Cleanliness-
Bathing and cleansing of the medieval woman

BATHING - DEODORANTS, SOAP & PERFUMING - ORAL HYGIENE & DENTISTRY

Bathing
The general standard of cleanliness was considerably higher than Hollywood movies would have us believe. The poorer person was just as concerned with personal hygiene and cleanliness as the wealthy. A lack of money and possessions did not preclude the lowest classes from basic good hygiene. Hands and faces were usually washed with water before meals and after. In noble households, ewers of water which were often scented with rose petals or other fragrant herbs were set aside for this express purpose.

Pictured at left, a stained glass image of a woman bathing in a large, canopied wooden tub . Pictured at right, a detail from a 14th century illuminated manuscript, "Tacuinum Sanitatis" showing two women washing the lower legs.

Bathing was a part of the daily ritual; the peasant or lower class would bathe in streams or wash from a small basin and jug, whilst the wealthier would attend public baths if they did not have one at their residence. Due to the way that medieval people utilised their household space, a seperate room was not usually set aside for the purpose of bathing alone. The wooden tub would be brought to the room where it was required along with the heated water and fragrant oils or soaps.

Baths or stewes were almost a popular passtime for the townsperson or noble. Scented bathes might also include a meal or refreshment served on a tray which reached from one side of the tub to the other. Bathers would be attended by men and women who would supply the patron's needs. Although bathers bathed nude, headwear was still worn.

The church, whilst favouring cleanliness of mind, body and spirit were very quick to denounce public stewes as dens of iniquity and moral looseness, which it seems, they often were.

The Trotula texts give quite explicit cleansing instructions for women prior to intercourse. (follow up).

Deodorant, soap and perfuming
Perfumes and sachets were very much in demand. Roses and lavender were especially cultivated for distillation of their oils. Musk was known and used as a fixitive.

Documentation of guilds of soap-producers can be found in Europe as early as 800 A.D although soap did not come into widespread use in Europe during the ninth century. It is generally accepted that soap was known in England by the 10th century. A record from Richard of Devizes, a monk from the 12 century makes remark about the nuber of soap-makers in Bristol and the smelly nature of their profession. Records show a "sopehouse" at Bishopgate in London in the 15th century.

Early soaps were usually made with tallow, ash and beef or mutton fats making them rather unattractive to look at. Techniques for producing the production of soap improved during the next two hundred years, but it remained soft. By the 12th century hard soap came into use and is said to be an Arab development which was later imported into Europe.
The best soaps were known as "castile soap" having originated in Castile, Spain. They were made using olive oil instead of fats.

The image above at right is a detail from the third panel of Lorenzetti's "The Birth of Mary" painted in 1342. It shows women with a water jug and cloths for drying. A deodorant comprising of an infusion of bay leaves and hyssop is known.

Oral Hygiene & Dentistry
Brushes used for the cleansing of the teeth in the middle ages were unknown although mouthwashes of vinegar along with various powders and the leaves of the mallow plant were employed as were sticks for picking at food left between the teeth for general dental hygiene. Ladies who were troubled with bad breath were advised to employ the use of anise, fennell and cinnamon as a remedy. To chew upon such leaves should alleiviate the situation much in the same way that parsley is served on our plates today; not just a garnish, but also to remove any bad breath caused by odorous foods.

The lack of refined sugars that we know today assisted in the less instances of tooth decay, although poor nutrition caused its own set of problems. Toothache was also seen as a punishment from God or caused by worms burrowing into the gums and teeth. For the lay populace dentistry was quite rudimentary and often extractions were performed by itinerants who travelled from town to town. Post extraction bleeding and infection often caused problems for the unfortunate patients. Barbars or barbar-surgeon often also were the town's dental practitioners.

There are records of acid being employed to pour into painful tooth cavities which destroyed the nerve endings and allieviated the pain but did nothing to re-enforce the tooth shell. Dental fillings appear to be unknown but Paul B Newman, author of "Daily Life In The Middle Ages" claims that gold caps were used as early as the 15th century.

A lecture given to the PHS in May 1993 by Dr David Brown, Head of the Department of Dental Materials Science, U.M.D.S. Dental School, Guys Hospital, London stated that:

"historically, a range of materials has been used for denture bases, including stone, wood, shell, bone, horn, ivory and metal. The Romans used bone and ivory (from the hippopotamus) including natural teeth in the dentures then subsequently ivory and later porcelain teeth. There appear to be no records of this technology being used in the middle ages however, so it is unknown whether these methods were known and employed or otherwise."

A marginal note in the Lebar Brecc from the Revue Celtique V, edited and translated by Whitley Stokes gives us this prayer:

Ordu Thomais togaide
i toeb Crist cen chinaid
ron-ícca mo déta cen guba
ar chruma is ar idhain.

translation:
May the thumb of chosen Thomas
in the side of guiltless Christ
heal my teeth without lamentation



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