Editing Bathing (section)

===Medieval and early-modern Europe===
[[File:Petrus de Ebulo - Balneum Sudatorium.jpg|thumb|upright|A sweat bath: illumination from [[Peter of Eboli]], ''[[De Balneis Puteolanis]]'' ("The Baths of [[Pozzuoli]]"), written in the early 13th century]]
[[Christianity]] has always placed a strong emphasis on [[hygiene]].<ref name=" Warsh ">{{cite book |last= Warsh |first= Cheryl Krasnick |author-link=Cheryl Krasnick Warsh| others=Veronica Strong-Boag |title=Children's Health Issues in Historical Perspective |year=2006 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|quote= ... From Fleming's perspective, the transition to Christianity required a good dose of personal and public hygiene ...|isbn=9780889209121|page=315}}</ref> Despite the denunciation of the [[mixed bathing]] style of Roman pools by [[early Christian]] clergy, as well as the pagan custom of women bathing naked in front of men, this did not stop the Church from urging its followers to go to public baths for bathing,<ref name=" Squatriti ">{{cite book |last= Warsh |first= Cheryl Krasnick |others=Veronica Strong-Boag |title=Children's Health Issues in Historical Perspective |year=2006 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press|quote= ... Thus bathing was also considered a part of good health practice. For example, Tertullian attended the baths and believed them hygienic. Clement of Alexandria, while condemning excesses, had given guidelines for Christians who wished to attend the baths ...|isbn=9780889209121|page=315}}</ref> which contributed to hygiene and good health according to the [[Church Father]]s, [[Clement of Alexandria]] and [[Tertullian]]. The Church also built [[public bathing]] facilities that were separate for both sexes near monasteries and pilgrimage sites; also, the popes situated baths within church basilicas and monasteries since the early Middle Ages.<ref name="Mary Thurlkill ">{{cite book |last=Thurlkill |first= Mary |title=Sacred Scents in Early Christianity and Islam: Studies in Body and Religion |year=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|quote= ... Clement of Alexandria (d. c. 215 CE) allowed that bathing contributed to good health and hygiene ... Christian skeptics could not easily dissuade the baths' practical popularity, however; popes continued to build baths situated within church basilicas and monasteries throughout the early medieval period ... |isbn=978-0739174531 |pages=6–11}}</ref> Pope [[Gregory the Great]] urged his followers on the value of bathing as a bodily need.<ref name="Paolo Squatriti ">{{cite book |last=Squatriti |first= Paolo |title=Water and Society in Early Medieval Italy, AD 400-1000, Parti 400–1000 |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press|quote= ... but baths were normally considered therapeutic until the days of Gregory the Great, who understood virtuous bathing to be bathing "on account of the needs of body" ...|isbn=9780521522069 |page=54}}</ref>

