The responses here range all over the place, and many are not remotely medieval (19th century is not interchangeable with the 12th, people!). Of course, to really answer the OP, we need to define ‘medieval’ and establish what place/culture he wants to know about – concepts and practices of cleanliness varied a LOT. The medieval period spanned roughly 300 A.D. to 1500 A.D.
But I shall assume you want to know about medieval Europe, as that is generally what comes to mind when Westerners think of ‘medieval’. The truth is that medieval Europeans had concepts of cleanliness, albeit rather different ones from our own. Practically speaking, it was impossible to have the daily shower that we have, simply because heating water was difficult. Bath-houses, dating from the Roman period, were popular and used by all classes. Charlemagne’s tutor and friend, Einhard, mentions at length how Charlemagne loved to bath at hot springs, and he had his palace Aachen built near a spring so that they could have hot water piped in.
It was considered good taste to have clean pots and pans and to cover food – we know this from sources such as the 15th century *Boke of Nature *by John Russell. We know a lot from courtesy books of the period what medieval people found to be good manners and good cleanliness: you would wash your guests feet when they arrived, and everyone washed their hands in a little dish before a meal. At the table they had napkins, toothpicks, and tablecloths if they could afford them.
The wealthy and noble were concerned with washing and definitely owned bathing vessels, such as those Richard Fitzalan, earl of Arundel, left in his 1397 will to his wife Philippa in which she was accoustomed to bathing before lunch and supper. Poorer people probably heated water over fires and bathed in big wooden tubs, like the one depicted in the Luttrell psalter (1320-1345). We also know that commoners bathed and swam in lakes and rivers, because there are reports of people accidently drowing in medieval records while bathing or swimming. Even noblewomen liked to swim, as in the case of Petronilla, the wife of Arnaud, lord of Guines, who Lambert of Ardres mentions in his 12th century *Lamberti Ardensis Historia Comitum Ghisnensium *as swimming in the castle fishpond in her shift on hot days.
People who could afford it also employed launderers. In the mid-to-late 15th century, Anne Stafford’s household employed two laundresses, one at Writtle and one at London. The Writtle laundress was paid 4d. a week when her mistress was in residence and 2d. a week when she was not – proof that laundry was done at least weekly. The London household had more laundry, probably because Anne Stafford had more servants and guests lodged there, and there the laundress made 1s. a week. Likewise, records for the Duke of Buckingham in 1501 make it clear that he had 11 shirts washed in an eight week period, an average of a shirt every few days (some contemporary college students don’t change shirts any more often). Soap was available and used for both human bodies and clothing.
Nor were rooms left filthy. Castles would be cleaned in anticipation of the lord’s arrival; rushes swept and replaced, the hangings and nooks and crannies dusted, and the stone floors washed down with hot water to kill fleas.
I would like to address one last myth: medieval people did not cover the taste of spoilt meat with spices. First of all, spices were incredibly expensive. Secondly, they knew what spoilt meat looked and smelled like and they didn’t eat it – they weren’t fucking idiots. They made efforts to stay clean to the best of their abilities.
SOURCE:
*The Great Household in Late Medieval England *by C.M. Woolgar, 1999.
