Were Medieval People ACTUALLY Dirty? The Truth From The Sources

Thanks to Skillshare for sponsoring my video!

We often see Medieval people, particularly peasants, being represented dirty, muddy and stinky. How accurate of a representation is that? And what does the historical evidence tells us? Let's find out!

[depressedcheeseburger]

A Medieval Knight takes a bath in the river.
All historic documentary filmmakers: *I will pretend that never happened...*

[kevting]

Alexander of Neckham, who lived in Paris in the 1170s, complained that he was often woken in the morning by street cries of, “The baths are hot!”

[ManiusCuriusDenatus]

"Must be king."
"How do you know?"
"He hasn't got sh*t all over him."

[nmwbt]

Monty python & the holy grail was directed by Terry Jones, an historian. He parodied screen depictions, mostly Hollywood's, of filthy peasants in drab clothing.
He Is On Your Side Metatron!

[Osvath]

I really like how fundamentally you grounded this video with the biology, anthropology, pre-history, historiography and just general comparative history. Too often historical phenomenas are explored in a vacuum, I feel like.

[shubbagin]

I remember as a child in Glasgow the communal washhouse, where the women from six houses would do a weekly wash, copper boiler, big sinks, mangles, the lot. I am 75 now, my Granny always said, cleanliness is to godliness. Well done young sir, love your channel.

[juanmanuelcoria]

My grandfather born in a pre industrial era. His Father was a pessant in 19th century. He allays told me that his father considered extremaly rude to sit down to the table and not to wash hand and face, and change clothes if was with dirt or mud when they came from the field from work. Probably was the case most part of human history.

[ryan.]

The misinterpretation is also largely political: progressive politics was gaining ground during Victorian times in the wake of the Enlightenment and thus is became necessary to cast all of history as a progressive march from ignorance, dirt and violence to wisdom, cleanliness and peace

[SarimFaruque]

Jokes aside, I despise how the Greco-Roman eras were highly romanticized and Medieval Europe was demonized.

[Qba]

Speaking of city baths -- medieval guilds often obligated their members to bathe a given minimum number of times per week/month (one could take more baths if he wanted). For example, a lawyer in medieval Cracow had to bathe at least twice a week. Less prestigious professions, like stonemasons, had lower requirements (2-3 times a month).

Also, the clergy sometimes did speak out against public baths, but not so much against the "bath" part but the "public" part (and the public nudity involved).

[AlDim]

There has never been anything as disgusting as London during the Victorian period, so for sure there is some heavy irony there...

[RikkiSan]

It honestly is REALLY unfair how the medieval period is viewed because of myths and misconceptions....insulting even.

[ewoudalliet]

This is a good topic to talk about. People often and sadly look down on medieval people, but they were far more sophisticated than most people would think. Though, in my opinion, it would also be interesting to talk about public hygiene, just like personal hygiene, such as trash and defecation on the roads in cities, the presence of vermin and ways these were dealt with, public latrines, hygiene in case of medical procedures or, as you mentioned, burials/graveyards etc.

[LouisAndreNunes]

I think the "recent" misconception might be associated with the europeans expansions through the americas and other continents, you see, here in Brazil we have documents from the portuguese detailing how the natives bathed frequently and praise their hygine, and there's also the same type of documents detailing this when they met the japanese who in turn found the portuguese "stinky" (I just heard this from a history teacher might be speculation). So the idea of a "filthy european" might be associated with sailers who spent mouths traveling on ships and did not represent the norm, but were falsely labbed as the usual culture.

edit: sorry for my grammar, english is not my main language.

[edi]

I think that Hygiene got worse in the early modern times (especially thinking of wigs). Also, access to sugar left a visible impact on teeth...

[NikovK]

I know a girl who grew up in a jungle village in Vietnam. She was obsessive about keeping the apartment clean because that's how you keep the bugs out of a grass hut. I cannot imagine it being any different at any point in history.

[ErickeTR]

Excellent video as always! Sadly, those "10 DISGUSTING THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE MIDDLE AGES!!!" always have tons of views, while videos with a lot of effort on research and sources pass unnoticed by the masses.

[dreammfyre]

“The plebs were clean.”

- Metatron I

[JO-kplk]

"There's some lovely filth
over here!"
"Help, I'm being repressed!"

[jeroylenkins]

I did a couple of tours in Afghanistan. The thing is when nobody is bathing and everyone smells bad you don't actually notice.