Medieval monks and nuns smelled terrible, right?
Wrong.
The idea that medieval people avoided bathing is a Victorian myth. The truth is far more fascinating: monasteries and convents were centers of hygiene, with sophisticated bathing protocols, dedicated bath houses, and extensive medical literature on proper bathing technique that has survived the centuries—and much of it remains valuable today.
The Plan of St. Gall, a 9th-century blueprint for an ideal Benedictine monastery, includes a dedicated balneum (bath house) adjacent to the infirmary with its own heating system. Excavations at Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx Abbey, and Canterbury Cathedral Priory reveal elaborate water supply systems with separate channels for drinking, laundry, and bathing—infrastructure that predated comparable systems in secular castles by centuries.
St. Hildegard of Bingen's 12th-century medical treatise Causae et Curae contains an entire chapter titled "The Differences in Water and Baths," with detailed protocols on water quality, bathing frequency based on individual constitution, and specific herbal preparations for therapeutic bathing. This isn't vague advice—it's precision medicine.
What makes medieval monastic bathing particularly fascinating isn't just its sophistication, but what it can teach us today. Modern wellness culture has rediscovered herbal bathing, water quality, and individualized self-care—but monks and nuns were practicing these same principles eight centuries ago, with a level of precision and intentionality we're only beginning to recover.
The Rule of St. Benedict on Bathing
The Rule of St. Benedict, written in the 6th century and still followed by Benedictine communities today, explicitly addresses bathing in Chapter 36:
Balnearum usus infirmis quotiens expedit offeratur, sanis autem et maxime iuvenibus tardius concedatur.
"Let the use of baths be afforded the sick as often as may be expedient; but to the healthy, and especially to the young, let them be granted more rarely."
This passage establishes several principles. First, sick monks and nuns could bathe as frequently as medically necessary—even daily. The restriction on bathing applied only to healthy religious, and even then only as a form of ascetic discipline rather than a hygiene concern. Young religious bathed least frequently, primarily to guard against vanity and excessive attention to bodily comfort.
Many monasteries prescribed communal bathing before major liturgical feasts. The Regularis Concordia, a 10th-century supplement to the Rule of St. Benedict, specifies bathing before Easter, and records from Westminster Abbey indicate monks bathed four times yearly: at Christmas, Easter, and at the end of June and September. However, these requirements likely represented minimum standards rather than maximum frequency. Westminster Abbey employed a full-time bath attendant paid daily, suggesting more regular use.
The manuscript containing the Regularis Concordia also includes a guide to monastic sign language—used during periods of required silence—with several signs specifically for bathing activities in the bath-house. Among these signs: to request soap, monks would rub their hands together; other signs indicated a nail-knife, comb, and washing one's head.
The soap they requested was made from animal fat and wood ash (saponification), often produced within the monastery and scented with fresh herbs like sage, thyme, and rosemary from the physic garden. Soap was widely available as a trade good by the 9th century, making it standard bathing equipment rather than a luxury. The existence of specialized bathing vocabulary in sign language—including a dedicated sign for soap—indicates that bathing with soap was common enough to warrant dedicated terminology during silence periods.
Bathing before Easter likely held spiritual significance as well as practical benefits. Easter celebrations were associated with the symbolic washing of baptism, and monks observed the Mandatum ceremony on Maundy Thursday, washing the feet of the poor in imitation of Christ washing the disciples' feet (John 13:34). The timing of prescribed baths—before major liturgical feasts—suggests preparation for sacred services, though medieval sources do not explicitly explain the reasoning.
Nuns followed these same bathing traditions with equal rigor and medical sophistication, as evidenced by Hildegard of Bingen's extensive medical writings on the subject.
Monastery Bath Houses: Architecture and Infrastructure
Medieval monastic bath houses were architecturally sophisticated structures with dedicated heating systems and water management infrastructure.
The Plan of St. Gall, drawn around 820 AD and representing an idealized Benedictine monastery layout, includes a dedicated bath house (balneum) located adjacent to the infirmary. The plan shows a separate heating system, multiple rooms suggesting graduated temperature zones (warm, hot, and cooling rooms), and water supplied through the monastery's elaborate channel system.
