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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2009 17:22:42 GMT
They did very very hard physical labor outdoors in all weather. They did very very hard physical labor indoors at all hours. In some times and places they wore their clothes until they rotted away and just put another layer on over them ( this may be another victorian era myth) They heated and lit their homes with open flames, cooked over them too. In some places they actually drank milk. Raw milk of course, Pasturization was a 19th century development. And while many would never deliberately take a bath,many people bathed on a regular basis. Besides, you still got rained on, or had to cross a river without a bridge, or were rudely awakened by having a bucket of water poured over you.
The alcohol thing... all but no distilled spirits- a very little brandy,a really small amount of wisky,-no gin,rum,scotch,or vodka. It only takes about 3% alcohol to make a safe drink. No cars,trucks, bicycles, or powertools to worry about either.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2009 18:04:04 GMT
I feel very spoiled now.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2009 19:07:41 GMT
There are innumerable reasons why we live longer these days than they did back then. And they're not all medical advances...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 14:33:26 GMT
So they didn't bathe at all, and they didn't drink anything but alchoholic beverages for the most part. What other unhealthy things did they do on a regular day? The Templars NEVER bathed; they felt that to do so would be sinful. They believed by not washing their bodies, they were in fact, closer to God. Which is the exact opposite of what we're taught (cleanliness is next to godliness or whatever). Could you imagine what the massed army must've smelled like, collectively? Then factor in campaigns...you know someone had to dig the latrines, usually too shallow, so you have unwashed masses + poorly dug latrines + sweaty horseflesh = an olfactory experience never to be forgotten. Hollywood and the literary world tend to romanticize the Templars, and the High Middle Ages and the Renaissance as well- but keep in mind, hygiene was a good deal more compulsory than it is now...now, we're taught that it is a necessity. Not so much so back then. And maybe it was because of the general lack of water while on campaign but even at rest, or so I've read, that bathing wasn't something they indulged in. I think it was, in part, so that none of the brothers would see eachother naked and be tempted...so even then, it was a problem within the Catholic Church. lol
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 14:59:35 GMT
Ah yes, the "holy stink".
And I happen to like the smell of sweaty horses, means we've gotten in a good days work.
lol K
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 15:19:56 GMT
I like the smell of horseflesh too...but the rank stench of unwashed man is something I can do w/out...even on my own self!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 16:15:44 GMT
Queen Isabella of Spain once remarked of how proud she was of the three baths she took in her life. The day she was born, the day she was married, and the day (I can't remember).
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 16:35:30 GMT
Dirty bee-yatch! LOL
Imagine having to share a bed with her! You'd have an eternal headache...and not contrived either, but from the stench!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 18:20:06 GMT
King Ferdinand probably smelled just as good. He would have had one more bath as part of the ritual of being knighted.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 18:48:47 GMT
True love?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 19:03:04 GMT
Or deadened olfactory senses! I guess that was one of the unmentioned blessings we receive at birth...that our senses get adjusted to whatever natural stimuli that are present, so they're not so stimulating after a time.
Otherwise sanitation and plumbing workers would be in heavy, heavy rotation regarding unemployment figures and whatnot!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 20:35:45 GMT
You can get used to just about anything. Including such stenches. Especially if you grew up among them.
Queen Elizabeth (the first one) bragged about how she took a bath every year whether she needed one or not.
And it gets worse, none of them bathed naked. Not even the men. They had at Least 1 layer of cloth on in the water. And instead of soap, they used scented oils and flower petals to make themselves smell clean.
But wait! There's more! Got more than one person who needs a bath? Line them up. The next person can use your used water. And then the person after that one gets That water, etc, etc, etc...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2009 23:58:04 GMT
Baths would have been by seniority rather than by who needed it the most. The water needed to be heated in the kitchen or outdoors and hand carried to wherever the tub was set up. Remember no running water, no indoor plumbing, no automatic hot water heaters.
And the chamber pots got dumped out the window into the middle of the street.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 0:15:02 GMT
Okay, I think that my entire love for medieval life just disappeared.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 2:54:39 GMT
Okay, I think that my entire love for medieval life just disappeared. It is not just medieval people that never took baths. People who lived prior to the 1900's did not take baths all that often either. People did not have boilers in their houses. Taking a cold bath in the winter in an invitation to pneumonia. Prior to the wide spread use of penicillin, if you got pneumonia, you had a 50% chance of dieing. Growing up I have talked to a number of people who lived through 1900-1920. They all had many classmates that died from pneumonia. It was normal. There is a reason why pre 1940 everyone had a hat on their head year round. Now you see, people waiting on line at clubs in the city wearing just T-shirts and mini-skirts when its freezing outside. People today don't expect to die from what starts out as a cold. The people who lived 100 years ago have more in common with people who lived 1000 years ago then we have with our own great grandparents.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 4:52:40 GMT
The people who lived 100 years ago have more in common with people who lived 1000 years ago then we have with our own great grandparents. Sad, but very true. Or perhaps it's not so sad. The advancements in the last 100 years have been nothing short of miraculous, in many cases.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 14:34:27 GMT
Okay, I think that my entire love for medieval life just disappeared. LOL Then you didn't love it in the first place.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 15:59:09 GMT
You really don't have to go back that far...submariners, WW2. Ever watch the movie " Das Boot" great picture. They slept in the same beds in shifts without bathing for months.Ahhhh!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 16:27:23 GMT
...And it was all recycled air, to boot...
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 17:07:44 GMT
not recycled, just rebreathed. They had to surface to change the air in the boat. And they still hot rack on US subs.
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