this episode is brought to you by the
Dollar Shave Club how clean were
medieval people medieval hygiene
we're medieval faces and hands always
dirty clothes tattered and smelly this
may be an unfair image hygiene vary
between positions in society Nobles at
the top kept clean because of their
luxuries and expectations - if they
didn't it could bring disgrace to the
kingdom but even amongst the majority of
common people in medieval Europe there
was an interest in maintaining hygiene
and sanitation bathing most medieval
people wash their hands face and feet
every day as these were visible to the
public but unless you were aristocracy
or nobility having a private bath in a
wooden tub at home was not an option
public baths were extremely popular
during the times of the ancient Romans
and Greeks and even into the medieval
times which the lower-class citizens
would use however they started to
decline dramatically during the start of
the 16th century because of the black
death in the Catholic Church or against
the bathhouses
immorality from then on people became
cautious of sharing water with strangers
after the threat of the plague and
lower-class citizens preferred to go
without baths for weeks or months
teeth-cleaning there was a desire to
keep teeth clean like today sugar was
rare and costly at the time and peasants
ate a diet of mainly dairy and
vegetables ensuring strong teeth and
slow tooth decay compared to later
centuries if a tooth needed to be pulled
out however it would of course be done
without any anesthetic or painkillers
medieval Europeans practice their daily
dental hygiene by picking food out of
their teeth and rubbing them this
minimal dental hygiene came from
numerous written manuals the more
refined would follow health manuals
which recommended to wash the mouth with
wine or vinegar after eating and to rub
teeth and gums with rough linen
they also chewed on leaves of mint and
herbes to freshen the breath
toilets for the elite garter robes were
private toilets within their own rooms
found in castles or monasteries the
toilet resembled a hole in a wooden or
stone seat this would be connected to a
shaft leading all the way down into the
moat or cess pit which the waste would
travel down for most people chamber pots
were a common form of household toilet
as a portable solution for carrying
waste outside outhouses and seats with
holes above a trough also existed in
medieval times for toilet paper medieval
people used hay or straw or if they
could afford it
cloth or linen scraps streams and rivers
that flowed near the towns acted as
sewers to carry away the waste or more
fortunate the town may have had old
Roman drainage systems but how did
people dispose of waste in towns where
there were no streams or rivers the
famous image of people throwing filled
chamber pots directly out of their
windows onto the streets below may not
have been as common as it seems such
motivations may have been the dangers of
going outside at night time or just
laziness nevertheless throwing waste
outside windows was illegal and there
were fines against it in the interest of
sanitation informers were even employed
to catch out people breaking this law
the legal solution for such towns was
cesspits and gong farmers were employed
to do the undesirable job of cleaning
out these cesspits of waste thank you to
Dollar Shave Club for sponsoring this
episode
while medieval hygiene was better than
people think hygiene technology has
nevertheless come a long way check out
Dollar Shave Club for example it has all
your grooming products toothpaste body
wash hair styling products everything
you need to look feel and smell your
best not just razors for a limited time
you guys can try out some of their
awesome products for only 5 bucks Dollar
Shave Club is basically giving away
their daily essentials starter set to
new members for only 5 bucks this
starter set features their executive
razor and three trial size versions of
their most popular products that help
you stay fresh and clean just like me
this $5 offer is exclusively available
at dollarshaveclub.com
simple history that's
dollarshaveclub.com
slash nipple history