Archaeological evidence confirms that actual monasteries implemented these features. Excavations at Fountains Abbey and Rievaulx Abbey (both Cistercian foundations in Yorkshire) reveal elaborate water supply systems with separate channels for drinking water, laundry, and bathing. Canterbury Cathedral Priory had both a necessarium (latrine block with running water) and a separate bath house featuring stone basins, underfloor heating, and drainage channels for used water. These water management systems were constructed centuries before most secular castles had comparable infrastructure.
The bathing process involved heating water in large iron caldrons over wood fires, then pouring the heated water into wooden tubs or stone basins. Herbs were added to the hot water—medieval instructions describe boiling herbs like chamomile, mallow, and fennel and adding them to the bath for those with pains or aches.
Hildegard of Bingen's Bathing Protocols
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), Benedictine abbess of Rupertsberg and later Eibingen, was one of the most prolific medical writers of the medieval period. Her text Causae et Curae (Causes and Cures) contains a chapter titled "The Differences in Water and Baths" that provides detailed protocols for therapeutic bathing. Unlike vague references to bathing found in other medieval texts, Hildegard's instructions are remarkably specific about water quality, bathing frequency based on individual constitution, and the distinction between therapeutic and hygienic bathing.
Bathing Frequency and Body Constitution
Hildegard based her bathing recommendations on humoral theory, the dominant medical framework of the medieval period inherited from Galen and Hippocrates. According to this system, health depended on balancing four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile), which corresponded to four qualities (hot, cold, wet, dry). Bathing in warm water added heat and moisture to the body, which could be therapeutic or harmful depending on a person's constitutional balance.
Hildegard writes:
"It is not conducive to good health for a person to bathe often, unless the person is thin and dry and easily becomes cold or hot, for his flesh is meager; such a person should bathe in water in order to make his body warmer and more moist. On the other hand, water baths harm a person who is fat because fat people are already warm and moist within, anyway. They do harm to their body if they induce still more warmth and moisture, unless they bathe in water only seldom simply to wash the dirt off and quickly get out again."
This passage reveals Hildegard's precision. She distinguishes between therapeutic bathing (extended immersion to alter humoral balance) and hygienic bathing (brief washing to remove dirt). A person with excess heat and moisture should avoid prolonged soaking but can still bathe frequently for hygiene—what we would call showering today. The medical assessment determined not whether someone should bathe, but how and how often.
Water Quality: A Detailed Hierarchy
Hildegard's most fascinating contribution is her ranking of different water sources for bathing. She understood that water quality affected therapeutic outcomes, and she evaluated each type based on observable effects and theoretical principles.
On the best water for bathing, she writes:
"Water that is good for drinking is also good for baths; however, it should be heated a little. Then, a person can sit a long time in it if he wants to because such an immersion will induce no disease, but rather bring a good, rich color to the person."
"Good, rich color" refers to a healthy complexion, which in humoral medicine indicated proper balance of the humors. Monasteries and convents typically had access to clean well water or spring water through their sophisticated water supply systems, allowing for extended therapeutic soaking.
For water of questionable quality, Hildegard recommends boiling:
"Water that is bad to drink is also bad for bathing. If it is absolutely necessary that someone take a bath in such water, it should be properly boiled first so that any dirt that it contains will be reduced by the boiling. Also, one should remain only a short while in such a bath because such water is unhealthy."
This recommendation to boil contaminated water predates germ theory by 800 years. While Hildegard didn't understand bacterial contamination, her empirical observation that boiling improved water safety was medically sound.
She explicitly warns against rainwater:
"Rain water is somewhat astringent and sharp since the clouds and the air draw the rain up toward themselves from the various good and bad flowing streams and from the moist earth; for that reason it is not healthy. This water falls down through the air like lye through ashes; from this it derives its acidic and sharp taste. If it is heated for a bath, its dryness penetrates the skin and does considerable damage."
Her description of rainwater falling "like lye through ashes" shows acute observation of rainwater's slight acidity, likely from dissolved atmospheric compounds. She correctly identifies it as unsuitable for bathing.
Similarly, she advises against snowmelt:
"Water from melted snow is also somewhat impure, and if one takes a bath in it, one may absorb harmful humors and other elements because such water runs through the raw elements, the chill and the dirt of the earth."
