliness is the key to health, and they tried to observe its manifestations in everything: in everyday life, in clothing and, most importantly, in taking care of their own body. No wonder ancient Rus' were not affected by the numerous diseases that raged in Europe and were caused, first of all, by a complete lack of personal hygiene and unsanitary living conditions. Travelers visiting our country often noted that the inhabitants of Russian settlements look completely different: fresh clothes, clean hair and a washed face. This is not surprising, because in Rus' at that time only the lazy could not wash.
Antique stove from 1890
Baths were a mandatory attribute of ancient Russian settlements. If the family did not have enough strength or funds to build a bathhouse, water procedures were carried out in stoves.
It is difficult to establish where exactly the custom of washing in the stove began. Different parts of Russia have preserved evidence of the use of this method since the 15th century.
This tradition extended not only to villagers, but also to city dwellers, since the stove was the only means of heating the premises. According to ethnographers, the custom of washing in the stove survived among some population groups until the 20th century.
How did you wash before?
The internal structure of the Russian stove provides for long-term heat retention inside its furnace, especially if, after firing, the vent is closed with a damper. This design allows not only to maintain the temperature in the room, but also to keep heated water and food placed in it warm. The nuance of maintaining the water temperature is very important, since they usually “started” the stove in the morning, and washed after all the preparations, in the late afternoon.
Old Russian stoves are massive in size; two adults could easily sit inside the stove while doing water procedures. There was still space left for two pots and a broom.
After the day's preparations were completed, the stove was cleaned of ash, soot and soot. Before washing, the surface on which they climbed was covered with straw or small planks, so as not to get dirty on the way back. After all the actions, the laundering process itself began.
In the oven washed old people, small children or infants. In short, those who, due to circumstances, could not get to the bathhouse or were not in good enough health. Sick family members were also not taken to the bathhouse, especially in winter - they were washed in the stove. Small children were “transferred” to the oven on a special shovel, where one of the adults received them, and old people on small linden boards in a lying position.
Children were placed on special shovels
Young unmarried girls They also used the stove when it was necessary to wash. This is due to the belief that angry spirits live in the baths - banniki and kikimoras, who are capable of committing all sorts of atrocities to a girl. If the young beauty left the bath accessories in the wrong place or disturbed the peace of the spirit with any actions, he could get angry and prop the door, letting in a couple, or knock over a basin of boiling water on the culprit.
Since Rus' had its own rules for going to the bathhouse, unmarried girls could only wash with children or young sisters, who also did not have spouses. In some villages, a lonely girl going to the bathhouse was equated with a sin, and the girls had no choice other than washing in the oven.
Free women were only allowed to bathe with their sisters
Washing at home under the above circumstances was much calmer. Each hut had a red corner in which icons were placed, and it was possible to perform water procedures without fear of evil spirits.
We washed ourselves in a Russian oven and medicinal purposes. Family members who fell ill with “dandruff” (cough, presumably bronchial) were placed in the oven, where tubs of special decoctions awaited them. Before being sent to the oven, a similar herbal decoction was given orally, and the body was coated with a specially prepared dough. This was done in order to warm up the body as much as possible both outside and inside. A scarf or cap was placed on the patient's head to prevent heat stroke, called "burning out."
Those suffering from certain types of skin diseases were also washed in the oven. Such people were not taken to the bathhouse, so that the disease would not affect other family members with the water. After washing, the broom, along with the flooring on which the patient was placed, was burned. During the subsequent firing of the furnace, the disease was, as it were, “burned”, not allowing it to get out. This method of cleansing helped to localize the disease, and subsequently get rid of it altogether.
Video
We have heard this more than once: “We washed ourselves, but in Europe they used perfume.” It sounds very cool, and, most importantly, patriotic. So it’s clear where everything comes from; centuries-old traditions of cleanliness and hygiene are more important than an attractive “wrapper” of smells. But a shadow of doubt, of course, cannot help but arise - after all, if Europeans really had not “washed themselves” for centuries, would European civilization have been able to develop normally and give us masterpieces? We liked the idea of looking for confirmation or refutation of this myth in European works of art of the Middle Ages.
Bath and washing in medieval Europe
The culture of washing in Europe dates back to the ancient Roman tradition, material evidence of which has survived to this day in the form of remains of Roman baths. Numerous descriptions indicate that a sign of good manners for a Roman aristocrat was visiting a thermal bath, but as a tradition not only hygienic - massage services were also offered there, and a select society gathered there. On certain days, the baths became accessible to people of low standing.
