Today I’d like to address a few commonly held myths that, whenever I come across them, never fail to annoy me. One of them is the myth that medieval peasants were all walking around with a mouthful of rotten teeth and stinking breath. Nothing could be further from the truth. Honestly, he probably had a better set than you do. The main reason for this was a lack of sugar. Your average peasant wasn’t attached with a diehard addiction to a bottle of carbonated sugar water such as the average modern in western civilization. In fact, aside from honey (a rare delicacy) or the occasional apple or wild berries, he may never have even tasted sugar. Sugar was so rare, it was used only in very sparing amounts by the wealthiest individuals. In fact it was not widely distributed in Europe until the late medieval era and even then it was prohibitively expensive. You might live your entire life and never taste a gram of the stuff. The main problem with medieval teeth was the consumption of stone ground bread. The grit that found its way from stone querns used for grinding grain into bread, could be problematic and would eventually wear down even the best set of teeth over time. However, dental caries affected less that twenty percent of the population of medieval western Europe (and perhaps even less in earlier Europe, if skeletons of early Anglo Saxons in Britain have anything to say on the matter), compared to nearly ninety percent at the turn of the twentieth century and the estimate that dental caries affect over half of America’s teen population today. Also, halitosis was not considered something that must be born with patience. Mouthwashes did exist, containing such herbs as sage, rosemary, pepper, mint, and parsley, many of which also have significant antibacterial properties, in addition to making the breath smell sweeter. Used enough over time, they may have also been very beneficial for oral health. While they may not have used toothbrushes, it was common enough to clean the teeth with a piece of linen and some burnt rosemary
Now that we have cleared that up, the next myth to debunk would the question of medieval people being significantly shorter that they are today. This myth is supposed to have arisen due to the poor health and conditions in cities during the Industrial Revolution. Stephen Nicholas and Richard H, Steckel have this to say in Heights and Living Standards of English Workers During the Early Years of Industrialization 1775-1815:
“Falling height of urban- and rural- born males after 1780 and delayed growth spurt for 13- to 23-year olds, revealed declining living standards among English workers after the Industrial Revolution.”
According to Sebastian Payne, chief scientist for English Heritage, this myth may arise from the shorter doorways of the period that were designed to be heat efficient in winter. Also, children took longer to reach puberty then and continued growing for a longer span of time than they do today. Furthermore, researchers were astonished to discover relatively few skeletons who in life had suffered from polio or tuberculosis. In fact most of the people of this period would have been far hardier, not to mention more wiry and fit than those of modern western civilization today.
While I am about it, I should probably point out that a lack of bathing is another commonly held belief about the middle ages. Public baths, just as in the Roman era, were quite common. In fact, most brothels in London required their patrons to wash before doing the deed with their girls. Not everyone could afford to immerse themselves in a full bath, but even the very poor would wash themselves spit-bath style. Baths were so important to the Norse Rus’ under Prince Oleg in the early tenth century, access to the the city’s baths was one of their requirements for leaving Constantinople unscathed, as well a good supply of food and wine. In fact, the Rus’ were known to be fastidious, utilizing bathhouses and saunas (as they had in Scandinavia) and the Slavic banya, which is very similar and which I may be discussing soon in another article.
So there you have it. While medieval people may not have had standards up the the modern Scope-swishing, Febreze-spraying, germophobic modern, neither were they the beastly smelling, rotten-mouthed, not to mention short-statured people that popular culture has led us to believe.