Protected cistern water receives qualified approval:
"Water from a protected cistern is somewhat softer and more suitable for bathing than water from rain or snow because it is somewhat purified."
She even addresses seasonal bathing in natural water sources:
"If a person takes a bath in a summertime in a flowing stream he will probably not be harmed by it, for the stream is regulated by the heat of the sun and the air so that it is neither too cold or too hot, but just the right temperature. Flowing water does not especially suppress bad or harmful humors, but neither do they increase."
This shows practical wisdom: sun-warmed stream water in summer is temperature-balanced and neutral in effect, making it acceptable for bathing when other options aren't available.
Turkish Baths vs. Water Baths
Hildegard also distinguished between water immersion baths and dry heat sweat baths (similar to modern saunas). Her analysis reveals sophisticated understanding of how different bathing methods affect the body differently:
"A Turkish bath, where dry rocks are heated, is not recommended for a person who is thin and parched because he thereby renders himself even drier. However, such a sweat bath is good and helpful for a person who is fat, for thereby he overcomes and reduces humors that are present in excessive amounts in himself. Such steam baths, in which hot stones are prepared, are also helpful for those who are arthritic, for the humors that are ever and again rising up in them are somewhat overcome by the sweat bath."
Water baths add moisture; sweat baths remove it. What benefits one constitution harms another. For arthritic patients, Hildegard notes:
"In an ordinary water bath, on the other hand, the humors begin to collect and agitate themselves in an improper manner because the flesh, the blood, and the vessels of the arthritic person are thrown into an unstable condition."
She even specifies which stones to use for sweat baths, revealing remarkable attention to material properties:
"The stones contain fire and various kinds of moisture. If they are placed in a fire, the moisture in them cannot be fully driven out, and for this reason it is not healthy to prepare a steam bath with them. Rather, it is much healthier if one uses tile stones because they have already been burned and dried out."
Fired ceramic tiles, having been heated in kilns, have had all moisture driven out, making them safe and stable for repeated heating. Regular stones retain internal moisture that can cause them to crack or release harmful vapors when heated.
Herbs in Monastic Medicine and Bathing
Medieval monasteries and convents maintained extensive herb gardens (herbularius or hortus) for medical use. The herbs grown and used in these gardens appear repeatedly in monastic medical texts from the 9th through 12th centuries, including herbals copied and preserved by monks and nuns who served as their communities' physicians.
While explicit references to adding specific herbs to baths are somewhat rare in surviving texts, the sources that do survive reveal which herbs medieval monasteries used for therapeutic bathing. Here are 10 herbs documented in medieval bath use.
1. Oregano/Marjoram (Origanum vulgare)
Macer Floridus, an 11th-century herbal widely circulated in monasteries, explicitly prescribes oregano baths for skin conditions: "It drives away all itching, scurf, and skin blemishes, if they wash frequently in water in which it is boiled; in a bath, this decoction helps the jaundiced when taken." (Pruritus, achoras maculasque cutis fugat omnes, in quo decoquitur si saepius amne laventur; in lavacro iuvat ictericos haec coctio sumpta.) Oregano was valued for its antiseptic and warming properties.
2. Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)
Macer Floridus prescribes chamomile for washing the head: chamomile boiled in oil drives away scalp sores and ulcers, "and wash the head with it" (et caput inde lavet). Dioscorides' De Materia Medica, which monks preserved and copied throughout the Middle Ages, recommends chamomile bathing for womb inflammation and to expel menstruation. Modern midwives continue using chamomile sitz baths "for sedative/relaxant qualities and muscle pain" following childbirth. However, Dioscorides notes chamomile baths can induce menstruation and cause miscarriage, making them unsafe during pregnancy. Chamomile was valued throughout the medieval period for its anti-inflammatory and calming properties.
3. Myrtle (Myrtus communis)
Dioscorides recommends myrtle leaf decoctions specifically for joint ailments: "A decoction of the leaves is good for bathing joints that are loosened, and joints which grow together with difficulty." Medieval monasteries grew myrtle for medicinal use, and its astringent, strengthening properties made it valuable for treating injuries and supporting healing.
