Home to elaborate gardens, hundreds of ornate fountains and statues, and luxurious decor,
Versailles is synonymous with excess glamour. In truth, the Versailles that was the primary
residence for 17th and 18th century French kings Louis XIV, Louis XV, and Louis XVI was
also a repository of foul odors and filth. Hygiene during the 17th and 18th centuries
was, of course, different from modern standards. At Versailles, residents were up against natural
conditions, described by contemporaries as “the most thankless of places, without wood,
water or earth. Almost everything is shifting sand or airless marshland, and cannot be good”.
Regardless, Versailles transitioned from a hunting lodge to a royal palace by King Louis
XIV during the second half of the 17th century. In 1862, Louis declared Versailles the “capital”
of his kingdom and moved his entire royal court and French government there, the defining
symbol of his power and influence in Europe. Home to thousands of people milling about,
Versailles quickly became overcrowded with bodies - and their byproducts. Bathing at
Versailles did take place, albeit in cold water. At the time, warm water was considered
harmful, allowing for diseases to infiltrate the body. Quick wipe downs, or sponge baths
as we know them today, were preferred over soaking in a tub, although the latter was
known to happen. Through the course of his life, King Louis XIV only had three baths,
so the story goes, even though his apartment at Versailles was equipped with running hot
and cold water, a large bathtub, and several smaller tubs for friends and uhhh.. His lovers.
Louis did get washed, combed, and shaved by attendees each morning and his clothes were
changed numerous times each day. King Louis had drip, not so much stylewise... he literally
dripped. Prone to excessive sweating, Louis’s garments were better treated than those of
the individuals around him, but were far from clean. The King actually had two laundresses
at the Palace - tasked with whitening his linens - but coats, accessories, and outerwear,
were difficult to wash. Made from fur and expensive fabrics, decorated with gems and
precious metals, and embroidered by hand, the King’s fancy accoutrements, and their
accompanying odors, were perfumed rather than cleaned. The throngs of people who gathered
at Versailles also brought body odor and fetid clothing to the Palace. Baths among nonroyals
were rare but washing one’s hands and face each morning remained the norm. Keeping linens
clean was a sign of wealth and prestige, and, because the fabric was believed to absorb
grime, changing one’s shirt was a fundamental part of daily hygiene. Just like their King,
Frenchmen and women applied perfumes and powders to combat odors emanating from their unwashed
outer garments. Bold scents were used to mask other smells as well. Wigs were doused with
fragrances, often in the form of pomades, but this did nothing to combat lice and other
insects that would infest the headpieces. Ironically, the adoption of wigs took place
in reaction to lice that infested one’s natural hair. During the mid-17th century,
men and women shaved their heads to rid themselves of bugs, only to find new critters in their
artificial coifs. Smells didn’t only result from perspiration that permeated hair and
clothing. Bad breath led Madame de Montespan, a mistress to King Louis XIV, to use large
amounts of perfume in hopes of avoiding the royal’s halitosis. In fact, by the time
he died in 1715, Louis had no teeth left in his mouth and had lost part of his jaw, the
result of years of poor diet and nonexistent dental care alike. Flatulence, excrement,
and urine in Versailles brought about a funk that would even make James Brown turn over
in his grave. Personal chambers at Versailles were equipped with chamber pots, but the contents
were simply thrown into cesspits on palace grounds. Royals had toilets of sorts, essentially
a chamber pot under a chair, but they, too, were emptied into cesspits. In moments of
sheer haste, chamber pot contents could be seen flying out of windows of the Palace as
well. At a time when calls to “WATCH FOR THE WATER” were frequent - a reminder to
always look up - even the dauphine Marie-Antoinette was hit with a content of a chamber pot while
at Versailles. According to reports, “a chamber pot was emptied out the window from
the second floor of the Grand Commun, landing on her sedan chair. It also splashed on her
Chaplain and his following, obliging them to abandon her and go change their clothes.”
When a chamber pot wasn’t readily available, it was common for, “the people stationed
in the galleries…[to] piss in all the corners.” The installation of privies on the grounds
of Versailles were of little help, especially with a giant cesspool located in close proximity
to the palace. The presence of latrines in the palace itself by the mid to late 18th
century resulted in a smell that “penetrates the lodgings...and infects furnishings, clothes
and linen.” To be fair, King Louis XV and Marie Antoniette, wife to King Louis XVI,
did take to warm baths, benefiting from revamped plumbing through the course of the 18th century.
Bidets and even a flush toilet provided King Louis XV with a level of convenience unknown
to his predecessors. Even with those changes, visitors to Versailles noted, “the unpleasant
odors in the park, gardens, even the chateau, make one’s gorge rise. The communicating
passages, buildings in the wings, and corridors, are full of urine and feces.” This was the
result of human and animal waste, stagnant water, and dead animals. Alongside animal
feces - most notably those from cats - were food scraps and the like that brought out
vermin, insects, and spread disease. Meals did involve washing one’s hands, but that
was no defense against poor kitchen sanitation. One of the most common results of a lack of
culinary hygiene was tapeworms, a parasite that both King Louis XIV and members of his
court struggled with. On one occasion, the king’s doctor even noted that Louis “produced”
a tapeworm that was 16 centimenters long - and still alive! His autopsy revealed even larger
tapeworms contained within his digestive track. Tapeworms were foodborne, but syphilis - a
disease that afflicted half of the Royal Court during the reign of Louis XIV - was transmitted
through sexual contact. With a loss of inhibtions, sex ran rampant at Versailles. The forests
on the grounds were described as “an open-air brothel with as many prostitutes as there
were trees.” Still one more cause of the dirt found throughout Versailles was the constant
construction taking place at the Palace and throughout the estate. Louis XIV’s reign
oversaw the building of the North and South wings, the Royal Chapel, and the Grand Commun
while his successor Louis XV, made renovations to the interior of the Palace. Add to that
the sheer number of people at Versailles, the continuous upkeep that resulted, what
was more or less a requirement for aristocrats and their families to stay at Versailles permanently,
there was little time for even the most routine cleaning. So what do you think? Would you
be able to handle this? Let us know in the comments below. Be sure to like and subscribe
and thanks for watching Nutty History!