What do you want to know about medieval hygiene?

[bunnyjadwiga]

Ladies and Gents, I have a question for you.
You all may or may not know that I have declared this "Get the Darn Complete Anachronist Manuscript on Medieval/Renaissance Hygiene done" Month.
So, here's my question for you, not only those who have followed the blog but those who are just joining us:

What sorts of information would you want to see /read about in this CA?

Thanks!

Comments

[amykb.livejournal.com]

menstrual information.

I already know you are going to let us know about cleaning our butts :)

[danabren.livejournal.com]

You beat me to it!

[thalionar.livejournal.com]

same here!

[angorian.livejournal.com]

ditto.

[iasmin.livejournal.com]

I'd like to know how hygiene was related to sanctions by the Church (insert your fav religion; it's a personal interest of mine, actually). I'd also like to delve more deeply into my knowledge of how foodstuffs (not just herbs) were used as items for hygienic purposes (e.g., using fat or oil to clean the face of someone with oily skin).

But that's just me.

[jackoutofthebox.livejournal.com]

Which medieval society had the closest ideas to (current) proper hygene?

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I too have been curious about the medieval menstrual stuff. Women of the period might have spent a greater proportion of their lives pregnant than we do today, but they must have menstruated sometime, right?

Also, did people actually smell bad? Did women's long hair pick up bad odors? Did they wash their hair often?

[bytchearse.livejournal.com]

-Oddly enough, medieval menstrual stuff has always puzzled me though it only effects me vicariously.
-Baby hygiene. (Remember the movie Willow? "Here are her changing rags and milk bladder")
-Hand/face washing: Was it done more than just before large feasts? Was it more than just splashing off?
-Winter bathing/hygiene of the NON Upper Class (who presumably had bath tubs and didn't go to the river)
-Nightsoil disposal

[jacylrin.livejournal.com]

My family, being my family, is most interested in potties and related cleanliness issues, of course. Speaking of which, I told my husband (ben_krieg) that you research personal hygiene, and he asked me to give him your LJ ID (we three had a long discussion on pay toilets last night).

[wombatgirl.livejournal.com]

Menstrual issues, how one cleans ones butt, hair/face cleaning practices, but a biggie for me would be food/kitchen hygene. I know what I've seen in some period manuscripts for the washing of various food items, but I'd love to know more than that.

[angorian.livejournal.com]

food/kitchen hygiene interests me too. And how it relates to foods that were made "forbidden" because the likelihood of becoming ill from them was high with the techniques/knowledge of the time.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Did they bathe by immersing themselves in a tub of warm water? Or natural bodies of water (ponds, streams), or by sponge baths? What about steam baths, or oils? Did they use anything other than plain soap for cleaning the hair? How often would a person bathe or shampoo in various cultures?

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

Everything the other respondants said is good, but I'd like to see some things that would be nice for the recreation standpoint - soaps, perfumes, the bath ritual for guests, communal bathing, the ritual bath as part of the knighting ceremony, tooth care, bathing sponges, buckets and brushes, basic hair care, parasite control and odor control. It makes me wonder at the way the medieval people really smelled.

[paquerette.livejournal.com]

I've always heard that Romans were smelly until they stole soap from the Celts, and that medieval Europe by and large bathed pretty regularly but then the plague put the kibosh on that and it didn't pick back up until late Victorian times. Anything that could confirm/deny/expand upon that would be awesome.

I would also love to know if elimination communication was used to cut down on diapering necessity.

[ladyrowansplace.livejournal.com]

What do you know about medieval hygene?

Write it all down.

Mail me the CA.

Thank you!

Many hugs and are you coming to Holiday Faire? If so, stop and say hi - if I'm not hanging with the Bright Hills folks, I'll be at the Worshipful Company of Saint Matthias table.

[pearl]

As well as the stuff that's already been mentioned (like menstruation and keeping babies happy in nappies) the social aspects might be interesting too. Were people who washed too much or too little perceived negatively?

The contrast in opinions about the cleanliness of the Vikings is a big example in my mind. (There's some quotes on the Viking Answer Lady page so you can see what I'm rambling about.)

Also, headlice and parasites, and how they were dealt with (including combs, did lice combs become more specialised over time, or were all combs relatively fine-toothed?)

[landverhuizer.livejournal.com]

So I can wish list anything huh...
well...

-Hair care through the ages
-everyday skin care of the working person through the ages
-special care for people with various complications... sores, wounds, burns... things beyond medicine
-cloths and linens, dealing with infections... what did they know?

[fuzzybutchkins.livejournal.com]

I'm boring, I'd like to hear about treatments for sunburn and dry skin.

Potential Source Book

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

I have a friend that asked me to help find some information on some music and I checked out this book:

Author: Dean, Ruth J
Title: Anglo-Norman literature : a guide to texts and manuscripts / Ruth J. Dean ; with the collaboration of Maureen B.M. Boulton
Publisher London : Anglo-Norman Text Society, 1999

I noted with interest a listing of several medieval manuscripts including one specifically on menstruation and another on comestics, as well as some on health. I thought I might pass this along to you if you haven't encountered it yet. The text also lists publications that have transcriptions of the manuscripts. I think I am going to order the journal article that has the cosmetic recipes :)

Re: Potential Source Book

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I can use all the manuscripts on menstruation I can get, though I suspect it won't be much help on the 'feminine hygiene' aspect.
Doctors in the middle ages and renaissance were obsessed by regular menstruation as a key to women's health and fertility.

Someday I will write a paper on emmenagogues...

Re: Potential Source Book

[jillwheezul.livejournal.com]

There was one other thing I ran across about menstruation that I can't recall hearing from another source, but then I have only a casual interest. Bella, the creator of the Realm of Venus website (Venetian 16th century costume) has transcribed parts of Florio's World of Words (1598)found here:

http://realmofvenus.renaissanceitaly.net/library/florio.htm

I was surprised to read the following entry the first time I came across this:

"Pesso: -a pessary or suppository made of soft wool like a finger, used for secret purposes among women"

Sounds a bit like a tampon, no?

Re: Potential Source Book

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

Pessaries were widely prescribed to apply medications internally to the female parts. What I find interesting is that there is little or no medical commentary I've come across about removing foreign bodies from the vaginal canal in period, whereas PubMed has lots of articles about such things.