4. Violet (Viola odorata)
Dioscorides prescribes violet flower baths for gynecological healing: "The dried flowers (boiled) are good for bathing inflammation around the womb." Medieval herbals describe violet as cooling, soothing, and anti-inflammatory, making it suitable for gentle therapeutic bathing.
5. Pellitory-of-the-wall (Parietaria officinalis)
Banckes' Herbal (1525) recommends pellitory bathing for kidney and bladder stones: "This herb is good to heal one of the stone, if he be bathed with it." Pellitory was widely used in medieval medicine as a diuretic and for urinary tract conditions.
6. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Named for Achilles, who according to legend used it to treat wounded soldiers, yarrow appears in Dioscorides for wound healing and to "staunch blood." Medieval infirmaries used yarrow for wounds, skin conditions, and inflammation.
7. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Hildegard of Bingen's Physica prescribes thyme baths for therapeutic use: "Take thyme with the earth of its roots, and make it boil in a fire, and through this prepare a hot bath for yourself... and make yourself a bath in this manner, and use this often." Thyme was valued throughout the medieval period for its antiseptic and warming properties.
8. Geranium (Geranium pratense - Stork's Bill)
Hildegard recommends geranium baths specifically for kidney stones: "Take Storcksnabel and cook it in water, and strain it through a cloth, and make a hot bath... and bathe in this bath." Medieval monasteries used geranium for urinary conditions and as a general healing herb.
9. Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa)
Hildegard's Physica prescribes wild lettuce baths to reduce excessive libido: "A man who is excessive in the loins, cook wild lettuce in water, and in a hot bath pour this water over yourself, and place the same wild lettuce cooked and hot around your loins while in the bath, and do this often, and it will extinguish libido in him." Wild lettuce was valued for its calming and sedative properties.
10. Alder (Alnus glutinosa)
Hildegard recommends alder baths for mental disturbances: "Take from the bark and wood and leaves of it, and cook in water, and thus make a bath with them... and warm the head often in this same bath." Alder was used in medieval monasteries for its astringent and healing properties.
Herbal Bath Tea Recipe for Sore Muscles and Joints
This recipe uses three herbs documented in medieval monastic sources for therapeutic bathing. All three are readily available from herb suppliers or natural food stores.
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons dried chamomile flowers
- 2 tablespoons dried yarrow
Total: 6 tablespoons dried herbs per bath
Instructions
- Prepare the herbs: Place all herbs in a large muslin bag or tie them in a square of cheesecloth. Set the bag in a heat-safe bowl.
- Steep and inhale: Boil 4 cups of water and pour over the herb bag in the bowl. Let steep for 10-15 minutes. The water should turn deeply colored and aromatic. While steeping, lean over the bowl and breathe in the herbal vapors—you may drape a towel over your head to capture the steam. This allows the aromatic properties to benefit your respiratory system and skin (particularly your face) before you even enter the bath.
- Prepare the bath: Fill your bathtub with comfortably warm water—warm enough to be therapeutic but not scalding.
- Add the infusion: Pour the herbal infusion (with the bag still in it) into the prepared bath.
- Soak: Enter the bath with the herb bag and soak for 15-20 minutes. Gently squeeze the bag occasionally to release more of the herbal properties into the water.
- Dispose: After bathing, compost the used herbs. The muslin bag can be washed and reused.
Notes
- Source organic, food-grade dried herbs from reputable suppliers
- Store unused herb blends in airtight containers away from light and moisture
- Fresh herbs can be substituted at double the quantity (12 tablespoons fresh herbs total)
- If you have arthritis,
- Important: if you are pregnant or are on medications, consult a healthcare provider before using any herbal products
Note for Readers with Arthritis: A Medieval Steam Bath Alternative
St. Hildegard of Bingen's Wisdom on Steam vs. Water
In her medical writings, St. Hildegard distinguished between water baths and steam baths for those with arthritis. She observed that while water baths could "agitate the humors" in arthritic joints, steam baths (like the Turkish baths of her era, where hot stones produced dry heat and steam) were "helpful for those who are arthritic, for the humors that are ever and again rising up in them are somewhat overcome by the sweat bath."
