How did people use to bathe themselves in medieval times?

Answer 1

It's a myth that, in medieval times, a person did not bathe, that bathing was evil, etc. One writer, Jerome of the early Church, was a little loony about bathing and insisted women should not bathe naked because it was shameful for a woman, and virgins should not bathe with non-virgins or they could become pregnant or something inane like that. On the other hand, Pope Gregory the Great encouraged bathing every Sunday. Hildegarde of Bingen wrote about herbs to mix and pour over the head in saunas. Many Christians turned ancient pagan bathing areas into churches, with the natural spring being a purification in the name of Christ. Cleanliness was next to Godliness, after all.

There were some extremists who insisted a person should only bathe for Easter and Christmas, and monks in Cluny followed this, including bathing clothed! Such advice by zealous moralists was generally ignored by the public. What the Catholic Church really had against bathing was the fact that public bath houses were mixed sexes, and people tended to indulge in hot baths.

People washed their hands in rose water before every meal. Hand, teeth, and faces had to be clean every morning. Monasteries set up fountains to wash their hands. There are artworks of nobles who would soak together in hot tubs with their meals on floating tables. Some hosted banquets within a large bathing pool. Woodcarvings show outdoor bathing was a social event. Burghers went to the local bath house naked so his clothes would not be stolen. I'm sure the Church was not happy about that!

Many writings of that time spoke of knights being bathed by the lord's daughter when they came to visit a castle. One poet spoke of a lord who had a golden bath tub with silver pipes to bring in the water. Paris had a Guild of Bathhouse Keepers and hired criers to announce to the city when the water was hot. One diary from 1511 shows a man named Lucas Rem took 127 baths within 20 days. He must have been a real neat freak!

After the Black Plague, Europe split on the idea of bathing. Some turned to the extremists ideas and insisted bathing must have washed away a layer of protection against the disease. Other places, notably Italy, began cracking down on cleanliness, suggesting cleaning with vinegar. Some Slavic towns even had laws that a peasant must visit the bath house once a week or else pay a fine.

Obviously, although some Church extremists insisted bathing was evil, the Medieval world was, for the most part, a cleanly one.

Answer 2

In the Middle Ages, people regarded cleanliness as a virtue, and believed sickness was carried by bad air, so they tried very hard to be as clean as they could be. We have a fairly large body of artwork showing people in the baths.

There were public bath houses in cities, towns, and even some villages. Wealthy people used their own bath tubs in their own homes, in many cases, but it is clear that they also used public baths. I have read that the attitudes of the time were such that peasants, without access to bath houses, bathed in brooks, even in winter.

The bath tubs were made of wood, and in many cases somewhat larger than modern tubs.

In the bath houses, there were a number of tubs in a single room, and the artwork we have indicates men and women bathed together in at least some places. The Church promoted cleanliness, but some theologians were not particularly happy about public nudity, so there seems to have been some ambivalence about this. The people, on the other hand, seem to have enjoyed it. There are medieval pictures of banquets in bath houses, with bath tubs for two people shared by couples. The tubs were set up side by side, with a plank laid across to serve as a table top, couples facing each other across the plank. The women wore jewelry in these pictures while they were bathing.

Soap existed in ancient Rome in liquid form. There were improvements in it, including the invention of hard soap, during the Middle Ages.

Answer 3

No. There was no indoor Plumbing and they barely had a tub for a bath. To take a bath meant sitting in a tub of cold water or heating water bucket by bucket. The soap was lye with ashes and tallow. It was very hard on the skin. Most people didn't wash nor did they wash their outer clothing and they all smelled of wood smoke and tallow from the candles they used.