A Comm for Historymemes

Explanation: While medieval hygiene was far from great by modern standards, especially amongst the non-elite, it was about normal for pre-modern societies. People took baths - if not always in tubs, then at least in the local rivers and streams. The 'medieval people didn't bathe' myth is actually more accurate to the Renaissance period, when a mixture of urban culture in bath-houses making them suspected as places of 'sin', and a strange variation of miasma ('bad smell') theory caused ~150-200 years of anti-bathing sentiment. Bathing never entirely went away, but became less popular.

Miasma theory was normally used to encourage cleanliness, but in the Renaissance, a prominent variation of the theory was used to discourage bathing - as bathing would open up the pores of the skin, and let the 'bad air' in to the body. As long as the 'miasma' was on the outside, it was safe!

Neat! Say, when did surgeons start washing their hands? Look it up ;)

Perhaps, but definitely there was poor public sanitation simply because of lack of knowledge. Cholera was epidemic because people would throw their crap outside their homes or just about anywhere they like. Cholera is not common anymore thanks to 19th century science that studied why the disease persisted.

Pug out here ignoring the historical documentaries we have

We're supposed to take bathing info from a pug? Don't you guys go for the "licking things clean" method of washing?

My favorite example is when I talk about medieval hygiene and someone replies: "but yes, they were dirty in the Middle Ages, look at the French king Louis XIV for example, he never took a bath willingly for his all life". And then I look at them with a look that is both dejected and tired and I wait to see if they understands on their own.

Lemmy gets it; on BlueSky there were far too many people being all "but they were dirty tho" when they're really just mixing it up with Late Renaissance / Early Industrial. London was practically unlivable!

Me, seeing this saying "medieval people" and realizing it means "a slice of the world's population that lived in this (probably western European), but I guess fuck the rest and they don't count"

Correct me if im wrong, but what you have to think about is the pest. It was so deadly, because the hygiene (in terms of the streets) was terrible causing massive rat populations and therefore spreading the disease.