How to Create a Medieval-Style Steam Treatment at Home
If soaking in a bath aggravates your arthritis, you can adapt this herbal recipe into a therapeutic steam treatment using your shower:
Method 1: Shower Steam Infusion (Easiest)
- Prepare the herbs: Place 4-5 tablespoons of the herbal blend in a muslin bag.
- Create the infusion: Boil 2-3 cups of water and pour over the herb bag in a heat-safe bowl. Let steep 10-15 minutes until deeply colored and aromatic.
- Set up your shower: Place the bowl of hot herbal infusion on the shower floor (in a corner where you won't kick it). The bowl should be stable and away from the direct water stream.
- Add the herb bag: Hang the steeped muslin bag from your showerhead or a suction hook inside the shower, positioned so the hot shower water runs over it periodically.
- Steam treatment: Run your shower as hot as you can comfortably tolerate. Close the bathroom door and any windows to trap the steam. The combination of shower steam + herbal infusion vapors will fill the enclosed space.
- Breathe and soak: Stand or sit (use a shower stool if needed) in the aromatic steam for 10-15 minutes. Breathe deeply. The volatile oils from the herbs—chamomile, yarrow, thyme—will be carried in the steam, providing aromatherapy benefits and potentially easing joint discomfort.
- Optional topical application: Dip a washcloth in the hot herbal infusion and apply it as a warm compress directly to sore joints while standing in the steam.
Method 2: Bowl Steam Treatment (More Concentrated)
For a more concentrated treatment targeting specific areas (hands, knees, elbows):
- Prepare a strong herbal infusion as above (4-5 Tbsp herbs in 2-3 cups boiling water, steeped 10-15 minutes).
- Pour the hot infusion into a large bowl. Keep the herb bag in the bowl.
- Position yourself comfortably (sitting at a table for hands/elbows, or sitting with the bowl on the floor for knees).
- Drape a large towel over your head and the bowl to create a "steam tent," trapping the aromatic vapors.
- Keep your affected joints positioned over (not in) the steam for 10-15 minutes. The heat and herbal vapors will penetrate without the pressure of water immersion.
- After steaming, you can gently squeeze the warm herb bag and apply it as a compress directly to joints, or dip a cloth in the warm infusion and apply.
Why This Works
The volatile compounds in these monastery herbs—particularly the anti-inflammatory properties of chamomile, yarrow, and thyme—are released in steam form. When inhaled and absorbed through the skin via steam, they can provide therapeutic benefit without the mechanical pressure and "agitation" St. Hildegard warned against.
The heat itself increases circulation and may ease stiffness, while the aromatherapy components work on both physical and emotional levels.
Safety Note
- Always test water temperature before exposing skin to avoid burns
- Use a non-slip mat if standing in the shower
- Consider a shower stool if balance is a concern
- If you feel dizzy or overheated, step out and cool down immediately
- Steam treatments are generally safe, but consult your healthcare provider if you have concerns about heat therapy for your specific condition
Historical Context: The Turkish baths St. Hildegard referenced were hammams—steam rooms heated by stones beneath the floor, often scented with aromatic herbs. Monasteries and convents across medieval Europe adopted similar practices, understanding that heat, moisture, and medicinal plants together created powerful therapeutic treatments. This shower adaptation honors that same principle: heat + herbs + steam = relief.
Sources
- The Rule of St. Benedict (Chapter 36)
- Regularis Concordia (10th century), a supplement to the Rule of St. Benedict compiled by Æthelwold of Winchester
- Monasteriales Indicia - Anglo-Saxon monastic sign language manuscript (11th century)
- Hildegard of Bingen, Causae et Curae (12th century), Chapter V: "The Differences in Water and Baths"
- Hildegard of Bingen, Physica (12th century)
- Macer Floridus, De Viribus Herbarum (11th century)
- Walafrid Strabo, Hortulus (9th century)
- Banckes' Herbal (1525)
- Dioscorides, De Materia Medica (1st century AD)
- The Plan of St. Gall (c. 820 AD)
- Archaeological evidence: Fountains Abbey, Rievaulx Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral Priory
- Historical records: Westminster Abbey bathing customs
- Keri M. Peardon, "Bathing in the Middle Ages" (2012) - medieval bathing process and herbal preparations