Baths of Diocletian II in Rome
“This tradition, which the Germans and the tribes that entered Rome with them could not destroy, migrated to the Middle Ages, but with some adjustments. The baths remained - they had all the attributes of thermal baths, were divided into sections for the aristocracy and commoners, and continued to serve as meeting places and interesting pastimes,” as Fernand Braudel testifies in his book “Structures of Everyday Life.”
But we will digress from a simple statement of fact - the existence of baths in medieval Europe. We are interested in how the change in lifestyle in Europe with the advent of the Middle Ages affected the tradition of washing. In addition, we will try to analyze the reasons that could prevent hygiene on the scale that has become familiar to us now.
So, the Middle Ages are the pressure of the church, this is scholasticism in science, the fires of the Inquisition... This is the emergence of an aristocracy in a form that was not familiar to Ancient Rome. Across Europe, many castles of feudal lords are being built, around which dependent, vassal settlements are formed. Cities acquired walls and craft artels, quarters of craftsmen. Monasteries are growing. How did Europeans wash themselves during this difficult period?
Water and firewood - without them there is no bathhouse
What is needed for a bath? Water and heat to heat the water. Let's imagine a medieval city, which, unlike Rome, does not have a water supply system via viaducts from the mountains. Water is taken from the river, and you need a lot of it. Even more firewood is needed, because heating water requires long-term burning of wood, and boilers for heating were not yet known.
Water and firewood are supplied by people who make their own business, an aristocrat or wealthy citizen pays for such services, public baths charge high fees for the use of swimming pools, thus compensating for the low prices on public “bath days.” The class system of society already makes it possible to clearly differentiate between visitors.
François Clouet - Lady in the Bath, circa 1571
We're not talking about steam rooms - marble baths do not allow you to use steam, there are pools with heated water. Steam rooms - tiny, wood-panelled rooms, appeared in Northern Europe and Rus' because it was cold there and there was a lot of available fuel (wood). In the center of Europe they are simply irrelevant. A public bathhouse existed in the city, it was accessible, and the aristocrats could and did use their own “soaphouses.” But before the advent of centralized water supply, washing every day was an incredible luxury.
But to supply water, at least a viaduct is required, and in flat areas - a pump and a storage tank. Before the advent of the steam engine and electric motor, there was no question of a pump; before the advent of stainless steel, there was no way to store water for a long time; it would “go rotten” in the container. That is why the bathhouse was not accessible to everyone, but a person could get into it at least once a week in a European city.
Public baths in European cities
France. The fresco “Public Bath” (1470) depicts people of both sexes in a large room with a bathtub and a table set right in it. It is interesting that there are “rooms” with beds right there... There is a couple in one of the beds, another couple is clearly heading towards the bed. It is difficult to say to what extent this setting conveys the atmosphere of a “wash”; it all looks more like an orgy by the pool... However, according to evidence and reports from the Parisian authorities, already in 1300 there were about thirty public baths in the city.
Giovanni Boccaccio describes a visit to a Neapolitan bath by young aristocrats as follows:
“In Naples, when the ninth hour came, Catella, taking her maid with her and without changing her intention in any way, went to those baths... The room was very dark, which each of them was pleased with”...
A European resident of a large city in the Middle Ages could use the services of public baths, for which funds from the city treasury were allocated. But the price for this pleasure was not low. At home, washing with hot water in a large container was excluded due to the high cost of firewood, water and the lack of drainage.
The artist Memo di Filipuccio depicted a man and woman in a wooden tub in the fresco “The Conjugal Bath” (1320). Judging by the furnishings in the draped room, these are not ordinary townspeople.
The “Valencian Code” of the 13th century prescribes going to the bathhouse separately, by day, for men and women, also setting aside Saturday for Jews. The document establishes a maximum fee for visiting, and stipulates that it will not be charged to servants. Let us pay attention: from the servants. This means that a certain class or property qualification already exists.
As for the water supply, the Russian journalist Gilyarovsky describes Moscow water carriers already at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, scooping water into their barrels from the “fantal” (fountain) on Teatralnaya Square to deliver it to houses. And the same picture was observed before in many European cities. The second problem is waste. Removing huge amounts of waste water from bathhouses required some effort or investment. Therefore, a public bath was not a pleasure for every day. But people washed there is, of course, no reason to talk about “unwashed Europe”, as opposed to “pure” Rus'. The Russian peasant heated a bathhouse once a week, and the nature of the development of Russian cities made it possible to have a bathhouse right in the yard.
