Clean Aztecs, Dirty Spaniards

[Happy Hoosier]

16. Ha! I enjoy that one.

Yeah, there does seem to be some variation, but royalty would have bathed frequently as a general rule. Depictions of people taking baths are surprisingly common in medieval art. There are enough pictures on a man in one tub and woman in another to constantly keep you mind of a Cialis commercial. Public baths were common in larger towns. You could get a bath in "common" water (used by more than one guest... higher price for first and second use) for a cheaper price, and a private bath (with fresh water, heated up, just for you!) would not be inexpensive because of the labor and time involved. Wealthy Merchants (Upper Middle Class) and above could have afforded their own tub and servants to heat the water and fill it. But even relatively poor people would have had a wash basin and a towel to give themselves a quick scrub on a near daily basis.

I'm speaking about the later Middle Ages here, mostly (13th, 14th, 15th centuries).