BronNov 14, 2022
T. Rex Eliot
I'm playing A Plague Tale: Innocence today so, here's a reminder that Medieval Europeans washed themselves daily and bathed at least once a week, that communal bathhouses were so popular that the clergy railed against them and that clothing was so colorful that it was lit up like a Lisa Frank painting. I'm begging you, stop covering people in filth and leather straps*!
#medievalism #Histodon
Nov 12, 2022 at 9:17pmWeb
Show threadT. Rex EliotNov 13, 2022
Fwiw, I really am enjoying the game, even if it's not particularly historically accurate with the clothing. I also plan to pick up Requiem.
Show thread𝕭𝖚𝖗𝖓𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝕮𝖎𝖙𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖑Nov 12, 2022
@BugbearPancakes *laughs in misguided stereotypes*
Show threadteledyn 𓂀Nov 13, 2022

@BugbearPancakes

Forgive my being deceived by pop culture, but in My Fair Lady, when Eliza screams bloody murder when forced to bathe, is it not true the common folk of her day believed bathing opened the pores of the skin and would let the Plague in?

I have no idea where I got that notion.

Show threadT. Rex EliotNov 13, 2022

@teledyn the notion that bathing was bad for you was a uniquely Victorian invention. My Fair Lady is set just after the Victorian era so it would make sense that the character felt that way.

That's not to say that Medieval people bathed as much as we do today but, they kept themselves clean. They were a people who thought foul odors could carry disease so, they made sure to clean themselves.

Show threada hivemind of packbatsNov 13, 2022

image descriptions:

1. Skeins of brightly-dyed yarn hanging on a branch.
2. A picture from a book of a group of people in brightly-colored clothes.
3. A second such picture.

Show threadCharlieNov 14, 2022
@BugbearPancakes was that colourful clothing and the bathhouses available to everyone? Colour sounds expensive and bathhouse more like a city thing, but this is an earnest question, I have no clues whatsoever ^^"
Show threadkarinNov 14, 2022
@Charlie @BugbearPancakes Almost all colors (not neon perhaps) could be achieved by plant dying. However, the quality will differ based on whether a professional dyer has done it or you did it at home, meaning poor people would more often have uneven or weaker colors. You would dye several textiles in the same bath, and the first to go in would be richer in color than the last, meaning your everyday garments would be a lot paler.
Show threadDr. Kelsey PowerNov 14, 2022
@Charlie @BugbearPancakes I'm not a medievalist, but dye is not difficult to obtain. Certain colours/colour fastness are more difficult to achieve/more expensive, but you can dye things with onion skins (which yields yellow) and madder (which yields red), and if you have red and yellow you can make orange etc.
Show threadClaire EylesNov 14, 2022
@BugbearPancakes One of these days we will get a depiction of medieval times in a modern production that includes folks regularly bathing and getting about in all manner of colour.
Show threadWESinghNov 14, 2022
@BugbearPancakes indeed, just as the 'Dark Ages' weren't so dark, after all. The past is never settled.
Show threadAmanda / BioluminescenceNov 15, 2022

@BugbearPancakes
I started playing Pentiment this morning, and it's inspired by all the medieval illustrations, and I was thinking of all the colours and dyes as I was playing.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance is another game and it had a lot of bathing in it, with negative social modifiers if you'd let yourself get smelly or muddy!

Show threadMyles StevensNov 15, 2022

@BugbearPancakes
YES!
us reeanactors hate it. We want all the colours and embroidery.

#ThatsWhatARealVikingLooksLike

Show threadMarcellaNov 15, 2022
@BugbearPancakes OMG FOR REAL, THO' 😂
Show threadossifogNov 16, 2022
@BugbearPancakes Huh. Why were the clergy unhappy with people cleaning themselves? Seems practical for cramming a buncha people in a small building people on Sundays.
Show threadNancy GreenNov 19, 2022
@BugbearPancakes I thought that Europeans stopped bathhouses when the Black Plague hit, and that those awful times left a fear of getting too close to people.