Middle Ages Hygiene Middle Ages hygiene was extremely basic in terms of the disposal of waste products and garbage. However, personal hygiene was better than the perception of Middle Ages Hygiene. People did wash, bath and clean their teeth. The terrible outbreak of the Black Death made Medieval people look for a link between health and hygiene. The words of men who lived during the Middle Ages provide a fascinating and informative first-hand view of different aspects of hygiene during the Medieval era.
Middle Ages Hygiene - Personal Hygiene During the Middle Ages the crusaders brought soap back from the far East to Europe. People generally washed in cold water unless they were wealthy when hot water would be provided for bathing purposes. Bathing was usually conducted in wooden barrels but simply designed bathrooms were added in Medieval Castle interiors for the lords. Before people entered the Great Hall for meals they washed their hands. As cleanliness and hygiene improved during the Middle Ages lavers were introduced which were stone basins used for washing and provided at the entrances of castle dining halls. Bathing was usually conducted in wooden barrels but simply designed bathrooms were added in Medieval Castle interiors for the wealthy nobles and lords.
Middle Ages Hygiene - Dental Hygiene During the Middle Ages people did pay attention to dental hygiene. There was only one remedy for a bad tooth - it would be pulled out without the use of any anaesthetic or pain killer - the pain must have been excruciating. There were no false teeth, or dentures and women especially would have been very concerned about losing their teeth. Teeth were cleaned by rubbing them with a cloth. Mixtures of herbs or abrasives were also used including the ashes of burnt rosemary.
Middle Ages Hygiene - Garderobes or Privies There were many lavatories, called garderobes or privies, included in large Medieval buildings such as castles, monasteries and convents. The Garderobes or Privy chambers were positioned as far away from the interior chambers as practical and often had double doors added to reduce the smell! Chutes were provided for the discharge which often led to the castle moat. Privy seats were made of wood or stone.
Threat to Middle Ages Hygiene - Rush Flooring The practice of covering floors with rushes was a a real threat to hygiene and health during the Middle Ages. Following the Black Death a limited number of carpets and mats were introduced to replace the floor rushes but floors strewn with straw or rushes were still favoured. Sweet smelling herbs such as lavender, camomile, rose petals, daisies and fennel were added to disguise the bad smells which were prevalent due to the inadequate plumbing systems and the rushes.
Erasmus Quote on Middle Ages Health and Hygiene: The great Scholar, Humanist and Reformer Erasmus (1466-1536) wrote to friend describing the state of the Medieval floors during the Middle Ages:
"The doors are, in general, laid with white clay, and are covered with rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for twenty years, harbouring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned. Whenever the weather changes a vapour is exhaled, which I consider very detrimental to health. I may add that England is not only everywhere surrounded by sea, but is, in many places, swampy and marshy, intersected by salt rivers, to say nothing of salt provisions, in which the common people take so much delight I am confident the island would be much more salubrious if the use of rushes were abandoned, and if the rooms were built in such a way as to be exposed to the sky on two or three sides, and all the windows so built as to be opened or closed at once, and so completely closed as not to admit the foul air through chinks; for as it is beneficial to health to admit the air, so it is equally beneficial at times to exclude it".