Albrecht Durer - Women's Bath, 1505-10
Albrecht Durer - Men's bathhouse, 1496-97
Albrecht Dürer's magnificent engraving "Men's Bath" shows a group of men drinking beer by an outdoor pool under a wooden canopy, and the engraving "Women's Bath" shows women washing themselves. Both engravings date back to the very time in which, according to the assurances of some of our fellow citizens, “Europe did not wash itself.”
The painting by Hans Bock (1587) depicts public baths in Switzerland - many people, both men and women, spend time in a fenced pool, in the middle of which a large wooden table with drinks floats. Judging by the background of the picture, the pool is open... Behind is the area. It can be assumed that this depicts a bathhouse receiving water from the mountains, possibly from hot springs.
No less interesting is the historical building “Bagno Vignole” in Tuscany (Italy) - there you can still bathe in hot, naturally heated water saturated with hydrogen sulfide.
A bathhouse in a castle and palace is a huge luxury
An aristocrat could afford his own soap bar, like Charles the Bold, who carried a silver bath with him. It was made of silver, since it was believed that this metal disinfects water. In the castle of a medieval aristocrat there was a soap dish, but it was far from accessible to the public, and, moreover, it was expensive to use.
Albrecht Altdorfer - Bathing of Susanna (detail), 1526
The main tower of the castle - the donjon - dominated the walls. Water sources in such a complex were a real strategic resource, because during a siege the enemy poisoned wells and blocked canals. The castle was built at a commanding height, which means that the water was either raised by a gate from the river or taken from its own well in the courtyard. Delivering fuel to such a castle was an expensive pleasure; heating water when heating with fireplaces was a huge problem, because in a direct fireplace chimney up to 80 percent of the heat simply “flies out the chimney.” An aristocrat in a castle could afford a bath no more than once a week, and only under favorable circumstances.
The situation was no better in palaces, which were essentially the same castles, only with a larger number of people - from courtiers to servants. It was very difficult to wash such a mass of people with available water and fuel. The huge stoves for heating water could not be constantly lit in the palace.
A certain luxury could be afforded by aristocrats who traveled to mountain resorts with thermal waters - to Baden, whose coat of arms depicts a couple bathing in a wooden, rather cramped bathtub. The city's coat of arms was granted by the Emperor of the Holy Empire, Frederick III, in 1480. But note that the bathtub in the image is wooden, it’s just a tub, and here’s why - the stone container cooled the water very quickly. In 1417, according to Poggio Braccioli, who accompanied Pope John XXIII, Baden had three dozen public baths. The city, located in the area of thermal springs, from where water flowed through a system of simple clay pipes, could afford such luxury.
Charlemagne, according to Einhard, loved to spend time at the hot springs of Aachen, where he specially built himself a palace for this purpose.
It always costs money to wash...
A certain role in the oppression of the “soap business” in Europe was played by the church, which very negatively perceived the gathering of naked people in any circumstances. And after the next invasion of the plague, the bathing business suffered greatly, as public baths became places of spread of infection, as evidenced by Erasmus of Rotterdam (1526): “Twenty-five years ago nothing was as popular in Brabant as public baths: today there are already no - the plague taught us to do without them.”
The appearance of soap similar to modern soap is a controversial issue, but there is evidence of Crescans Davin Sabonerius, who in 1371 began the production of this product based on olive oil. Subsequently, soap was available to wealthy people, and commoners made do with vinegar and ash.
Probably, many, having read foreign literature, and especially “historical” books by foreign authors about ancient Rus', were horrified by the dirt and stench that supposedly reigned in Russian cities and villages in ancient times. Now this false template has become so ingrained in our consciousness that even modern films about ancient Rus' are made with the indispensable use of this lie, and, thanks to cinema, the falsehood continues that our ancestors allegedly lived in dugouts or in the forest in swamps, They didn’t wash for years, wore rags, and as a result they often got sick and died in middle age, rarely living past 40.
When someone, not very conscientious or decent, wants to describe the “real” past of another people, and especially an enemy (we have long been and quite seriously been considered an enemy by the entire “civilized” world), then, by inventing a fictitious past, they write off, of course, from myself, since they cannot know anything else either from their own experience or from the experience of their ancestors. This is exactly what “enlightened” Europeans have been doing for many centuries, diligently guided through life, and long ago resigned to their unenviable fate.
But lies always come to light sooner or later, and we now know for certain Who in fact was unwashed, but who smelt clean and beautiful. And enough facts from the past have accumulated to evoke appropriate images in the inquisitive reader, and to personally experience all the “charms” of a supposedly clean and well-groomed Europe, and to decide for himself where - Truth, And where - lie.
