King Louis XIV of France moved
his royal court to Versailles in 1982. Though it had originally
been a hunting lodge, Louis expanded and
remodeled Versailles so that it became a glittering
palace worthy of his status as the Sun King. French aristocrats were
expected to live there as well. But for the people who
were actually there, it was most memorable for
something considerably less opulent. The stench. So today we're
going to take a look at what hygiene was like
at the court of Versailles. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel. And let us know in the
comments below what other French or
hygiene related topics you would like to hear about. OK, watch your step Verailles
hygiene is tres, tres mal. Contrary to how most
people view it today, folks in the 17th century
didn't see hot water baths as a pleasurable indulgence
or a hygienic necessity. In fact, many of them believe
that bathing in hot water was actually bad
for one's health. According to historian
Jules Harper, the common belief was that
warm water weakened the body and widened the pores. Thus, allowing
diseases to enter. People everywhere,
not just in France, found it much safer and
better for the health to have a quick wash
than soaking in a tub. King Louis himself
was no exception. In fact, historians
believe the so-called Sun King had only two baths over
the course of his entire life. Tres nasty. Now that's not to
say he never attended to his personal
hygiene, he is known to have occasionally wiped
himself down with the towel. Scrubbed his body with
perfume and alcohol. And washed his
hands every morning. But sitting next
to him at a dinner wouldn't be too easy
on the olfactory sense. Now as we established,
Louis XIV wasn't too into bathing or showering. So when he got sweaty, he,
like your old college roommate, would simply change his shirt. Louis and his courtiers
change shirts multiple times per day, a move that signaled
both their money and status. However, though perfumes
allowed users to mask unpleasant smells, body odor was
still a major problem. Sadly for all involved,
underarm deodorants wouldn't be widely used
until the 20th century. In modern times,
answering nature's call is typically a pretty
private experience. But that wasn't always
the case at Versailles. Louis XIV, for example, often
took meetings with visitors while on the commode as did
other members of his court. Kind of gives a whole new
meaning to doing your business. Despite this
unnecessary openness, all inhabitants would have also
had chamber pots or commodes in their private rooms. The higher ranking you were
a court, the more likely you would have been to have a
small closet in your chambers in which to do your business. For those of you wondering,
the first flush toilet didn't arrive at Versailles
until Louis XV, the sun King's immediate successor,
had one installed for his personal use in 1738. Though inhabitance had
commodes and chamber pots in their private
living spaces, Versailles had
public use latrines. But considering the sheer
number of people on the estate, the supply was, to say the
least, woefully inadequate. The combination of minimal
toilets and high demand meant the latrines were
under a tremendous strain. They often overflowed. And sewage seeped through
the walls and floors into neighboring rooms. Versailles had limited
plumbing, which meant that chamber pots
were unceremoniously dumped out the windows. Passerby's would have
to move with caution. And as we covered in
our video on hygiene during the French Revolution,
even Marie Antoinette was said to have once
been hit by flying waste. Sacre-poo. If the pots weren't
dumped out the window, they would have
to be transported to one of the nearby cesspools
that collected waste. Given the lack of
adequate plumbing and the density of
people at the palace, many courtiers answered nature's
call whenever and wherever it was most convenient. Seeing someone in the
act of relieving him or herself wasn't
an uncommon sight. The Princess
d'Harcourt, for one, didn't think twice about
urinating in public. In 1702, German born
Princess Elizabeth Charlotte recoiled at the behavior
she saw at the French court. In her words, the
people stationed in the galleries in front of our
rooms piss in all the corners. It is impossible to
leave one's apartment without seeing someone peeing. Louis XIV finally made a
point of directing servants to clean up the waste weekly. By all accounts, the
stench of Versailles was horrendous and overpowering. According to one eyewitness, the
unpleasant odors in the park, gardens, even the Chateau, could
make a person literally gag. The hallways,
courtyards, and corridors were full of urine and feces. And the Avenue Saint-Cloud was
covered with stagnant water and dead cats. So what did the courtiers do to
counteract the stomach churning smells that filled the air? They attempted to cover it up. Yes, most of the
residents routinely douse themselves with generous
quantities of perfume. As historian Alain
Corbin put it, to use excessive amounts of
perfume was to protect oneself and to purify the
surrounding air. But it was ultimately
counterproductive. The prevalence of perfumes
only made things worse since it added yet another
fragrance to the already unbearable stench. Versailles was also a hotbed of
liaisons amongst all classes. After Louis XIV moved his court
