Exploring the myth of "Unwashed Europe"

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

We have heard this more than once: “We washed ourselves, but in Europe they used perfumery”. It sounds very cool and, most importantly, patriotic. So it is clear where everything grows from, the age-old traditions of cleanliness and hygiene are more important than an attractive "wrapper" of smells. But a shadow of doubt, of course, cannot not arise - after all, if the Europeans really did not “wash themselves” for centuries, could European civilization develop normally and give us masterpieces? We liked the idea of looking for confirmation or refutation of this myth in European art of the Middle Ages.

Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrandt - Bathsheba at the Bath, 1654

Bath and washing in medieval Europe

The culture of washing in Europe goes back to the ancient Roman tradition, the material evidence of which has survived to this day in the form of the remains of Roman baths. Numerous descriptions indicate that a sign of good form for a Roman aristocrat was a visit to 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 terms became available to people of a simple position.

Baths of Diocletian II in Rome

“This tradition, which the Germans and the tribes that entered Rome with them, could not destroy, migrated into the Middle Ages, but with some adjustments. Baths remained - they had all the attributes of thermal baths, were divided into branches for the aristocracy and commoners, continued to serve as a meeting place and interesting pastime”- as Fernand Braudel testifies in his book“The Structures of Everyday Life”.

But we will digress from a simple statement of the 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 hinder the observance of 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 appearance of an aristocracy in a form that was not familiar to Ancient Rome. In Europe, many castles of feudal lords were built, around which dependent, vassal settlements were formed. Cities acquire walls and artisan artels, quarters of craftsmen. Monasteries are growing. How did a European wash himself during this difficult period?

Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari - Bathsheba in her bathroom, 17th century

Water and firewood - there is no bath without them

What is needed for a bath? Water and heat to heat the water. Imagine a medieval city, which, unlike Rome, does not have a system of water supply through viaducts from the mountains. Water is taken from the river, and you need a lot of it. You need even more firewood, because heating water requires a long burning of wood, and then no boilers were known for heating.

Water and firewood are supplied by people who do their business on this, an aristocrat or a wealthy city dweller pays for such services, public baths charge high fees for using the pools, thus offsetting the low prices on public “bath days”. The class structure of society already allows you to clearly distinguish between visitors.

François Clouet - Lady in the Bath, circa 1571

We are not talking about steam rooms - marble baths do not allow the use of steam, there are pools with heated water. Twin rooms - tiny, wood-paneled rooms, appeared in Northern Europe and in Russia because it is cold there and there is a lot of available fuel (wood). In the center of Europe, they are simply irrelevant. A public bath in the city existed, was available, and the aristocrats could and did use their own "soap houses". But before the advent of centralized plumbing, washing every day was an incredible luxury.

But for water supply, at least a viaduct is required, and in flat terrain - a pump and a storage tank. Before the appearance of the steam engine and the electric motor, there was no question of a pump, until the appearance of stainless steel there was no way to store water for a long time, it would "rot" in the container. That is why the bathhouse was not accessible to everyone, but at least once a week a person could get into it 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 "numbers" with beds right there … In one of the beds there is a couple, another couple is unambiguously heading towards the box. It is difficult to say how much this atmosphere conveys the atmosphere of "washing", all this is more like an orgy by the pool … However, according to the testimonies and reports of the Parisian authorities, already in 1300 there were about thirty public baths in the city.

Giovanni Boccaccio describes a visit to a Neapolitan bathhouse by young aristocratic men as follows:

“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, which made each of them happy” …

A European, a 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 payment 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 a woman in a wooden tub in the fresco "Marriage Bath" (1320). Judging by the decor in the room with draperies, these are not ordinary townspeople.

The 13th century "Valencian Code" prescribes going to the bathhouse separately, on a daily basis, for men and women, allocating another Saturday for Jews. The document establishes a maximum payment for a visit, it is stipulated that it will not be charged from the servants. Pay attention: from the servants. This means that a certain estate or property qualification already exists.

As for the water supply system, the Russian journalist Gilyarovsky describes Moscow water carriers as early as the late 19th and early 20th centuries, drawing water into their barrels from the fantala (fountain) on Teatralnaya Square to deliver it to their homes. And the same picture was observed earlier in many European cities. The second problem is drains. Removing a huge amount of waste water from the baths required some effort or investment. Therefore, the public bath was not a pleasure for every day. But people washed themselves, talk about "unwashed Europe", unlike "pure" Russia, of course, there is no reason. The Russian peasant heated the bathhouse once a week, and the nature of the construction of Russian cities made it possible to have a bathhouse right in the yard.

Albrecht Durer - Ladies' Bath, 1505-10

Albrecht Durer - Men's bathhouse, 1496-97

Albrecht Dürer's magnificent engraving "Men's Bath" depicts a company of men drinking a beer by an outdoor pool under a wooden canopy, while an engraving "Ladies Bath" depicts washing women. Both engravings date back to the very time when, according to the assurances of some of our fellow citizens, "Europe did not wash."

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 - 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 swim in hot, naturally heated water saturated with hydrogen sulfide.

Bath in the castle and palace - a huge luxury

The aristocrat could afford his own soap room, like Karl the Bold, who carried a bath of silver with him. Precisely from silver, since it was believed that this metal disinfects water. In the castle of a medieval aristocrat, there was a soap shop, but it was far from being publicly available, 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. The sources of water 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 dominant height, which means that the water either rose from the river by a gate, or was taken from its own well in the yard. Delivery of fuel to such a castle was an expensive pleasure, heating water when heating by fireplaces was a huge problem, because in the direct chimney of the fireplace, up to 80 percent of the heat simply "flies out into the chimney." The aristocrat in the castle could afford a bath no more than once a week, and even then under favorable circumstances.

The situation was no better in palaces, which were essentially the same castles, only with a large number of people - from courtiers to servants. It was very difficult to wash such a mass of people with available water and fuel. Huge stoves for heating water could not be constantly heated in the palace.

A certain luxury could be afforded to aristocrats who traveled to mountain resorts with thermal waters - to Baden, on the coat of arms of which a couple is shown bathing in a rather cramped wooden bath. The emperor of the Holy Empire, Frederick III, granted the coat of arms to the city in 1480. But note that the bathtub in the image is wooden, it's just a tub, and that's why - the stone container cooled the water very quickly. In 1417, according to the testimony of 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 came through a system of simple clay pipes, could afford such a luxury.

Charlemagne, according to Eingard, loved to spend time at the hot springs of Aachen, where he specially built himself a palace for this.

It has always cost money to wash …

A certain role in the suppression 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 plague invasion, the bathing business suffered greatly, as public baths became places for the spread of infection, as evidenced by Erasmus of Rotterdam (1526): “Twenty-five years ago, nothing was as popular in Brabant as public baths: today they are already no - the plague has taught us to do without them.”

The appearance of a soap similar to the modern one 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 got along with vinegar and ash.

From the evidence we have collected and presented, it can be understood that washing in a bath or in your own bath largely depended on the ability to pay - someone for access to a public bath, someone for the privilege of using the pool. And the one who does not feel such a desire will not wash even now, despite all the benefits of civilization.

Mikhail Sorokin