Fake History Hunter

For some weird reason some people seem to think that Europeans didn’t care about personal hygiene till relatively recently, others even believe that Europeans never bathed or washed and still don’t.
Yes, I’m serious, there are really folks out there who believe this.

So on this page I’m going to simply collect a list of links related to articles, books & evidence regarding personal hygiene in Europe throughout history.
This will support the fact that Europeans have always cared about hygiene in one way or another.

This list is a work in progress.

Prehistory

• 3000BC: Neolithic indoor toilets at Skara Brae
  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318444431_Waste_Management_at_the_End_of_the_Stone_Age
• 2400BC: possible steam bath/lodge at Marden Henge
  https://www.academia.edu/3050024/Journeys_and_Juxtapositions_Marden_Henge_and_the_View_from_the_Vale
• 2000BC: indoor bath or steam bath in Scotland:
  https://www.bordersofadventure.com/links-of-noltland/
• 16th century BC: A Bronze Age sauna in Nijmegen, Netherlands
  https://www.academia.edu/112022865/A_Bronze_Age_sauna_in_Nijmegen_prov_Gelderland_NL_an_exceptional_site_in_mainland_Europe_with_L_van_Beurden_K_H%C3%A4nninen_C_Vermeeren_
• 4th century BC: Iron Age Saunas of Northern Portugal
  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271081105_Iron_Age_Saunas_of_Northern_Portugal_State_of_the_Art_and_Research_Perspectives
• 4th century BC: Protection and Purity: Symbolic Functions of the Iron Age Saunas of the Iberian Northwest
  https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/protection-and-purity-symbolic-functions-of-the-iron-age-saunas-of-the-iberian-northwest/388D888007F74EC9E7DC5AB04327722A
• 4th century BC: Earliest soap making in Europe
  https://exarc.net/issue-2024-3/at/experimental-exploration-earliest-soapmaking
• Washing and Bathing in Ancient Ireland

Ancient Greece

Roman era

Romans writing about the hygiene of others:

• Pliny about the Gauls using soap (before 77AD
• Caesar about the Germans bathing in 58-49 BC
• Tacitus writing about daily warm baths around 98AD
• Aretaeus writing about Celts using solid soap in the 2nd century AD)

Roman hygiene:

• List of known Roman baths in Spain

Middle ages

• 6th century AD recipe for scented soap using W-European soap & non European ingredients, possibly a Roman recipe.
• 6th century proto-guild for soap makers in Naples
• Medieval Myths Bingo
  https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2019/09/10/medieval-myths-bingo/
• Original 15th century bathhouse in Germany
• 16th century drawing of a bath house
• Het middeleeuwse openbare badhuis, by Fabiola van Dam
• Urban Bodies: Communal Health in Late Medieval English Towns and Cities’ by Carole Rawcliffe
• Ein andechtig geistliche Badenfart, bath house illustrations, 1514
• Monks & toilets
• John of Wallingford’s anti Dane propaganda
• List of medieval conduits supplying towns & cities with clean water
• ‘Von der Badstube zum Badekabinett’ by Daniela Rösing
• 14th century Viennese infanterist’s morning routine
• About medieval people sharing their home with cattle
• Isabella I of Castile rumours & myths
  https://www.elconfidencial.com/cultura/2023-12-02/hedor-mentira-isabel-catolica-musulmanes-limpios_3785560/
  https://www.cope.es/programas/fin-de-semana/noticias/cierto-que-isabel-catolica-olia-mal-lavaba-20210502_1266062
  https://www.elmundo.es/loc/famosos/2021/04/18/6079a4ac21efa0b31c8b45d5.html
  https://www.eldebate.com/historia/20220922/isabel-catolica-biografia-marcada-fakes_61455.html
• Bathing, beauty and Christianity in the middle ages by Elizabeth Archibald
• Scrub-a-Dub in a Medieval Tub
• Daily life in the Middle Ages, by Paul B. Newman
  
  

Elizabethan

• Elizabeth I bathing habits.
  https://fakehistoryhunter.net/2022/01/14/the-curious-claims-about-elizabeth-is-bathing-habits/
• Isabella of Spain rarely bathing.
  https://www.elconfidencial.com/cultura/2023-12-02/hedor-mentira-isabel-catolica-musulmanes-limpios_3785560/
  https://www.cope.es/programas/fin-de-semana/noticias/cierto-que-isabel-catolica-olia-mal-lavaba-20210502_1266062
  https://www.elmundo.es/loc/famosos/2021/04/18/6079a4ac21efa0b31c8b45d5.html
  https://www.eldebate.com/historia/20220922/isabel-catolica-biografia-marcada-fakes_61455.html

Louis XIV & Versailles

• The Truth About Louis XIV & His Unwashed 🍑
  https://youtu.be/TjOBtUGm3Io?si=jegRRaIHsa_N6rMh
• Louis rarely bathing debunked
  https://x.com/invitinghistory/status/1694769829146726812