9. Hygiene¶
[FIXME] References to Galenos, Hippocrates.
[FIXME] Food selection.
[FIXME] Food preparation with clean hands and in clean, well maintained places.
[FIXME] Food serving in clean containers on clean table lining.
9.1. Washing hands¶
Washing hands was recommended before and after eating. Basin is put underneath to collect the used water, and water is slowly poured over hands from jug. The servant with jug and basin provides soap for washing the hands and towel for drying hands.
These dining habits are documented as required in the founding charters of monastic orders [FIXME] and in [SP] section 2-7-5 dedicated to education of royal children.
By the 8th C, soft soap made with oils was common in France, Italy, and Spain, as olive oil was widely available.
By the 12th C, hard soap came into use which was said to be an Arab development later imported into Europe. By the 13th C, the manufacturing of soap in the Islamic world became virtually industrialized, with sources in Nablus, Fes, Damascus, and Aleppo.
White, hard, olive oil based Castile soap (jabón de Castilla, sapo hispaniensis, sapo castilliensis), inspired by recipes from Levant, Aleppo and antique Greece, was frequently scented with aromatic herbs like lavender, rose, cinnamon. It was mass produced in Castile since 12th century AD and was exported over whole Europe till the modern times. [SOAP]
Recipes for Castile soap can be found in [GRZN].
Around the 13th C, Marseilles emerged as great center of European soap making and remained so throughout the Middle Ages. Genoa, Venice, and Bari in Italy and Castile in Spain became epicenters of soap making due to their natural resources. All had abundant supplies of olive oil and barilla, a sodium rich plant whose ashes were used to make soda lye, a perfect combination to make a beautiful hard white bar of soap. [BRMS]
The white version of Castile soap was for cleaning the skin and the black version was for cleaning cloth. Fig. 11.126
Water used for washing was frequently scented with rose, lavender, musk, cinnamon, etc.
9.2. Aquamanile¶
More luxurious variant of hand washing included specialized decorated pouring vessel called aquamanile (aqua - water, manus - hand). Archeologic findings from 14th century Teruel include glazed painted ceramic aquamanile with 4 spouts. Fig. 11.122
Cast bronze and brass vessels were more expensive. Fig. 11.123
9.3. Basin¶
Simple variant of basin is just large bowl. More expensive ones can be made from glazed ceramic, painted ceramic or lustreware, stoneware. Lavish brass specimens, gilded and inlaid with silver, can be found in museums all over the world. Great specimens are basin from 14th century Iran Fig. 11.124 , Fig. 11.125. Basins called gemellions were produced in pairs, one had a spout and the second one was used to catch the water. Gemellion possibly from Aragon Fig. 11.127 and France, Limoges Fig. 11.128.
9.5. Perfume sprinkler¶
Medieval cookbooks include recipes for mouth odors and perfumes.
Syrian cookbook specifies that scent is part of culinary experience and proposes combining scents and flavours for individual servings.
Instructions for the production of perfumes and cosmetic procedures are mentioned in medical treatises of the 11th and 12th century AD by Ibn Wafid of Toledo (1008-1074) and Ibn Zuhr, known as Avenzoar (1095-1161).
By 1000 AD famous Cordoban physician, surgeon and chemist Al-Zahrawi, also known as Albucasis, dedicated a chapter in his work to perfume making, scented aromatics and incense.
There are numerous extant glass perfume sprinklers available in world museums, for example V & A museum in London hosts one specimen Fig. 11.119, Saint Louis Art Museum Fig. 11.129, and Christies sold similar one Fig. 11.130.
9.6. Mouth wash flask¶
The mouth was rinsed with perfumed mouthwash based on wine or vinegar, scented with rosemary, marjoram, cinnamon, mint, pepper.
„Book of Cooking in Maghreb and Andalus in the era of Almohads“, also known as Andalusian cookbook from 13th century, provides a recipe for mouth odor electuary using musk:
Take a mithqâl of musk, half an ûqiya of aloe sticks (“moon wood”), and half an ûqiya each of Chinese laurel and Indian lavender. Pound the medicinal herbs and add them to two ratls of sugar, dissolved in rosewater, and cook it into an electuary.
The resulting potion lightens the spirit and improves the smell of the breath.
[FIXME] add mouthwash evidence
9.7. Cleaning teeth and gums: Linen cloth, tooth powders¶
[LPDR] lists 11 minerals for the preparation of perfumed tooth powders and gum care, 4 teeth healing substances and 1 painkiller. Mouthwash perfume is mentioned in [SP] [FIXME]. The use of toothbrushes or threads is not mentioned in Spanish sources. The toothpaste or powder was applied to a coarse linen napkin, rubbing the gums and teeth. The ideal teeth were pure white and the gums crimson red. The mouth was rinsed with perfumed mouthwash based on wine or vinegar, scented with rosemary, marjoram, cinnamon, mint, pepper.
Dental care throughout Europe was based on the widely known medical manuscripts originating from southern Europe. After the 12th century, a collection of medical treatises on women’s health and hygiene, called “Trotula”, disseminated over Europe from Salerno, Italy. The popular work “Regimen sanitatis ad inclitum regem Aragonum” [FIXME], was written by Arnau de Villanova in 1309 and it was reusing parts of the 11th-century “Regimen sanitatis de Salerno” [FIXME].
In the second half of the 14th century, Albík of Uničov, court physician of Wenceslas IV., wrote a book “Regimen sanitatis seu Vetularius”. [FIXME] His recommendations to king are similar to Villanovas’: “If you do not want to have leaky or rotten teeth, clean them with peach wood at any time in the morning. Others rub their teeth in aloe wood mixed with salt. It’s mashed together, sieved, and put on the cloth. This whitens and cleans the teeth, causing the mucus to retreat and remove bad breath.”.
[FIXME] add more teeth cleaning evidence
9.8. Fan, flabellum¶
A flabellum (plural flabella), in Christian liturgical use, is a fan made of metal, leather, silk, parchment or feathers, intended to keep away insects from the consecrated Body and Blood of Christ and from the priest,[1] as well as to show honour.
Public Domain Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). “Flabellum”. Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06089a.htm
The Apostolic Constitutions, a work of the fourth century, state (VIII, 12): “Let two of the deacons, on each side of the altar, hold a fan, made up of thin membranes, or of the feathers of the peacock, or of fine cloth, and let them silently drive away the small animals that fly about, that they may not come near to the cups”.
In [LADT] folios 15r Fig. 11.120 and 96v Fig. 11.121 and in [CSMT] cantigas 23 Fig. 11.98, 45 Fig. 11.99, and 88 Fig. 11.104, [CSMF] 209-1 the king, royal family and top royal officers adelantados are fanned with flabellum during audiences, dining and tabletop games, to show them honour or tend during sickness on bed.
Extant flabellum with ivory handle and very fine painted parchment fan from 870ad can be seen in the church of St Philibert in French Tournus.
The richly decorated specimen is the 13th c. flabellum in the Abbey of Kremsmünster in Upper Austria. It has the shape of a Greek cross and is ornamented with fret work and the representation of the Resurrection of Christ.