The myth of "unwashed" Russia: the way of life and hygiene of our ancestors

Medieval Europe is often compared to Ancient Russia, not only in the political and economic context, but also in terms of everyday life. For zealous defenders of liberal values, the comparison is, of course, in favor of the Europeans: "The cultural nations of Europe, in contrast to unwashed Russia." But only such statements do not stand up to criticism either in terms of the fact that medieval Europeans were distinguished by "culture and refined manners", nor in terms of the fact that Russia was "unwashed." The image of "unwashed" Russia is a myth that has little in common with reality.

Today, there are many documentary evidences of what was the level of personal and public hygiene in Europe in the Middle Ages and in the territories that are commonly called Russia, Muscovy. And it should be emphasized that the comparison here is definitely not in favor of the European "partners".

The history magazine Proshloe's channel features the candidate's narrative historical Sci., Senior Researcher of the IRI (Institute of Russian History) RAS Stepan Shamin. In this plot, we are talking about life in Russia in the XNUMXth century, including how the Kremlin's water supply was organized, how the obstetric aid was carried out, what features of hygienic procedures distinguished our distant ancestors. Among other things, the so-called "toilet" topic is also raised.

Comments

[Skay]

For zealous defenders of liberal values, the comparison is, of course, in favor of the Europeans: "The cultural nations of Europe, in contrast to unwashed Russia"

Anna Yaroslavna, Queen of France, is very surprised ...

[Tatyana]

In the West, and in particular in France, perfume was invented and were used precisely in order to interrupt the fetid odor of an unwashed body and unwashed sweaty clothes from noble persons.
And what to say at the same time, if not about the French nobility, but about mere mortals!
So let the Westerners shut up about the "NEMYTOY" Russia !!!

[tihonmarine]

Quote: Tatiana

And what to say at the same time, if not about the French nobility, but about mere mortals!

Even at Versailles, all the corridors were in "piles" of feces and chamber pots.

[Vladimir61]

Quote: Tatiana

In the West, and in particular in France

Also, wide-brimmed hats so that the shit poured out on top ...
PS- Sorry, Uncle Lee! Didn't read the post below.

[Petrograd]

Yes, and hats with wide brims were worn not for beauty, but for the protection of clothes from "guanic precipitation" there were in those days and such precipitation mainly flew from the windows

[Uncle lee]

Wide-brimmed hats in Europe were so that sewage from the upper floors did not fall into the collar, cologne and perfume were invented to "mask" the stench, and satin linen - so that the lice would not cling .... "Clean" damn it!

[novel66]

Hello Volodya! you know. what it is?

purely europe

[Uncle lee]

Roma hello! Nope, I don't know, I'm not from Europe!

[novel66]

a little lower, we did not have this

[Uncle lee]

Quote: novel xnumx

we didn't have that

Therefore, I have not heard of such a thing ... About a thick comb, for combing out nits, I know ...

[novel66]

as well as saunas and washers

[Uncle lee]

You know about freezing cockroaches!

[novel66]

laughter laughter, but last year I got acquainted with bedbug freezing .... it's alles!

[tihonmarine]

Quote: novel xnumx

as well as saunas and washers

Lice swatters were good for clothes lice, baths for hair, but nits remained in the head even after the bath, but the pubic louse was a scourge, she was very resistant to the bath.

[tihonmarine]

Quote from Uncle Lee

About a thick comb, for combing out nits, I know ...

And what did they wear wigs for?

[Vladimir_2U]

Quote: tihonmarine

And what did they wear wigs for?

I read that there were many syphilitics, and from this case, the hair fell out much earlier than tail the nose fell off, so the noble syphilitics disguised themselves, and then they became fashionable.

[tihonmarine]

Quote: Vladimir_2U

so the noble syphilitics disguised themselves, and then they became fashionable.

It is truth too. But many also had their hair cut from lice and wore wigs. And who walked with hair, then in the evening they fried wigs with lice, and supposedly there were fewer of them. But in any case, they covered up the dirt, which is still being done now, but by other means and methods.

[Phil77]

Blocholovka? I really am also ... not from Europe.

[novel66]

bingo! Mr Esposito

[Phil77]

By the way, they were very, very diverse and depended entirely on the status of the owner.

[novel66]

the best jewelers worked

[Phil77]

Absolutely. But ... not for everyone!

[novel66]

and they smelled like. and the lack of toilets? peeing under the stairs

[Phil77]

Purely as an example.

[novel66]

aha, and a ditch in the middle of the street for draining sewage

[tihonmarine]

Quote: novel xnumx

aha, and a ditch in the middle of the street for draining sewage

In many cities in Africa, "French ditches" still exist, only in the form of concrete boxes connected into one.

