Podcast Summary: Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society
Episode: How Filthy was the Renaissance?
Host: Kate Lister
Guest: Dr. Julia Martins (Living History, YouTube)
Release Date: January 23, 2026

Overview

In this episode, sex historian Dr. Kate Lister and guest historian Dr. Julia Martins challenge the popular conception of the Renaissance as a filthy, unhygienic era. They delve into how people in the early modern period understood cleanliness, personal hygiene, bathing rituals, public sanitation, and bodily health—including misconceptions, surprising facts, and plenty of bizarre beauty advice. With engaging anecdotes, memorable historical recipes, and a healthy dose of humor, Dr. Lister and Dr. Martins bring the surprisingly complex world of Renaissance hygiene to life.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

Reframing the "Dirty Past" (01:36–04:43)

• The popular view holds that people in the past, especially the medieval and Renaissance periods, were filthy by today’s standards.
• Dr. Martins notes that while media depictions aren’t as harsh toward the Renaissance as the medieval period, they’re still not fair. People in the era were quite concerned with not being "filthy," and aimed to avoid smelling bad.
• Quote:

  "I think people worried a lot about not being filthy, not...smelling bad. And I think we forget that sometimes."
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 04:08)

Changing Understanding of the Body & Medicine (04:43–09:55)

• Time period defined as roughly early 15th to mid-17th century.
• Shift from ancient (mainly Greek) medical authorities to new anatomical investigations, including dissection by nuns and in noble households.
• The humoral theory (four fluids in the body) still dominated beliefs about health.
• Vesalius’s work marks a seismic shift: "Don’t trust the book, trust the body."
• Dissection and anatomy became central to understanding the body, influencing views on cleanliness and disease.
• Quote:

  "And one of the main reasons for that shift was the rise of dissection as a way to learn about the body."
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 05:21)

Hygiene Before Germ Theory (09:55–13:58)

• Hygiene is linked with the Greek goddess Hygiea, and originally meant more than just being clean—prevention of sickness and maintenance of health.
• Health was thought to depend on “six non-naturals”: exercise, sleep, nourishment, air, emotions, and evacuation (broader than just excrement; included sweat, tears, even hair).
• Cleanliness was about keeping both external and internal impurities at bay, primarily to keep bodily “pores” open to let “bad vapors” escape.
• Quote:

  "Renaissance people would clean the body from external things that made it dirty...but they would also worry about what came from inside the body."
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 11:39)

Bathing Practices and Fears (14:06–18:46)

• Bathing in water was done, but with caution: warm water opened the pores, potentially making one vulnerable to "bad air" (miasma).
• Public bathhouses declined after plague and syphilis epidemics, as such baths were seen as disease-spreading due to close contact and “corrupted” air.
• Cleaning the body increasingly focused on friction—scrubbing with linen cloths and combs—rather than soaking.
• Quote:

  "It's a kind of mechanical cleaning... rubbing the body, scrubbing the body..."
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 16:08)

Bathing Frequency & Rumors (19:18–22:18)

• Bathing frequency was debated; outright immersion was seen as risky if you were sick, pregnant, or menstruating.
• Faces and hands were washed daily; feet last.
• Linen undergarments functioned as a "dry cleaning" system, absorbing sweat and impurities; these were changed frequently, even daily.
• Quote:

  “It was beastly... something that only animals would do to have your hands and your face dirty.”
  (The Courtier, cited by Dr. Julia Martins, 20:22)

The Role of Linen & Perfume (21:42–26:19)

• Linen shirts (chemises) were abundant—even among the non-wealthy—and were central to hygiene.
• Wealthy households (like the Medici) owned dozens or even hundreds of shirts.
• Perfumed waters, pomanders, and scented gloves acted as both scent-masking and as "PPE," believed to protect against disease by combatting bad air.
• Quote:

  "Perfume, the way I came to see perfumes, reading about these kind of recipes, is a kind of PPE of sorts...they would also act as a kind of shield."
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 24:54)

Public Sanitation & Urban Waste (27:05–32:28)

