We study the myth of "unwashed Europe" Automatic translate

We have heard this more than once: “We washed ourselves, but used perfumes in Europe.” It sounds very cool, and, most importantly, patriotic. So it’s clear where everything grows from, centuries-old traditions of cleanliness and hygiene are more important than an attractive “wrapper” of smells. But the shadow of doubt, of course, cannot arise - because if the Europeans had really 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.

Harmenszoon Van Rijn Rembrandt - Bathsheba in the Bathhouse, 1654

Bath and washing in medieval Europe

The washing culture in Europe dates back to the ancient Roman tradition, material evidence of which has been preserved to this day in the form of the remains of Roman terms. Numerous descriptions indicate that a sign of good taste for the Roman aristocrat was a visit to the terma, but as a tradition not only hygienic - massage services were also offered there, and a selected society was also gathered there. On certain days, the terms became available to people of a simple position.

The Baths of Diocletian II in Rome

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

But we digress from a simple statement of fact - the existence of bathhouses in medieval Europe. We are interested in how the change in lifestyle in Europe with the advent of the Middle Ages affected the washing tradition. In addition, we will try to analyze the reasons that could impede hygiene on the scale that has become familiar to us now.

So, the Middle Ages are the pressure of the church, this is the scholasticism in science, the bonfires of the Inquisition… This is the appearance of the aristocracy in a form that was not familiar to Ancient Rome. Castles of feudal lords are built in Europe in many places, around which dependent, vassal settlements are formed. Cities acquire walls and craft artels, neighborhoods of craftsmen. Monasteries are growing. How did a European wash during this difficult period?

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

Water and firewood - without them there is no bath

What is needed for a bath? Water and heat to heat water. Imagine a medieval city, which, unlike Rome, does not have a water supply system for viaducts from the mountains. Water is taken from the river, and it needs a lot. Firewood is needed even more, because heating water requires a long burning of wood, and boilers for heating were not yet known.

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

Francois Clouet - A Lady in the Bathroom, circa 1571

We don’t talk about doubles - marble baths do not allow the use of steam, there are pools with heated water. Paired - tiny, wood-lined rooms appeared in Northern Europe and in Russia because it is cold and there is a lot of available fuel (wood). In the center of Europe, they are simply irrelevant. A public bathhouse existed in the city, was accessible, and aristocrats could and used their own “soap”. But before the advent of a centralized water supply, washing every day was an incredible luxury.

But water supply requires at least a viaduct, and in the flat terrain, a pump and a storage tank. Before the advent of the steam engine and electric motor, there is no question of the pump; before the advent of stainless steel, it is not possible to store water for a long time, it will “rot” in the tank. That is why the bath 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 vast room with a bathtub and a table laid directly in it. It is interesting that there are "rooms" with beds… In one of the beds there is a couple, another couple is unequivocally heading to the bed. It is difficult to say how this situation conveys the atmosphere of “washing,” all this is more like an orgy by the pool… However, according to the testimony and reports of the Paris authorities, already in the year 1300 there were about thirty public baths in the city.

Giovanni Bocaccio describes a visit to a Neapolitan bath by young people from aristocrats as follows:

“In Naples, when the ninth hour arrived, Catella, taking her maid with her and not changing her intention, went to those baths… The room was very dark, which each of them was pleased with”…

A European, a resident of a large city in the Middle Ages, could use the services of public baths, which were allocated funds from the city treasury. But the payment for this pleasure was not low. At home, washing with hot water in a large capacity was excluded due to the high cost of firewood, water and lack of runoff.

The artist Memo di Filipuccio on the fresco “Marital Bath” (1320) depicted a man and a woman in a wooden tub. Judging by the situation in the room with draperies, these are not ordinary citizens.

The “Valencian Codex” of the 13th century prescribes going to the bathhouse separately, by the day, for men and women, setting aside another Saturday for Jews. The document sets the maximum fee for visiting, it is agreed that it is not charged to the servants. Note: 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 in the late XIX - early XX centuries, scooping water into their barrels from the “phantom” (fountain) on Theater Square to deliver it to homes. And the same picture was observed earlier in many European cities. The second problem is drains. The removal of a huge amount of waste water from the baths required some effort or investment. Therefore, a public bath was not a pleasure for every day. But people washed themselves, talking about “unwashed Europe”, unlike “pure” Russia, of course, there is no reason . The Russian peasant drowned the 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

A magnificent engraving by Albrecht Dürer “Men’s Bath” depicts a company of men with beer by the outdoor pool under a wooden canopy, and engraving women on a engraving “Women’s Bath”. Both engravings date back to the very time in which, 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, moreover, both men and women, spend time in the 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 here is a bathhouse that receives 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, saturated with hydrogen sulfide water of natural heating.

Bath in the castle and the palace - a huge luxury

The aristocrat could afford his own soap, like Karl the Bold, who drove a bath of silver. It is made of silver, since it was believed that this metal disinfects water. In the castle of a medieval aristocrat, soap was, but far from generally accessible, in addition, expensive to use.

Albrecht Altdorfer - Bathing Susanna (fragment), 1526

The main tower of the castle - the dungeon - dominated the walls. The water sources in such a complex were a real strategic resource, because during the siege, the enemy poisoned the wells and blocked the channels. The castle was built at a prevailing height, which means that the water either rose as a gate from the river, or was taken from its own well in the courtyard. Fuel delivery to such a castle was an expensive pleasure, heating water during heating by fireplaces was a huge problem, because in a direct chimney of a fireplace, up to 80 percent of the heat simply “flies into the pipe”. 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 the palaces, which in essence were the same castles, only with a large number of people - from courtiers to servants. To wash such a mass of people with accessible water and fuel was very difficult. Huge furnaces for heating water could not be constantly heated in the palace.

Aristocrats who went to mountain resorts with thermal waters, to Baden, whose coat of arms depicts a couple bathing in a wooden, rather cramped bathtub, could afford some luxury. The emblem of the Holy Empire was granted to the city by Emperor Frederick III in 1480. But note that the bathtub in the image is wooden, it’s just a tub, and that’s why - the stone tank 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 the water came through a system of simple clay pipes, could afford such a luxury.

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

Washing was always worth the money…

A certain role in the suppression of the “soap business” in Europe was played by the church, which very negatively perceived the meeting of naked people in any circumstances. And after the next plague invasion, the bathing business was badly damaged, because public baths became places of infection, as Erasmus of Rotterdam (1526) testifies: “Twenty-five years ago, nothing was as popular in Brabant as public baths: today they are already no - the plague taught us to do without them. ”

The appearance of a soap similar to modern is a controversial issue, but there is evidence of Crescans Davin Sabonerius, who in 1371 began production of this product based on olive oil. Subsequently, soap was available to wealthy people, and commoners dispensed with vinegar and ash.

From the evidence that we have collected and cited, we can understand that washing in the bathhouse or in one’s own bath depended in many respects on the ability to pay - for someone for access to a public bathhouse, for someone for the privilege of using the pool. And he who does not feel such a desire will not wash himself now, despite all the benefits of civilization.

Mikhail Sorokin