David Fallows
Hayne van Ghizeghem. Hayne van Ghizeghem: opera omnia, ed. Barton Hudson. N.p.: American
Institute of Musicology, 1977.
HEALTH CARE
. Standards of personal and communal health were often minimal in rural settings; they
evolved most markedly at such model monasteries as Cluny and, later, under the
pressures of urbanization. Their elaboration is documented by prescriptions for good
living, descriptive vignettes in poetry and prose, fanciful illuminations in manuscripts,
and pragmatic ordinances in archives. Throughout, Mediterranean mainsprings of
hygienics were supplemented by local notions, and folk wisdom fused with learned
medicine. Preservative and preventive concerns ranged from infancy to old age, from diet
to environment, and from homebound routines to distant journeys.
A famous vernacular guide, the Régime du corps, accompanied Countess Béatrice de
Provence in 1256 on her visit to four queens, her daughters. It shows how private hygiene
depended on social standing. For courtiers and prosperous bourgeois, aesthetics tended to
prevail over genuine hygienics. For example, the shift from whole grains to white bread
was more pronounced in France than elsewhere north of the Alps, but mostly because
members of the elite found white bread aesthetically more pleasing and something of a
status symbol, rather than for the medically sounder reason that rye bread, widely
consumed by peasants, made them more prone to ergotism. Similarly, the upper classes
avoided garlic, despite its health benefits (it was legendary as a prophylactic), because it
was associated with the poor. Their attitudes toward soap and clothing were similarly
inspired. Readily available “Gallic” soap was spurned for exotic soaps from Outremer,
because these contained oils rather than tallow. The shape, volume, and variety of
clothing were often more important than comfort or cleanliness. Nevertheless, frequent
changing of clothes was deemed important, and bathing was less rare than is often
assumed. Fetor, skin diseases, and parasites were viewed as traits of those who were not
only poor but lazy.
Bathhouses, or “stews,” were popular enough to number at least twenty-six in Paris
under Philip II Augustus (r. 1180–1223). Royal control was maintained by licensing, but
it could extend further, as when Louis X (r. 1314–16) ordered new étuves built in Provins
to keep up with the growing population. The steady influx of newcomers, the persistence
of rural lifestyles, and overcrowding caused health hazards that were not addressed
systematically. However, the layout of most towns shows that crafts with noxious
byproducts, such as tanning and metallurgy, were kept at the edge of habitation. Sewers
were installed before 1250 in Paris, and municipal governments enforced poli cies for
refuse removal and sanitation, including the daily flushing of butchers’ and fishmongers’
quarters. By the end of the 15th century, authorities began to charge medical experts with
inspections of water and food supplies, assessments of the need to quarantine, and public-
health services for the poor.
Luke Demaitre
Medieval france: an encyclopedia 838