More from Clean by Virginia Smith

[bunnyjadwiga]

p. 188-190

Elizabeth I of England, educated as a humanist princess, was a perfect exemplar of this new Italian civility...Elizabeth was known to be fussy about her health-- she hated being ill. She preserved her health and lived to old age by apparently following a sensible humanist health regimen; she ate and drank abstemiously, took plenty of exercise, and undoubtedly owned a copy of Sir Thomas Elyot's hugely successful Castel of Helth (1539; five editions by 1560), dedicated to her father's chief minister Thomas Cromwell. She always travelled with her bed and hip bath, and had bathing facilities in all of her palaces, including a sweat bath-- her 'warm box' or 'warm nest' -- inherited from her father at Richmond, her favorite palace. At Richmond she also installed a prototype of the water closet, the invention of her godson "Boy Jack," Sir John Harington (translator of the Salerno Regimen). At Whitehall, Elizabeth also had a hot room with a ceramic tiled stove, as well as a large bath and grooming suite, both inherited from her father, in which to spend time with her intimate companions. This suite was effectively her Cabinet of the Morning. It contained her bedroom, and next to it a 'a fine bathroom... [where] the water pours from oyster shells and different kinds of rock'. Next to the bathroom was a room with an organ 'on which two people can play duets, also a large chest completely covered in silk, and a clock which plays times by striking a bell'. Next to this was a room 'where the Queen keeps her books'. Indeed royal baths were so a la mode that a bathhouse was specially built for Mary, Queen of Scots, at Holyrood Palace in the late 1560s; so there is no reason to think that Queen Elizabeth I did not thoroughly enjoy her monthly bath 'whether she needed it or no' (probably at the time of the menses) and was certainly likely to have taken them more often than that, when returning to Richmond or Whitehall after a long cold journey or a dusty ride on a hot afternoon.

In any case she would have known all about baths, being well versed in the 'arts of adornment' and having a passionate interest in Italian cosmetics.

Things to point out: if Elizabeth suffered from retention of water (edema, dropsy, etc) as she is sometimes claimed to have done, her doctors might have either limited her baths for humorally reasons, or prescribed sweat baths for the same reasons. Retention of water may in fact have been a family problem, plaguing her sister Mary and perhaps even her father in his old age.

In addition, the 'whether she needed it or no' may well NOT have been a comment on her cleanliness, as modern people have usually read it, but a comment on baths for her health, so that she was accustomed to have a bath regularly even without a health prescription...

Comments

[bytchearse.livejournal.com]

Very cool! I am getting educated in small bits and liking it!

Shifting gears: That mustard marinade/sauce you suggested for the chicken at Balfars... I can has recipe? :-D

Mustard...

[bunnyjadwiga.livejournal.com]

Er... mustard sauce... um. Mustard with? cinnamon? Mustard with anise/cinnamon/honey? Uh uh uh. Oh dear. Any more recollection about which mustard? Brain is gone...

Re: Mustard...

[bytchearse.livejournal.com]

Can't recall specifically. I'll try to re-start *my* brain.

See you at Northern Lights?