In The Visitors (Jean-Marie Poiré, 1993), Jean Reno and Christian Clavier were two medieval knights who, due to time gaps, fell into the 20th century and suffered a culture shock. The inhabitants of today’s Paris were no less shocked when they encountered gentlemen from the Middle Ages who smelled bad.
But these are things from the cinema, or perhaps, prejudices assumed generation after generation, because in the Middle Ages the smell was not worse than now, but different. And because the people who lived between the 5th and 15th centuries were not as dirty as they are presented. They washed daily, took care of their hair, changed their clothes, did the laundry, brushed their teeth, waxed and perfumed, used homemade or industrial soap, made bleach, had sewers and recycled excrement.
The historian Javier Traité and the entomologist and writer Consuelo Sanz de Bremond explain it in all kinds of detail in El olor de la Edad Media (Ático de los Libros), an exhaustive work – on sale on the 20th – in which the authors scan hygienic customs in medieval Europe.
The furs of the cities, the chronicles of the kings, medical manuscripts, court poetry or the humorous stories of the time, among other sources, and four years of work have served Traité iSanz to draw the map of the cleanliness customs of the middle age.
The first question is mandatory. What did the Middle Ages smell like? “Smoky”, agree the authors. “Wood if preferred, because the fireplaces in the houses were constantly lit to cook and heat the spaces”. It also smelled of excrement, because “horses, mules and donkeys traveled through the streets, which were not paved, and left their feces there”.
Despite this, the widespread idea of ??the medieval city full of garbage and rats in which parishioners emptied their urinals through the window at the cry of “water goes” is also false. “Cities had latrines and sewers for minor water, and if someone thought to pour urine over the balcony, they would most likely be fined.”
Human feces accumulated in “black pits” and, with those of animals, they were collected in carts or in boats because “they were a very valuable asset, which served as manure for the field.” The stench did not come from humans or livestock, “it spread through the cities with the ceramic industry and also with the meat trade, which caused an unbearable stench, but soon rules were introduced to alleviate it and forced to do the killing outside the walls”.
A city much cleaner than it has been painted can be the ideal place to go on a date in good condition.
First step. bathroom “The cities had bathrooms with cold and hot water where you could go with towels or rent them there. The use of the facilities was free for those who could not pay. In addition, there were fountains and rivers, places that were used to take buckets home. Men and women washed themselves daily with water with a cloth that passed through their armpits, private parts and, above all, their feet, which were the most dirty due to the lack of paving.”
Second step. The clothing “In the Middle Ages, men and women wore an undershirt made of loose linen or cotton, which collected sweat. Everyone, rich or poor, had at least two. They were aired every day and washed at least once a week. In addition, clothes and bedclothes were washed by placing a cloth over a boot of very hot water and ash on top, which was strained. That’s how bleach was made and that’s where laundry comes from.”
Third step The hair. “They protected themselves with ligatures or hats and combed their hair every day to remove grease, dust and dead hair. In addition, they were washed from time to time with water”.
Fourth step Hair removal “Women waxed their legs, armpits and pubes. They used tweezers or shaved, but they also had depilatories based on, for example, marshmallow, bat blood or even goat bile. It is possible that men also waxed their hair”.
fifth step cosmetics “In the Middle Ages there were recipes to whiten the skin and remove stains and powder to color the cheeks and lips.”
In addition, the meeting could take place in an atmosphere of good manners, because “there were rules of etiquette at the table that included washing your hands before and after the meal, not to speak with your mouth full and to clean your lips before drinking”.
The problem of menstruation could always arise and for this the solution was more rudimentary: “The women did not wear panties and when they were menstruating they used cloths fastened to the hips in the shape of a diaper with a kind of cloth or moss compresses, everything and that it is possible that during the period they stayed at home”.
