Hygiene and Health in the Middle Ages
Seminar
The 2023 Birkbeck Medieval Seminar focuses on hygiene in the Middle Ages, considering both attitudes and practices. Contrary to popular perception, this was a subject of great interest to medieval people, who were generally much cleaner than we assume. This interdisciplinary seminar will build on recent studies which have attempted to ‘clean up’ the Middle Ages, showing that medieval Europeans developed sophisticated strategies (informed by a coherent set of beliefs about the relationship between hygiene and health) to keep themselves and their surroundings clean. It will also consider approaches to and experiences of dirtiness, including the ascetic practices of the medieval clergy and archaeological evidence of parasitic infections. ‘Hygiene and Health in the Middle Ages’ will develop our understanding of medieval personal hygiene and public health, especially as they relate to contemporary ideas about health and medicine.
Scheduled Speakers:
Dr Janna Coomans (Utrecht University) Fire and Flow: Sanitation and Community Politics in the Low Countries, 1300-1530
Dr Katherine Harvey (Birkbeck) ‘Tortured by Vermin’: Piety and Personal Hygiene in Later Medieval Europe
Dr Piers Mitchell (University of Cambridge) Parasites and Hygiene in Medieval Europe
Prof. Carole Rawcliffe (UEA) TBC
It is possible to attend either in person (in London) or online; more details and free tickets are available here: https://www.bbk.ac.uk/events/remote_event_view?id=36870
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