Wiping.... for the Hygiene article
May. 31st, 2007 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnyjadwigaHow and whether people 'wiped' in the middle ages after defecating and/or urinating is an obscure topic. There are a number of allegations about how it was done and/or what supplies were provided, but I have found little solid primary source documentation.
It is generally alleged (citations?) that the Romans used a sponge on a stick, with no details as to any care and washing of said sponge between users or uses.
Frank Muir uses a post-1600 text to support his allegation that 3 mussel shells were used for scraping.
Holmes (Daily Living in the 12th century), suggests that 'torche-culs' made of straw, or a small curved stick, called a gomphus, gomph-stick or gomf, were used.
Another text (citation) suggests that in monasteries, part of the necessarium supplies were cabbage-like leaves for the same purpose.
The question of whether babies and infants had diapers once they progressed beyond the swaddling clothes stage (as alleged in a TI article -- citation) is not clear. No instructions for toilet-training the child show up in the 14th-16th century manuals (or excerpts thereof) I have found, though other instructions to the mother or wetnurse for care of the infant (including instructions to wash the child regularly), do.
It is generally alleged (citations?) that the Romans used a sponge on a stick, with no details as to any care and washing of said sponge between users or uses.
Frank Muir uses a post-1600 text to support his allegation that 3 mussel shells were used for scraping.
Holmes (Daily Living in the 12th century), suggests that 'torche-culs' made of straw, or a small curved stick, called a gomphus, gomph-stick or gomf, were used.
Another text (citation) suggests that in monasteries, part of the necessarium supplies were cabbage-like leaves for the same purpose.
The question of whether babies and infants had diapers once they progressed beyond the swaddling clothes stage (as alleged in a TI article -- citation) is not clear. No instructions for toilet-training the child show up in the 14th-16th century manuals (or excerpts thereof) I have found, though other instructions to the mother or wetnurse for care of the infant (including instructions to wash the child regularly), do.
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Date: 2007-05-31 04:36 pm (UTC)Interesting! As a data point, in the 16th century, the normal "breeching" age for boys, when they stopped wearing skirts and put on breeches, was about age six. I've looked at an awful lot of portraits from the period as a part of Jehan's and my doublet research and this pretty much seems to be the case. I'm of several minds about the diaper thing and might it not just have followed the same practice as women did when they had their period, re wearing a rag or not.
BTW, do you have access to EEBO? If not, I'd be glad to look anything up that you might need.