| Water: basis of hygiene in the Middle Ages. Woodcut from: Ortus Sanitatis. Mainz: Jacob Maydenbach, 1491. |
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| BIU Santé Pharmacie : cote RES 5915. |
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In the medieval West, the process of Christianization caused the progressive disuse of a large number of ancient cosmetic practices. For instance the use of public baths, which were extremely common in the
Greek and Roman Antiquity, gradually declined. The use resurfaced in the Lower Middle-Ages, under other forms, in large cities. In the eyes of the Church, bathing favored idleness and lust, and was associated
with potential debauchery.
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| Water and baths. Ibn Butlan. Tacuini sanitatis …. Strasbourg: J. Scott, 1531. |
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| BIU Santé Médecine : image 000957x02. |
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| The baths of Plombières (Lorraine). Woodcut from: Conrad Gessner. Excerptorum et observationum de thermis, in: De Balneis omnia quae extant apud Graecos, Latinos, et arabas ... Venise: Tommaso Giunta, 1553. |
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| BIU Santé Pharmacie : cote RES 6368. |
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| Man announcing the opening of the steamrooms in Paris. Henri Ramin. Notre très vieux Paris. Tableau de l'existence des bourgeois et des marchands parisiens au XIIIe et au XIVe siècle ... Paris: Firmin Didot, 1909. |
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| BIU Santé Pharmacie : cote 7347. |
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However, the relationship that the medieval man had with hygiene was not univocal. “Renouncing the body” went along with a desire for physical and spiritual purification. Water was the main tool for
cleanliness and body care. Usually, washing one’s face summarily with a little water and whitening away one’s grime were considered as sufficient. Foul smells were covered up with perfume: amber, musk,
jasmine, cinnamon, rose or lavender.
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