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I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

going-medieval.com

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Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#241

Post by UncleMeat »

goto11 wrote: post #214
raarts wrote: post #75

Quoted post unavailable.

> The writer presents little numbers on prevalence. It is probably impossible to provide such numbers. The best we can do is study the sources, which suggest bathing was a common occurrence.

Not just probably impossible.

Imagine if you wanted to obtain information about the bathing habits of people today. Where would that information come from? The universe doesn't simply provide it. People have to collect it! The do polling. Polling for bathing behavior wasn't a thing in the medieval period. It isn't like the numbers existed and were lost, they never existed in the first place.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#242

Post by vbezhenar »

aasasd wrote: post #219
kgeist wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_stove "As well as warming and cooking, Russian stoves were used for bathing. Once the stove became hot the burning wood was removed, and cast iron containers were put into the stove and filled with water. That allowed people to bathe inside of the stove. A grown man can easily fit inside, and during World War II some people escaped the Nazis by hiding in the stoves."

Okay, but can I get a schematic of how that's supposed to work? The opening on the pechka is on the side—what, you slide inside like in an MRI and then somehow chuck water onto yourself? Pretty sure just filling a proper wooden tub with the hot water is a lot simpler. For the context, back in my childhood I spent several summers in a house with a pechka (it's still there), and visited a couple others. Those could onl…

https://youtu.be/pUHApERY0G8

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#243

Post by UncleMeat »

raarts wrote: post #75

Quoted post unavailable.

> The writer presents little numbers on prevalence.

Imagine if you wanted to obtain information about the bathing habits of people today. Where would that information come from? The universe doesn't simply provide it. People have to collect it! The do polling. Polling for bathing behavior wasn't a thing in the medieval period. It isn't like the numbers existed and were lost, they never existed in the first place.

You are thinking about history in completely the wrong way and expecting things that cannot exist.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#244

Post by UncleMeat »

verisimi wrote: post #82

History is only an expedient story, not that much to do with reality. We really can't know how people lived a 1000 years ago, despite what might appear to be mountains of evidence. This evidence is actually the creation of historians in the past century... and when you look at their sources for yourself, you will see that they are open to interpretation despite being presented as fact. For the ruling structure today,…

> This evidence is actually the creation of historians in the past century...

Academic history tends to refer to primary sources. It is true that what survives in the archive is a curated collection, but curating the archive is not the same as doing history and should be thought of differently.

Historians have absolutely no trouble with the idea that the archive can produce multiple narratives and that no narrative is the absolute truth. A lot of people from engineering and scientific backgrounds find this to be some huge blow to the field of history but really it is basic material covered in intro classes. I find it frustrating to see so many people with no or minimal background in anything resembling the discipline making wide proclamations about the limitations of history writing. We don't tend to rely on what seems plausible to untrained people.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#245

Post by aasasd »

vbezhenar wrote: post #242
aasasd wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, but can I get a schematic of how that's supposed to work? The opening on the pechka is on the side—what, you slide inside like in an MRI and then somehow chuck water onto yourself? Pretty sure just filling a proper wooden tub with the hot water is a lot simpler. For the context, back in my childhood I spent several summers in a house with a pechka (it's still there), and visited a couple others. Those could onl…

https://youtu.be/pUHApERY0G8

Thanks! This is very illustrative, just like I wanted. (Was too lazy to search myself, of course.)

As expected, it's pretty tight in there. I know that rural people of old were much more fit than I am, and I would get cramps in several muscles of each leg and in my sides after three minutes in there.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#246

Post by codesnik »

guerrilla wrote: post #224
zeristor wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“Old Believers” interesting in itself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Believers

ohhhh so that's what Raskolnikov. I'm guessing most people don't get that reference when reading C&P. > The name Raskolnikov derives from the Russian raskolnik meaning "schismatic" (traditionally referring to a member of the Old Believer movement). The name Rodion comes from Greek and indicates an inhabitant of Rhodes.

There're colonies of russian old believers everywhere. Some were assimilated, like most californian ones. Some colonies are still well, in Brazil for example.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#247

Post by yunohn »

Kiro wrote: post #172
yunohn wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you actually ever research this viewpoint of “animals don’t bathe”? There are numerous replies proving it wrong, but I’m just curious how you seemingly just made it up and posted it.

Have you? They are still right - most other animals do not in fact bathe.

I’m not saying they manufacture soap and showers, it’s very obvious that they have different ways of bathing. I think most people understood this as self-cleaning, so dust, water, licking, everything.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#248

Post by nevershower »

rendall wrote: post #176
nevershower wrote: post #62

I always had sensitive skin. I stopped using products in my hair, then I stopped showering my head, then I stopped showering altogether. Now I shower about once a month, washing only parts between the legs daily. I am the most smelly after I shower, that sour sweaty smell. Incidentally I read that this is some kind of fad in Hollywood.

> then I stopped showering altogether After having had over the course of my life a small number of friends who stopped bathing for one reason or another, and my successfully talking them back into the habit, I will tell you what I told them: With respect, I guarantee you, you stink to the people around you, and you cannot smell it yourself. Find a soap that does not irritate your skin and use it. Also, launder your…

Thanks for the reality check.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#249

Post by adictator »

kumarvvr wrote: post #122
nwiswell wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very good. Page 68: > In ancient times, distinction was made between several different categories of farmers. There were those who cultivated their own land, those who had it cultivated by wage-earning laborers, and those who leased their land to 'metayers', farmers who paid rent in kind, in this case half the harvest and crop. There were few big landlords, and the largest estates nearly all belonged to the king, tha…

> Lest we think these ancient peasants ever actually had it good before the foreigners showed up They sure as hell had it much worse after the invaders, looters and religious fanatics wreaked havoc in the region for 1000 years.

No post body was provided.

Re: I assure you, medieval people bathed (2019)

#250

Post by adictator »

verisimi wrote: post #82

History is only an expedient story, not that much to do with reality. We really can't know how people lived a 1000 years ago, despite what might appear to be mountains of evidence. This evidence is actually the creation of historians in the past century... and when you look at their sources for yourself, you will see that they are open to interpretation despite being presented as fact. For the ruling structure today,…

No post body was provided.
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