• The myth of universally dirty, waste-chucking cities is exaggerated. Many European cities had fines against improper waste disposal and employed street cleaners (“purgers”).
• Cleanliness was a public and civic duty, especially in places like Florence and Milan.
• Leonardo da Vinci even designed multi-level cities to separate people from waste.
• Quote:

  "There were officers...who would fine you if you did that [throw waste into the street]...cleanliness was a civic duty."
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 28:39)

Women’s Hygiene: Menstruation & Body Hair (32:28–40:02)

• Menstrual management: women used rags, extra chemises, and changed them frequently; many layers of clothing offered protection.
• Menstruation was thought essential for female health, sometimes to extreme and disturbing degrees.
• Body hair: considered a kind of excrement whose removal was associated with good hygiene; hair combing and removal (with dangerous substances like quicklime and arsenic) were common. Recipes to remove hair spread widely.
• Books of beauty and hygiene recipes (e.g., Isabella Cortese’s) were cheap and well-used, sometimes annotated with warnings.
• Quote:

  “They would use prayers as kind of kitchen timers...apply this [depilatory] for the length of a paternoster, and no longer.”
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 36:48)

• Quote:

  “People were worried about [body hair], and there were formulas coming from places like Muslim Spain...recipes were travelling everywhere during the Renaissance.”
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 39:05)

Which Renaissance Beauty Tips Still Hold Up? (40:02–42:32)

• Some recipes (for untangling hair, homemade soaps, and natural bleaches) were sensible and effective.
• Venice set trends for beauty and hygiene—women bleached hair with lemon and chamomile in the sun.
• Many recipes assumed pre-existing knowledge, much like today’s beauty misinformation anxieties.
• Quote:

  “Many of them do make sense. Many of them for things like untangling hair...animal fat or olive oil, perfumed with herbs...would work, I'm sure.”
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 40:18)

Final Thoughts: Hygiene Anxiety Past and Present (42:32–45:10)

• People in the Renaissance genuinely cared about hygiene and health, used the best knowledge available, and worried about conflicting advice—much like us.
• The pressure and confusion about how to stay clean, what works, and what doesn’t, has persisted through the centuries.
• Quote:

  “We are kind of inundated with different, conflicting advice from influencers and dermatologists...And it was the same for them.”
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 44:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the humoral theory:

  "The idea of like having someone operate you whose most up to date book is 400 years old, a thousand years old... It’s a very scary thought, I think."
  (Kate Lister, 08:34)

• On perfumes as “PPE”:

  "If we see perfume as kind of a PPE of sorts, I think it makes more sense."
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 25:21)

• On civic cleanliness:

  "In Italian cities, there were officers... who would fine you if you did that [throwing waste out]."
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 27:32)

• On enduring anxiety:

  “There was a lot of anxiety about hygiene and bathing and all of that. But I think people were doing their best and trying their hardest to be as healthy as possible, and that included being clean.”
  (Dr. Julia Martins, 44:46)

Important Timestamps

• 01:36 – Addressing misconceptions about dirtiness in the past
• 04:43 – Defining the Renaissance/early modern period and medical changes
• 09:55 – Understanding hygiene before germ theory
• 14:06 – The mechanics and fears of bathing; rise of scrubbing
• 19:18 – Rumors, actual hygiene practices, and linen as dry cleaning
• 24:54 – Perfume as protective equipment, not just masking scent
• 27:05 – Public sanitation and waste management
• 32:28 – Women's hygiene: menstruation, hygiene layers, and societal attitudes
• 36:48 – Beauty recipes and hair removal rituals
• 40:02 – Sensible (and not so sensible) Renaissance beauty advice
• 44:24 – Anxiety about hygiene then and now

Tone and Style

Conversational, witty, and unashamedly cheeky, Dr. Lister and Dr. Martins demystify Renaissance hygiene with directness and warmth. Their lighthearted banter makes even the grimiest subjects approachable, layered with scholarly insight and historical empathy.

For More:
Find Dr. Julia Martins at her YouTube channel, Living History, and her blog of the same name.