The monks
we see in films and modern television documentaries invariably look clean and well-dressed.
Cleanliness is next to Godliness we are told. In this blog we are talking about
the Middle Ages. The concept of Roman public baths has been forgotten. The nobility
will have taken some baths and the
concept of regular hand washing was not uncommon. Exceptionally King Edward I
had running water in his bathroom and King Edward III was very proud of his hot
and cold running water.
So how
about monks? Bearing in mind that monasteries were at the forefront of the planning and construction of water supply
installations. (see the famous plan of Canterbury)
Baths would be taken. Cluny, the top of the range 12th
century French abbey, specified 2 baths per year (Christmas and Easter). Archbishop Lanfranc
spoke of 5 per year in late 11th century England. In general
Benedictines seem to have taken 4 baths per year. This may have been less about
heath and more about smell… At Westminster
in the later Middle Ages they took 4 baths (Christmas, Easter, end of
June and end of September. Four monks would be done in a dayThere was little
encouragement from St Benedict in his
Rule. He saw baths as for the sick and not a general perquisite. It is likely
that sick monks will have been given more baths. Ailred, the famous 12th
century Cistercian ab bot of Rievaux
once had as many as 40 baths in a day to relieve him of the pain of urinary
stones. This was exceptional!
So how would
a bath be organised? The chamberlain had to buy extra wood to heat the large
amounts of water needed. This would be put into a large tub with sweet smelling
hay on the floor round about. Imagine the amount of pots of water needed to
fill the tub. Modesty seems to have been important. Apparently monks were expected
to retain their braies ( kind of shorts acting as an undergarment which hung to
the knees.) The Cistercians did not have these breeches and were made fun of as Gilbertine nuns would cover up
with linen. Baths could be in in the
cloister, but not for Cistercians. I
suspect in general they will more likely
have been in the warming room which could provide a degree of privacy and
warmth.. Towels were provided. Cold
baths may have been taken also as a way of calming lust and the senses.
Soap was
not unknown. Mentions of it occur from around 1000 and later soap making is
reported in 13th century Coventry and also York and Hull. A type of
white soap was made from fern ash and unslaked lime which had to stand for 2
days. It was then mixed with oil and tallow, heated and mixed with bean flour
and made into cakes.
If baths
were rare, hand and foot washing were frequent. There would be a stone lavabo with nearby towel cupboard for
this. It could be a rectangular trough situated near the frater doorway. This might have elaborate decorations and pinnacles, be lined
with lead and filled up with brass inflows (taps) and emptied via drain pipes. Eg
Hexham, Norwich, Cleve. Evidence of draining system is at Paisley Abbey in Scotland.
It could be a more complex series of wash basins as in the famous cloister at Gloucester.(see below)
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| Cloister at Gloucester Cathedral. (Flickr Damian Entwistle) |
Our own lavabo at St Albans is likely to have been in the cloister, because the water supply ran under this. The cloister would have been
The other
type of lavabo was with a circular or polygonal base with a circle of taps from
a central supply. Eg Fountains, Canterbury, Durham, Exeter and Wenlock Priory. Eventually these circular lavabos became
more ornate eg Batalha, Portugal..
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| Wenlock Priory |
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| Fountain at Batalha Monastery, Portugal. (Flickr Creative Commons, by mbac) |
Washing hands
and feet was thought of as a spiritual cleansing in addition to hygiene. It was
common for monks to wash hands before their first entry into church for Lauds.
At Cluny monks were expected to gather in the cloister each morning to wash. Three
towels were available for the whole community (one for novices, one for
professed monks and one for lay brothers). Washing hands before meals seems to
have been de rigeur in all monasteries.. I imagine the towels getting wetter and wetter … The fraterer had to sort out the cleaning and removal of dirt from the lavabo. He also
had to provide clean towels which were changed and placed in the cupboard Sunday
and Thursday each week. Eg Fountains Abbey, Gloucester and Westminster.
Incidentally
most people may have washed hands 5 times a day (before and after meals nb using a spoon and perhaps a knife but with much use of fingers....) Feet were washed weekly at the
Maundy ceremony on Saturdays.