[IvaNik]

This layout raises a lot of questions: someone tried to sit on a ventilation pipe up to several tens of meters high and shit there, I think the attraction will still work;
And who knows what kind of birdhouse it is just above the toilet model, under the battlements of the tower?
The correct answer: this is the toilet and shit right into the ditch and everything flowed down the wall or scattered in the wind.
And yes, at the very top of the towers were the living quarters of the owners of the castle and the best guest rooms, and such birdhouses were their natural companions.
And this knowledge gained from visiting about a dozen preserved castles in Ireland.

[tihonmarine]

Quote: novel xnumx

and they smelled like. and the lack of toilets? peeing under the stairs

And they wrote and kakili, but also there were no baths, but the Romans had them even before the Rogation of Christ.

[Bolt cutter]

there were no baths

There were over 13 public baths in 32th century Paris. Southwark, a London borough, then had 18 public baths.
https://www.medievalists.net/2013/04/did-people-in-the-middle-ages-take-baths/#:~:text=Medieval%20people%2C%20in%20fact%2C%20seems,be%20just%20fronts%20for%20brothels.

[Bolt cutter]

In medieval Germany, people went to a public bath like a restaurant - they ate and drank right in the bathrooms.

[Phil77]

Yes, they washed in Europe, washed themselves, and in the Middle Ages too. Another question is that this pleasure was quite expensive.

[Bolt cutter]

this pleasure was quite expensive.

The poor made their own soap (and swam in the river), and those who were richer bought Spanish (so-called Castilian) olive soap.
https://going-medieval.com/2019/08/02/i-assure-you-medieval-people-bathed/

[rocket757]

The myth of "unwashed" Russia: the way of life and hygiene of our ancestors

... What is there to discuss and why ..... still vonius geyropeytsy will explain something to us ???

[Phil77]

We have to explain more often to us. And yet. And you do not admit the idea that a countermyth about * unwashed Europe * was launched against the myth of * unwashed Russia *? Nothing personal, an ideological war. Everyone who is supposed to know about the state of affairs in the camp the enemy was aware of the realities. And the people? * well, people are eating ... *

[Tatyana Pershina]

In 1934, the French factory L'Oreal introduced a soap-free hair wash to the market. Dop was hard hitting the market. Then, in order to find out the reason, Eugene Schueller, the founder of L'Oreal, commissioned a study, as a result of which it turned out that 30% of French people never wash their hair at all.
And this is not the 17th century, but the 20th!

[Phil77]

Here you, a woman, believe in the reality of this?

[Bolt cutter]

30% of French people never wash their hair at all

And their hairstyle is something like this

[Kaw]

I read that in Russia only wealthy families had baths, the rest washed in huts.

[nikvic46]

Russian people at all times found a way to bathe. There is no bath, washed in the stove. But when war, devastation, hunger came, it was hard. Here, an ordinary louse became the winner. This all lasts maybe several years, and the consequences last for decades. In our class, a female nurse was checking her nails. And every month the doctor checked their heads, and this was 10 years after the war.

[place]

Once, while on the Black Sea beach, I watched a scuffle between the Germans and the Russians. The reason was a phrase said in German; "Gutes Land, schade, dass die Schweine es gerade bekommen haben". They have a myth about Russian pigs, we have a patriotic myth about German pigs. However, the Germans blurted out their careless words not because of a myth, but because of a pile of rubbish adjacent to the beach. Therefore, the Germans were right to enter into “polemics!” In some ways, the Germans were right. We will soon simply drown in our waste.

[place]

It is worth adding that I have seen and now see a lot of such neat people who arrange a pigsty around themselves because others must clean up after them.

[zenion]

Especially often those who lived in dugouts washed themselves. Up to 90% of the population lived in villages and similar places. They were forced to wash bed bugs, fleas constantly gnawed precious furniture and sable skins, they could not stand it. Did you have to wash twice a week, or a year?

[Sychev Vitalii]

Enough already to amuse yourself with mythology from Russopyatskaya thin. literature. The same Muscovy, and then provincial Russia, has always been poor and backward (they lagged behind literally in everything by 100-200 years; take book printing - it appeared in Europe, and 100 years later in Muscovy).

It was the same with personal hygiene and sanitation. The servants, who were more than 95%, had nothing: on occasion they washed themselves anyhow and wherever, in winter there was nowhere to wash, walked in dirty underwear (with which they wiped everything - there were no panties) and smelled. Most had neither baths nor large stoves, where the peasants most often washed themselves, did not have either. And there was no sorting - they went to nature in the field or behind the barn (the famous "went to the wind"). There were no medicines either - with any infections and epidemics, slaves died like flies, and no one ever counted them. Etc. etc. All this existed almost until the end of the 19th century. On the other hand, those in power, including primitive medicines and doctors, could afford hygiene and sanitation. However, all the doctors under the kings and nobles were Europeans. main the way the Germans ...

[zenion]

They forgot what historians had, that all the shit was thrown over the fence of Moscow.

[viva_cuba]

After all, it was Petrusha 1 who made the boyars brush their teeth with chalk in the manner of a geyropa ..... here is a bastard