El olor de la Edad Media

The Middle Ages are often imagined as a dark, foul-smelling time, inhabited by unwashed barbarians and Christians who rejected bathing as a decadent incitement to lust, but to what extent does this reflect the reality of a complex millennium? Will this vision not obey inherited prejudices? In a geographical journey that goes beyond the borders of Europe and the Mediterranean, Javier Traité and Consuelo Sanz de Bremond delve into more than a thousand years of medieval hygiene, from the decline of Rome to the 15th century, to show us, based on an exhaustive study of documentary sources and the latest archaeological findings, a fascinating panorama. We will know why the great baths disappeared, we will discover the vibrant bathing culture of the Middle Ages, we will learn about sometimes crazy medical theories - such as that the uterus was a traveling organ inside a woman -, we will explore how the cleaning of cities was organized, what the latrines and the waste disposal system were like and we will test the myth of the barbarians' dirt. In short, we will meet medieval people as concerned about smelling good and keeping their bodies, clothes and neighborhoods clean as we are. The Smell of the Middle Ages is a book unique in its genre, ambition and depth, an authentic history of the Middle Ages from a new and original point of view that will forever change our vision of that time.