Great [[Bath House|bathhouses]] were built in [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine centers]] such as [[Constantinople]] and [[Antioch]],<ref>{{citation | editor-first = Alexander | editor-last = Kazhdan |editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan | title = Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6}}</ref> and the [[popes]] allocated to the Romans bathing through ''[[diaconia]]'', or private [[Lateran]] baths, or even a myriad of monastic [[Bath House|bath houses]] functioning in the eighth and ninth centuries.<ref name="Paolo Squatriti "/> The [[Popes]] maintained baths in their residences which were described by scholar Paolo Squatriti as "luxurious baths", and [[Bath House|bath houses]] including hot baths were incorporated into Christian Church buildings or those of monasteries, which were known as "[[Hygiene in Christianity|charity baths]]" because they served both the clerics and needy poor people.<ref name=ArthurAshpitel1851>{{citation | first = Arthur |last=Ashpitel | year = 1851 | title = Observations on baths and wash-houses | oclc=315673477  |jstor=60239734}}</ref> [[Public bathing]] was common in larger towns and cities such as [[Paris]], [[Regensburg]] and [[Naples]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Middle Ages: Facts and Fictions|first=Winston |last= Black|year= 2019| isbn=  9781440862328| page =61 |publisher=ABC-CLIO|quote=Public baths were common in the larger towns and cities of Europe by the twelfth century.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Perception and Action in Medieval Europe|first=Harald|last=  Kleinschmidt|year= 2005| isbn=  9781843831464| page =61 |publisher=Boydell & Brewer|quote=The evidence of early medieval laws that enforced punishments for the destruction of bathing houses suggests that such buildings were not rare. That they ... took a bath every week. At places in southern Europe, Roman baths remained in use or were even restored ... The Paris city scribe Nicolas Boileau noted the existence of twenty-six public baths in Paris in 1272}}</ref> The Catholic religious orders of the [[Augustinians]] and [[Benedictines]] had rules for [[ritual purification]],<ref>{{cite book|title=The English Spa, 1560–1815: A Social History|first=Phyllis|last= Hembry|year= 1990| isbn= 9780838633915|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press}}</ref> and inspired by [[Benedict of Nursia]] encouraged the practice of therapeutic bathing; [[Benedictine]] monks played a role in the development and promotion of [[spa]]s.<ref name=ASpiritualHistory>{{cite book | title = Water: A Spiritual History| first =Ian |last=Bradley | year =2012| isbn= 9781441167675|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing}}</ref> [[Protestantism]] also played a prominent role in the development of the British [[spa]]s.<ref name="ASpiritualHistory"/>
[[File:Jörg Breu - Augsburg - Summer (Detail - May).JPG|thumb|Public bathing in [[Augsburg]], by [[Jörg Breu the Elder]], c. 1531]]
In the [[Middle Ages]], bathing commonly took place in [[Public bathing|public bathhouse]]s. Public baths were also havens for [[prostitution]], which created some opposition to them. Rich people bathed at home, most likely in their bedroom, as "bath" rooms were not common. Bathing was done in large, wooden tubs with a linen cloth laid in it to protect the bather from splinters. Additionally, during the [[Renaissance]] and [[Protestant Reformation]], the quality and condition of the clothing (as opposed to the actual cleanliness of the body itself) were thought to reflect the soul of an individual. Clean clothing also reflected one's social status; clothes made the man or woman.

Due to [[Black Death]] plague, introduced from Asia to Europe, public baths were closed to avoid contagion.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Achtman |first1=M. |last2=Zurth |first2=K. |last3=Morelli |first3=G. |last4=Torrea |first4=G. |last5=Guiyoule |first5=A. |last6=Carniel |first6=E. |date=1999-11-23 |title=Yersinia pestis, the cause of plague, is a recently emerged clone of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=96 |issue=24 |pages=14043–14048 |bibcode=1999PNAS...9614043A |doi=10.1073/pnas.96.24.14043 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=24187 |pmid=10570195 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=McNally |first1=Alan |last2=Thomson |first2=Nicholas R. |last3=Reuter |first3=Sandra |last4=Wren |first4=Brendan W. |date=2016 |title='Add, stir and reduce': Yersinia spp. as model bacteria for pathogen evolution |url=https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26876035/ |journal=Nature Reviews. Microbiology |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=177–190 |doi=10.1038/nrmicro.2015.29 |issn=1740-1534 |pmid=26876035}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Glatter |first1=Kathryn A. |last2=Finkelman |first2=Paul |date=2021 |title=History of the Plague: An Ancient Pandemic for the Age of COVID-19 |journal=The American Journal of Medicine |volume=134 |issue=2 |pages=176–181 |doi=10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.08.019 |issn=0002-9343 |pmc=7513766 |pmid=32979306}}</ref> In the sixteenth century, the popularity of public bathhouses in Europe sharply declined, perhaps due to the new plague of [[syphilis]] which made sexual promiscuity more risky, or stronger religious prohibitions on nudity surrounding the [[Protestant Reformation]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nicholasrossis.me/2020/10/05/bathing-in-the-middle-ages/ |title=Bathing in the Middle Ages |date=5 October 2020 |access-date=2023-08-15 |archive-date=2023-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815220003/https://nicholasrossis.me/2020/10/05/bathing-in-the-middle-ages/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://nicholasrossis.me/2020/02/27/what-did-medieval-people-really-wear/ |title=What did Medieval People Really Wear? |date=27 February 2020 |access-date=2023-08-15 |archive-date=2023-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815220003/https://nicholasrossis.me/2020/02/27/what-did-medieval-people-really-wear/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Some Europeans came to believe the false idea that bathing or steaming would open [[Sweat gland|pores]] to disease.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/cultural-history-of-bathing-rituals/index.html |title=What history's bathing rituals reveal about status, purity and power |website=[[CNN]] |date=16 February 2021 |access-date=2023-08-15 |archive-date=2023-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230815214456/https://www.cnn.com/style/article/cultural-history-of-bathing-rituals/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>