to the former hunting lodge, workers and nobles alike
descended on the town. According to people who
were there at the time, the forest surrounding
the palace grounds became a kind of
open air brothel since sex workers could
be solicited there. In light of what he deemed to
be the immoral licentiousness of his court kingdom, Louis
vigorously policed sex workers and marked them as sinners. However, contrary to Louise's
public stances on morality, he maintained
numerous mistresses. A political leaders saying one
thing and doing the opposite? That's hard to believe. After a lifetime
of dental problems, Louis XIV was toothless by
the time he passed in 1715. His dental woes were bad, but
they were far from unique. Decadent treats made
with refined sugar began to be widely available
in France in the 17th century. French aristocrats,
who were apparently indifferent to the effects
of poor dental care, gobbled them up and it
typically led to rotted teeth. Despite, or perhaps because of
the prevalence of rotten teeth, having a good mouth was
important to many couriers at Versailles and
their beauty ideals. As described in the 17th century
texts, the School of Venus, a beautiful woman should have
even and very white teeth. Courtiers used various
powders and mouthwashes to give the appearance
of healthy teeth. Thanks in part to
improvements in dentistry, oral hygiene had become
a mark of elegance by the middle of
the 18th century. In an alleged bid to conceal
his own thinning hair, Louis XIV had been
credited with helping popularize those fancy wigs
they used to wear in France. But the wigs did more than just
conceal male pattern baldness. They protected against lice. Well, sort of. See, the lice oft
infested off of them instead of a person's scalp. And boiling a lice covered wig
was way easier than picking lice out of a person's hair. That being said, men
typically shave their heads in order to wear wigs. And control lice. While women by
and large did not. The hygienic conditions at
Versailles also impacted food. The plumbing
problems, for example, made life difficult
for the palace cooks. For example, on at
least one occasion, sewage seeped into Marie
Antoinette's private kitchens and poisoned everything. Though hand washing was part
of Louis XIV's dining ritual, there was evidence that food was
not always prepared or handled properly. As a result,
intestinal parasites lived within courtiers
at Versailles. Even the King wasn't spared. And it is known that he had
several bouts of tapeworm. In fact, during
one of those bouts, Louis is said to
have relieved himself of a worm that was
nearly six inches long. Despite how famous it is today,
Versailles was never really an obvious location
for a royal court. Initially built as
a hunting lodge, it wasn't near flowing water
which could whisk away waste. Worse, the site was built
on what one observer called shifting sand and marsh. So when Louis XIV decided
to move his court there, the already poor hygienic
situation at Versailles quickly deteriorated as more
people descended on the space. Making matters
worse exponentially was the fact that Louis
generally stayed put at Versailles rather
than circulating between multiple palaces as
kings had previously done. This put an impossible
housekeeping burden on the army of
servants and caretakers who simply couldn't keep up
with the mountains of filth and waste that
courtiers produced. Versailles was filthy. But a great place if you
happen to be a cat person. In fact any visitor
to Versailles would have seen cats,
both domestic and feral, throughout the palace estate. Some members of court
brought their own pets, and the heaps of food
of waste attracted rodents which in turn attracted
the cats that hunted them. Of course, the presence
of so many cats led to even more
sanitation problems. Feline droppings can be
spotted all over the grounds. Worse, the remains
of deceased cats could be found along the
town's main thoroughfare. The reddish purple brown
color known as puce got its name at Versailles. Amusingly, thanks to a pest. It happened in 1775
when Marie Antoinette wore a gown in that color,
prompting her husband Louis XVI to compare the
color to un puce, or a flea. Despite the comparison,
the color caught on. In fact, According to
the baroness d'Oberkirch, every lady at court were
a puce colored gown. Old puce, young puce, ventre de
puce, dos de puce, et cetera. Puce wasn't the only color to
get its name at Versailles. After the birth of
Louis XVI heir in 1781, courtiers marked the occasion
by wearing a new color. They called it caca
dauphin or douphin poop. Because it was as brown
as the infant's excrement. And you thought comparing the
color of a dress to a flea was unflattering. After Louis XIV passed in
1715, his five-year-old great grandson inherited the
throne as Louis XV. Recognizing the unhygienic
and generally stinky state of the palace,
Louis XV began several renovation
projects aimed at cleaning things up a little. Chief among them
was seeing to it that the sewage
pipes were extended. This put a greater
distance between the palace and its cesspools of human
waste which, if nothing else, had to be a good place to start. So what do you think? Would you have liked living
at the court of Versailles? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
