Чумазое средневековье. Мифы и легенды о гигиене

The book by the historian and reenactor Ekaterina Mishanenkova is dedicated to debunking popular myths about the Middle Ages. In the Middle Ages, people were terribly dirty and smelly - they never washed, they didn’t wash their clothes, the knights went to the toilet right under themselves, in armor, and they wore wide-brimmed hats to protect themselves from slops and the contents of chamber pots constantly poured out of windows. Queen Isabella of Castile swore not to change her linen until the Moors were expelled from Spain, and she only washed twice in her life. Louis XIV stank "like a wild beast." King Frederick Barbarossa almost drowned in sewage. And scented curtains were hung on the windows of the British Parliament to protect against the stink coming from the Thames. What is true and what is fiction? How was a medieval bath or toilet actually arranged? How did the units wash their linen and what incense did our ancestors use? Let's get to the facts.