Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

Episode: "How Filthy Were Medieval People?"

Host: Dr. Kate Lister

Guest: Dr. Eleanor Janega

Date: January 16, 2026

Episode Overview

This spirited episode tackles the stubborn myth that people in the medieval period were irredeemably filthy, constantly caked in mud, and indifferent to personal hygiene. Dr. Kate Lister and medieval historian Dr. Eleanor Janega, with their trademark wit and candor, break down where these misconceptions come from and what everyday cleanliness actually looked like in medieval Europe. The conversation delves into bathing culture, teeth cleaning, laundry, toilet habits, women’s periods, and how evolving attitudes to cleanliness reflect changing societies.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Origins of the "Filthy Medieval" Myth

• The prevailing image of medieval people as dirty is rooted more in modern ignorance and later historical slander than in truth.
  • “We think of them...living in a ditch with poo on their head. But is that true? Of course that's not true. That's absolutely untrue.” - Kate Lister [02:00]
  • The myth persists in popular culture, often under the guise of "realism" for dramas and films [05:52]
• Victorians and early modern thinkers perpetuated these ideas as a way of distancing themselves from the “otherness” of the medieval era [41:44]
• Historian Voltaire is blamed for fostering "the age of faith" versus "the age of reason" dichotomy, writing off the entire medieval period as regressive [42:21]

2. Bathing and Personal Hygiene

• Full body immersion baths were a luxury for the wealthy but public and municipal bathhouses were common and accessible, especially in cities.
  • “So for rich people...you will have a dedicated space where you bathe...If you have money, this is one of the first things that you have: scullery maids who will come fill a tub full of hot water and you will go scrub scrub scrub...” - Kate Lister [08:28]
• Bathhouses sometimes doubled as brothels or places for assignations, hence some moral condemnation in sources was aimed at the activities not the washing [10:54]
• Regular people could access bathhouses (often once a week), and Saturday was the favored day to bathe thoroughly in preparation for Sunday church [14:09]
• Rural communities had village bathhouses, and “strip washes” or daily washing with a cloth and small amount of hot water was widespread [18:28]

3. Making Cleanliness Work: Practicalities

• Floors and water management: Carrying and heating water made daily bathing challenging; personal wash was more feasible than full immersion.
  • “You stand in a wooden tub and you just do the smelly...It's like a poor man's shower. Right. And that is incredibly common...” - Kate Lister [18:28]
• Not bathing, especially for the rich, was considered an ascetic practice, a mark of saintly discomfort, evidence that people generally wanted to be clean [19:29]
  • “If you are gunning for sainthood, give it up. Because it’s a form of asceticism...if you want to be a saint and you’re some rich guy, one of the things that you do is...not bathe.” - Kate Lister [19:29]

4. Teeth, Breath, and Bodily Scent

• Clean teeth and fresh breath were standard compliments.
  • “Having white teeth and honeyed breath is absolutely necessary...teeth like snow or like ivory, breath like honey. Yep. And they do brush their teeth...” - Kate Lister [24:27]
• Toothbrushes, chew sticks (like licorice root), and herbal rinses were used.
• Dental health generally better than post-medieval populations due to lack of cheap sugar [25:00]
• Herbal perfumes and scented soap were commonly made (and for sale in places like Marseille), and recipes are found in surviving records.

5. Clothing, Laundry, & Menstruation

• People had far fewer clothes. Underclothes (linens) were changed and washed more frequently than outerwear (wool or heavy fabrics).
  • “You’re going to have more linen...but still, the linen gets washed regularly. There’s usually like a wash day that will happen...” - Kate Lister [29:57]
• Communal washing at streams or village washhouses common; heavy wash work done by women, often with help from neighbors or relatives.
• Laundry involved soaking with lye (and, curiously, eggshells), then rinsing and drying—different strategies in summer and winter.
• Menstrual rags or pads were made from old linens, reused, and secured with belts—a system that persisted through the modern era [33:13]

6. Toilets, Sewage, and Urban Cleanliness

• The notion that people threw waste into the street is largely inaccurate and exaggerated; laws specifically forbade casual disposal of human waste [35:50]
  • “I want to stress right now that the way that it is dealt with is not by throwing it in the road. You absolute madmen.” - Kate Lister [35:50]
• Privies (toilets over cesspits), chamber pots, and regular collection by night soil men—who cleaned out cesspits and sold waste as fertilizer—kept things workable.
  • “If you’re kind of like a young working class guy, being a night soil man is a great way to make some money. And they exist because people are like, we need to get the sewage out of here.” - Kate Lister [37:26]
• Chamber pots were normal and used until the Victorian period; cities did sometimes smell, but population density, not "medieval-ness", was the culprit.
• Industrial recycling of urine for tanning leather was common practice [40:04]

7. Shifts in Attitude and Misconceptions

• Early modern ideas about bathing shifted, largely due to evolving attitudes about health and the causes of disease, not medieval precedent.
• The belief that "history is just a process of things getting better" is challenged; different periods had different approaches, and the “decline” in cleanliness after the medieval era (especially in the early modern period) is notable.
  • “That’s not how it works because the cities are different and...people will oftentimes look at the fashion for not bathing in the early modern period and think, medieval people did that.” - Kate Lister [43:13]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Medieval Bathhouses and Social Life:
  • “It helps keep the heat in...and also, if you don’t want any hanky panky, then no one’s going to see you naked if you don’t want to. But a lot of people want you to.” - Kate Lister [11:27]
  • “If the breath be stinking, the ladies don’t want it. Right.” - Kate Lister [26:25]
• On Doing Laundry:
  • “Wet clothes...and I’m not talking wet clothes that have just come out of the spin cycle. Yeah, right. It’s like these are sodden.” - Kate Lister [31:39]
• On Medieval Recycling and Urban Smells:
  • “And piss would recycle or they were reused...tanners often use urine in order to treat leather goods.” - Eleanor Jarnegger / Kate Lister [40:04]
• On Historical Chauvinism:
  • “There is just the ordinary chauvinism that we see against the medieval period. I don’t know why people enjoy believing they are somehow better than medieval period people, but they do.” - Kate Lister [41:44]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Misconceptions About Medieval Dirtiness – [02:00] to [06:50]
• Bathing Habits & Bathhouse Culture – [08:23] to [14:44]
• Practicalities: Washing and Water – [17:00] to [18:28]
• Teeth, Perfume & Dental Hygiene – [24:04] to [27:46]
• Clothing & Laundry – [27:46] to [33:13]
• Menstruation Methods – [33:13] to [34:12]
• Toilets & Waste Management – [35:50] to [41:34]
• The Origin & Spread of the Myth – [41:34] to [44:28]
• Historiographical Shifts & Final Reflections – [44:28] to [45:04]

Final Thoughts

This episode explodes the myth of the “filthy medieval,” revealing a nuanced picture of medieval cleanliness. Bathhouses were social hubs, people cared deeply about teeth and fresh breath, laundry was hard work but essential, and sophisticated waste management was in place in most communities. Much of the “dirtiness” ascribed to the Middle Ages better fits later, larger, and much more crowded periods. Ultimately, Kate and Eleanor argue, our prejudices against the “grubby peasant” say more about us than about them.

For more medieval myth-busting:
Check out Dr. Eleanor Janega on the "Gone Medieval" podcast and her book, "The Once and Future Going Medieval."
For future episodes, follow Betwixt The Sheets wherever you get your podcasts.