So, one of the first mentions of the Slavs that Western historians give notes how home the peculiarity of the Slavic tribes is that they "pouring water", that is wash in running water, while all other peoples of Europe washed themselves in tubs, basins, buckets and bathtubs. Even Herodotus in the 5th century BC. speaks of the inhabitants of the steppes of the northeast that they pour water on stones and steam in huts. Washing under jet It seems so natural to us that we do not seriously suspect that we are almost the only, or at least one of the few, peoples in the world that do exactly this.
Foreigners who came to Russia in the 5th-8th centuries noted the cleanliness and neatness of Russian cities. Here the houses did not stick to each other, but stood wide apart, there were spacious, ventilated courtyards. People lived in communities, in peace, which means that parts of the streets were common, and therefore no one, as in Paris, could splash out a bucket of slop just for the street, while demonstrating that only my house is private property, and don't care about the rest!
I repeat once again that the custom "pour water" previously in Europe distinguished precisely our ancestors - the Slavic-Aryans, and was assigned specifically to them as a distinctive feature, which clearly had some kind of ritual, ancient meaning. And this meaning, of course, was transmitted to our ancestors many thousands of years ago through the commandments of the gods, namely, another god Perun, who flew to our Earth 25,000 years ago, bequeathed: “Wash your hands after your deeds, for whoever does not wash his hands loses the power of God...” His other commandment reads: “Cleanse yourself in the waters of Iriy, which is a river flowing in the Holy Land, in order to wash your white body and sanctify it with God’s power.”.
The most interesting thing is that these commandments work flawlessly for the Russian in the soul of a person. So, any of us probably feels disgusted and “the cats are scratching at our souls” when we feel dirty or very sweaty after hard physical labor or the summer heat, and we want to quickly wash off this dirt from ourselves and refresh ourselves under the streams of clean water. I am sure that we have a genetic dislike for dirt, and therefore we strive, even without knowing the commandment about washing our hands, always, coming from the street, for example, to immediately wash our hands and wash our face in order to feel fresh and get rid of fatigue.
What was going on in supposedly enlightened and pure Europe from the beginning of the Middle Ages, and, oddly enough, until the 18th century?
Having destroyed the culture of the ancient Etruscans (“these Russians” or “Rus of Etruria”) - the Russian people who in ancient times settled Italy and created a great civilization there, which proclaimed the cult of purity and had baths, the monuments of which have survived to this day, and around which it was created MYTH(MYTH - we distorted or distorted the facts - my transcript A.N..) about the Roman Empire, which never existed, the Jewish barbarians (and this was, undoubtedly, them, and no matter what kind of people they covered for their vile purposes) enslaved Western Europe for many centuries, imposing their lack of culture, filth and depravity .
Europe hasn't washed itself for centuries!!!
We first find confirmation of this in letters Princess Anna- daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Kyiv prince of the 11th century AD. It is now believed that by marrying his daughter to the French king Henry I, he strengthened his influence in “enlightened” Western Europe. In fact, it was prestigious for European kings to create alliances with Russia, since Europe was far behind in all respects, both cultural and economic, compared to the Great Empire of our ancestors.
Princess Anna brought with me to Paris- then a small village in France - several carts with its own personal library, and was horrified to discover that her husband, the king of France, can not, Not only read, but also write, which she was quick to write to her father, Yaroslav the Wise. And she reproached him for sending her to this wilderness! This is a real fact, there is a real letter from Princess Anna, here is a fragment from it: “Father, why do you hate me? And he sent me to this dirty village, where there was nowhere to wash...” And the Russian-language one, which she brought with her to France, still serves as a sacred attribute on which all French presidents take the oath, and previously kings swore an oath.
When the Crusades began crusaders struck both the Arabs and the Byzantines by the fact that they reeked “like homeless people,” as they would say now. West became for the East synonymous with savagery, dirt and barbarism, and indeed he was this barbarism. Returning to Europe, the pilgrims tried to introduce the observed custom of washing in the bathhouse, but it didn’t work out that way! Since the 13th century baths already official hit banned, allegedly as a source of debauchery and infection!
As a result, the 14th century was probably one of the most terrible in the history of Europe. It flared up quite naturally plague epidemic. Italy and England lost half of their population, Germany, France, Spain - more than a third. How much the East lost is not known for certain, but it is known that the plague came from India and China through Turkey and the Balkans. She only went around Russia and stopped at its borders, exactly in the place where they were widespread baths. This is very similar to biological warfare those years.