This king, who is the power of the European continent, has a disgusting stench on his body, which even his ** cannot stand. Louis XIV lived at the end of the Middle Ages, a time of social upheaval, plague and poor hygiene in Europe.
At a time when public health in Europe was almost zero, bathing was seen as a luxury and a dangerous behavior, and it was believed that the human body would only be healthy if the four bodily fluids of bile, blood, sweat, and black bile were balanced.
Bathing leaves the pores of the body open and makes it susceptible to germs, especially the deadly Black Death. The Black Death was actually the bubonic plague, and when the Mongol cavalry invaded Europe, it also brought this deadly germ to the European continent, and the cities of Europe at that time were extremely chaotic and dirty, with rats everywhere and fleas all over the house, which exacerbated the speed of the virus infection.
This is one of the biggest tragedies of the European Middle Ages, the plague can be transmitted through the air, it spreads extremely fast, once infected, there will be high fever, chills, headache, nausea, vomiting, swollen lymph nodes, ** bleeding, dark spots and other symptoms, the mortality rate is as high as more than 90%. The disease swept through Europe in the 14th century, killing 25 million people, and was known as the "Black Death" because of the blackening of the dead.
In such an environment, Europeans have an extremely negative attitude towards bathing, believing that bathing is not only harmful to the body, but also to the soul. The formation of this concept was closely related to the religious beliefs of Europe at that time.
In the Middle Ages, Catholicism was the dominant religion in Europe, and the doctrine of Catholicism believed that human beings were born because of the original sin of stealing the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.
The Catholic Church believes that man is God's creation, that the soul is the essence of man, and that the body is an accessory to man. Man's ** is the source of man's sin, and only by getting rid of ** can we truly fear and love God.
Therefore, the Catholic Church severely suppressed and prohibited the human body and **, and regarded the most basic hygienic habit of bathing as a disrespect to God and a harm to the soul. The Catholic Church believes that bathing is a form of excessive attention and doting on the flesh, a betrayal and disloyalty to God, and a pollution and damage to the soul.
The Catholic Church is particularly opposed to bathing in hot water or with the opposite sex, as these actions arouse and satisfy sexual desires, lead to moral corruption and spiritual degradation. Therefore, the Catholic Church requires the clergy to bathe as little as possible, or even not for the rest of their lives, as a way to show their devotion and devotion to God, as well as their contempt and forsaking of the flesh.
Under the influence of the ideas of the Catholic Church, Europeans also became extremely negative towards bathing, and many people did not take a bath once a year or even in their lifetime, believing it as a form of loyalty to God and self-control.
This aversion to bathing is both a manifestation of the theocratic ideology of the Catholic Church and a product of European history and culture. Bathing was a common and popular habit in the days of the Roman Empire, where people would enjoy the freshness and comfort of the water in public baths, as well as communion and entertainment.
However, with the collapse of the Roman Empire and the invasion of the Germanic peoples, both society and economy in Europe fell into chaos and depression, and public baths were abandoned and closed. Life became miserable and impoverished, and bathing became a luxury and a dangerous affair because it consumed water and firewood, as well as exposed people to cold and disease.
In this case, the theocratic ideology of the Catholic Church is more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and people consider bathing to be a provocation to God and a harm to themselves, so they avoid bathing and even take pride in being dirty and smelly.
This ideology lasted for a long time, almost throughout the Middle Ages, and was the spiritual sustenance of the era, and even emperors like Louis XIV could not escape the ideas propagated in the teachings. Louis XIV was the longest-reigning king in Europe at the time, ruling for a total of 72 years, and under his leadership, France became the most powerful country in Europe, and also built the world-famous Palace of Versailles, showing his luxury and glory.
Calling himself the "Sun King" and "Louis the Great", he considered himself the embodiment of the state, with divine powers that could not be challenged or rebelled against by anyone.
Such a powerful man, but with a natural fear of water, he took a bath only once in his life, and that was after he became king, in order to show his devotion to the gods, he performed a "holy bath", a religious ritual that symbolized atonement. It was the second time in his life that he had bathed, the first time when he was born, to cleanse his body. Except for these two times, he never took a bath again.
He believed that bathing would defile his soul and would also make his body weak and prone to illness. He had a large following of this idea, and even his personal physicians were very supportive of his approach, telling him that bathing was a dangerous act that would infect him with the Black Death.
Although Louis XIV did not bathe, he was not sloppy, and in order to keep himself clean, he developed a very fresh and refined method. Louis XIV paid great attention to the neatness and taste of his clothes, he changed his underwear and outerwear every day, and he had thousands of garments in his wardrobe, in a variety of colors and styles, to suit different occasions and seasons.
He also often uses various fragrances and cosmetics to beautify and cleanse his body, such as perfumes, soaps, incense powders, etc. He likes to apply fragrance to his hair, beard, fingers, and even shoes to hide the smell of sweat and dust. He is also the inventor of ** and high heels, which he uses to embellish his legs and height to increase his charm and temperament.
His favorite way to clean is to wipe his body with wine. He felt that the aroma of the wine was strong and sweet, which could effectively cover the odor on his body. Every day, he washes his face and hands with a towel soaked in wine, and sometimes even rinses his mouth with wine.
The wine had a very low alcohol concentration and when mixed with sweat it gave off an extremely unpleasant sour smell that only Louis XIV was intoxicated by, and everyone around him felt uncomfortable and disgusted. Some even wondered if he was an alcoholic, as he always had a flush on his face and was a little slurred in his speech. But Louis XIV did not care about this, and he continued to use wine to cleanse his body until his death.
The same goes for his underwear, which he often wears until it gets dirty and even sticks to his body, barely changing it. He felt that this was a clean way because the underwear absorbed the sweat and oil from his body.
This unhygienic habit has brought him a lot of physical problems, such as ** disease, tooth loss, arthritis, etc. His stench was also unbearable for his court staff and foreign envoys. On one occasion he received an ambassador from England, and when the ambassador entered his room, he smelled a pungent smell, and he had to cover his nose and force himself to talk to the king. Louis XIV also realized his problem, and he began to use French perfumes of his own invention in large quantities, trying to mask his stench.
However, this did not do much and made the smell on his body more complicated and unpleasant. He had the best perfumers in France create a special perfume for him, called "Eau de la Sole", which he sprayed every day in order to give his body a sun-like glow. Since then, perfume has become popular in France and has become a kind of symbol of the French people.
With the blessing of perfume, Louis XIV thought that the matter of not bathing was settled, so he never bathed again in his life.
This habit of his also influenced his children and grandchildren, and his sons and grandsons also did not like bathing, and they all regarded bathing as an unnecessary trouble and a form of unfaithfulness to God.
They all use perfumes, soaps, incense powders and other items instead of bathing, decorate themselves with ** and high heels, and wipe themselves with wine. They all inherited the style of Louis XIV, but also the stench of Louis XIV.
That's why Louis XIV didn't bathe all his life, and that's why he smelled so bad. His stench is a comprehensive embodiment of his historical background, religious beliefs, personal habits and self-image, as well as a unique personal charm. His stench made him the most famous king in history who didn't like to bathe, and also made him the most smelly sun king in history.