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The Stinky Middle Ages

Now do we really care how many times Mila Kunis bathes her children? Or for that matter, how many times Ashton Kutcher showers or the hygiene habits of any modern celebrity? (For our international friends, this has been a big topic of recent discussion on social media in our country.) I’m most concerned about the bathing habits of other people when I’m in Rome in mid-July on a hot and sticky day inside the Sistine Chapel packed with five thousand other people looking up at the ceiling.

Tourists craning their necks to admire the Sistine Chapel. Photo by anonymous (c. 2013). Daily Mail 21 May 2013. www.dailymail.co.uk
Tourists craning their necks to admire the Sistine Chapel. Photo by anonymous (c. 2013). Daily Mail 21 May 2013. www.dailymail.co.uk

I wrote a blog some time ago addressing medieval sleep habits (click here to read the blog, Medieval Sleep Number©️ Bed). The important question in that blog was “Why were beds so short back then?” It’s not what you might think but you’re probably close. So, today I believe we will discuss something most of us do after getting out of bed in the morning . . . namely, bathing habits. After the folks in the Middle Ages crawled out of their short beds, what was their daily hygiene process?

The answer as to whether people from the Middle Ages were, let’s say, aromatic is not clear cut. There are many opinions about bathing frequencies and types of bathing habits. Opinions are formed by studying medieval illustrations, written accounts, and pure conjecture. Some people believe bathing was done on a regular basis while others point to evidence supporting intermittent bathing. I have not run across anyone’s opinion that bathing was totally neglected. Like many historical questions, there is not one simple answer.

Husband and wife bathing. Illustration by anonymous (date unknown).
Husband and wife bathing. Illustration by anonymous (date unknown).

Read More The Stinky Middle Ages

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Thomas Crapper: Remembered From the Bowels of History

Thomas Crapper toilet at the Victor Horta Museum, Brussels. Photo by Oxyman (2007). Victor Horta Museum. PD-GNU Free Documentation License. Wikimedia Commons.
Thomas Crapper toilet at the Victor Horta Museum, Brussels. Photo by Oxyman (2007). Victor Horta Museum. PD-GNU Free Documentation License. Wikimedia Commons.

Whom and what can you believe these days? Today it’s known as “False or Fake News” and during the Reagan era, it was called “Spin.” A headline (or social media) is where it all starts. I should know. Remember my blog called Cindy Lauper and the Naked Princess? That one got a lot of attention. I recently read a BBC History Magazine article entitled The Legend of Thomas Crapper: Five Myths. It appears as though there has been a fair amount of false news perpetuated about Mr. Crapper over the past century. I suppose it’s all a bunch of crap.

Meet Thomas Crapper

Portrait of Thomas Crapper. Photo by anonymous (c. 19th-century). PD-70+. Wikimedia Commons.
Portrait of Thomas Crapper. Photo by anonymous (c. 19th-century). PD-70+. Wikimedia Commons.

Thomas Crapper (1836−1910) is fondly remembered as the inventor of the toilet or if you will, the flushing toilet. However, is this really true? No, it’s not as we’ll see in a moment. Thomas was seventeen when he apprenticed under his brother George, a master plumber. By the time Thomas was twenty-five, he had gone out on his own and started a brass foundry and plumbing shop near Chelsea (now an affluent section of West London and my nephew’s favorite English Premier League team). Read More Thomas Crapper: Remembered From the Bowels of History