Bodily and spiritual hygiene in medieval and early modern literature : explorations of textual presentations of filth and water / edited by Albrecht Classen.

"Modern myths about medieval and early modern hygiene and health continue to dominate our understanding of the pre-modern world. People in the past might have used different approaches to hygiene and pursued well-being perhaps differently than we do today, but they were neither dirty nor sickly. Their societies functioned well because they embraced their own hygiene and had a functioning medical system"--Provided by publisher.

"While most people today take hygiene and medicine for granted, they both have had their own history. We can gain deep insights into the pre-modern world by studying its health-care system, its approaches to medicine, and concept of hygiene. Already the early Middle Ages witnessed great interest in bathing (hot and cold), swimming, and good personal hygiene. Medical activities grew over time, but even early medieval monks were already great experts in treating the sick. The contributions examine literary, medical, historical texts and images and probe the information we can glean from them. The interdisciplinary approach of this volume makes it possible to view this large field in a complex and diversified manner, taking into account both early medieval and early modern treatises on medicine, water, bathing, and health. Such a cultural-historical perspective creates a most valuable bridge connecting literary and scientific documents under the umbrella of the history of mentality and history of everyday life. The volume does not aim at idealizing the past, but it definitely intends to deconstruct modern myths about the 'dirty' and 'unhealthy' Middle Ages and early modern age"--Provided by publisher.

Berlin ; Boston : Walter de Gruyter GmbH, [2017]

vii, 615 pages : black and white illustrations ; 24 cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Bathing, Health Care, Medicine, and Water in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age / Albrecht Classen -- Treating the Condition of "Evil" in the Anglo-Saxon Herbals / Warren Tormey -- Bald's Leechbook and the Construction of Male Health in Anglo-Saxon England / Daniel F. Pigg -- The Necessitas Naturae and Monastic Hygiene / Belle S. Tuten -- Caring for the Body and Soul with Water : Guerric of Igny's Fourth Sermon on the Epiphany, Godfrey of Saint-Victor's Fons Philosophiae, and Peter of Celle's Letters / James L. Smith -- Affected yet Untouched : Spatial Barriers and the Neurobehavioral Impact on Lepers Living with Limited Interpersonal Touch in the Middle Ages / Erin S. Lynch -- Elemental Well-Being : Water and Its Attributes in Selected Writings of Hildegard of Bingen and Georgius Agricola / Debra L. Stoudt -- Potiones ad sanandum : Text as Remedy in a Medieval Latin Bestiary / Cynthia White -- Troubled Waters : Bathing and Illicit Relations in Marie de France's "Equitan" and in Flamenca / Rosa A. Perez -- The Liquids in Gottfried's Tristan und Isolde : Focus of Nature and Locus of Illness and Healing / Christopher R. Clason -- The Ambiguous Effects of Water and Oil in Middle English Romance : Acknowledged and Ignored / Jean E. Jost -- Lodestone and Litmus Test : Aqueous Presentations of Emotional Experience in Medieval and Renaissance Literature / Anne Scott -- The Sonnet about Women who Marry in Old Age : Filth, Misogyny, and Depravity / Fabian Alfie -- Si Odore Solo Locus Pestilentiosus Fiat : Private Property, Public Health and Environmental Hygiene : Advantages of the English Common Law of Nuisance over the Corpus Juris Civilis / Scott L. Taylor -- Mens Sana in Corpore Sanus : Water, Wellness, and Cleanliness in Five Fifteenth-Century Medical Manuals / Sarah Gordon -- Water, Environment, and Dietetic Rules in Bohemian Sources of the Early Modern Times / David Tomícek:-- The "Dirty Middle Ages" : Bathing and Cleanliness in the Middle Ages, with an Emphasis on Medieval German Courtly Romances, Early Modern Novels, and Art History : Another Myth-Buster / Albrecht Classen -- The Field Surgery Manual Which Became a Medical Commonplace Book : Hans von Gersdorff's Feldtbuch der Wundarzney (1517), translated into Low German / Chiara Benat -- The Role of Therapeutic Bathing in the Sixteenth Century and Its Contemporary Scientific Explanations / Thomas G. Benedek -- Testing the Waters : Early Modern Studies / Thomas Willard.