Louis XIVyears only washedThe second bath, ** ten meters away stinky
The noble life of ancient emperors is well known to the world, and so are the trivial life of the royal family and nobles. Taking the ancient emperors of our country as an example, their bathing process was cumbersome and exquisite, requiring dozens of people to take care of them, and finally they needed special people to incense.
However, this was not the daily life of all emperors. On the other side of the globe, there was a king known as the "Sun King", he was Louis XIV, and even one of the greatest kings of France.
Under his rule, France prospered, and as a generation of overlords, Louis XIV attracted the attention of posterity.
Louis XIV, the world's longest-reigning king, has a glorious reign that lives on to this day. However, behind his glory, there are some little-known secrets.
Despite all the aura he enjoyed, the ruler had an unacceptable habit of living, and that was his extreme hatred of bathing. It is said that he has only bathed seven times in his life, and his stench makes his ** even smell from ten meters away.
Louis XIV: Ascending to the throne as a teenager Louis XIV, the king of France, ascended the throne at the age of five and began his legendary life. Although he lost his father at a young age, he faced pressure from the auxiliary ministers after ascending the throne, but with his own efforts, he strengthened the centralization of power and monopolized power.
His work ethic is breathtaking, with only one day off a week and more than 10 hours of work, and even today, he is a veritable overtime worker.
However, it is this kind of diligence that makes him deeply loved by the people after he became pro-government, and he has been diligent and diligent, ruling for 72 years, writing a chapter in his history.
How could the five-year-old Louis XIV know how to govern the country when he was still ignorant? In fact, he is just a puppet manipulated by others, and the actual manipulators behind it are the Queen Mother Anna and the Prime Minister Ma Zaran, and Ma Zaran is also the Queen Mother's lover.
However, Mazarin was not a popular ruler, and his compromise with the financiers resulted in huge profits for them, much to the outrage of the French public.
France was plunged into a period of turmoil, with armed uprisings of the people and uprisings of the people, and he became a victim of all this, exiled by the general population.
The young Louis XIV had to leave the palace and spend four years in exile before returning to Paris. However, by this time, France's national power had been greatly weakened, and at the same time, fierce battles were being fought against Spain, and a second large-scale civil war broke out.
Faced with internal and external difficulties, Mazaran defeated the Prince of Condé and consolidated his dominance.
In the midst of the intricacies of politics, the young Louis XIV learned the true meaning of life. He understands that only by becoming strong can he take control of his own destiny. Therefore, he silently absorbs knowledge, and he can endure no matter how high-flying others may be.
He is even more tenacious, and when faced with difficulties, he is decisive and humble, and constantly trains himself. Finally, when Mazarin died of illness, Louis XIV was already 23 years old and truly became pro-government.
He has an amazing memory, and he can accurately remember whether each prime minister attended a meeting or not. At that time, he was full of passion, and he did everything himself, day after day, and eventually, under his leadership, France became the hegemon of Europe.
As a romantic and amorous Frenchman, Louis XIV also had a deep desire for love. He had a number of **s, of which Madame Montespan was his closest and longest time with him.
Every time Louis XIV was mentioned, Madame de Montespan frowned because he had a peculiar scent in him. The smell can even make it known from afar that he's nearby, and if you get close to him, it's simply disgusting.
Louis XIV almost scoffed at bathing, refusing to take a bath even though his body was already full of odors in the sweltering heat of summer. It is said that he bathed only seven times in his life, and that he never bathed once in sixty-four years.
As you can imagine, this smell of sweat that accumulates over a long period of time can be unbearable. However, this did not stop Louis XIV from having an affair, and he remained addicted to many women.
Among the many beauties, he was particularly partial to Madame de Montespont. The legend of this lady is fascinating, she was married and had children before she met the king, but she managed to attract the attention of Louis XIV by chance.
She bore Louis XIV seven children, all of them illegally. At that time, Madame de Montspong had a very high status in the royal family, and many of her descendants were royals from other countries.
Although she was not her favorite, she knew Louis XIV best. According to her memoirs, Louis XIV had a strong smell that disgusted her.
It can be seen from this that the first beauty of France has a very strong ability to endure, whether it is love or glory and wealth, she can endure it for many years, and she is an extraordinary woman.
Louis XIV's body odor problems not only plagued Madame de Montspon, but also affected the maids who served him. According to her, Louis XIV's body odor could even make people lose their appetite.
As a result, his habit of not liking bathing was also widely spread. After the death of Louis XIV, his medical records circulated among the people, making more people aware of his habit of not bathing.
According to statistics, he took only one bath in the 64 years from 1647 to 1771. But this did not affect his romantic style, and many young girls shared his bed with him and bore children for him.
There are even people who are jealous of him. His merits may be able to mask his unpleasant body odor.
Louis XIV without a bath: the problems and inconveniences of the times.
In ancient times, bathing was a relative luxury due to the lack of electricity energy. First of all, it is necessary to boil water with firewood or coal mines, a process that is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
And, after the boiling water is completed, keeping warm is also a challenge, requiring the servant to constantly ** hot water and adjust the water temperature. At the same time, cleaning items are also scarce, and products such as soap are a luxury item in Europe, where technology is not developed.
As a result, for most people, bathing is seen as a medical care rather than a daily routine. In the medical records of Louis XIV, it is not surprising that his bathing behavior is recorded.
Due to various conditions, it was difficult for the poor at that time to have the opportunity to take a bath.
Louis XIV did not abstain from bathing because of limited resources, and the ancient emperors had dozens of people to serve him, and he was no exception. But why wouldn't he take a bath? In fact, it is out of religious belief.
At that time, Catholicism was prevalent in Europe, which stipulated that people should communicate with God, and believed that the defilement of the body was more indicative of the fear of God, so believers should not take a bath. Non-believers may find this absurd, but for believers, it is an important belief for them.
Although Louis XIV's lack of bathing was considered a peculiar problem of the time, he was firmly committed to the idea of a unified national religion. At that time, religious freedom was not achieved in France, and Catholics generally believed that bathing would be blasphemous, so they rarely bathed.
As the king of a country, Louis XIV set an example of religious belief with his strict self-requirements.
As a royal family, he also understood the importance of maintaining body fragrance, so Louis XIV used perfume to cover odors. This has also contributed to the rise of the French perfume industry, making French perfume technology a global leader**.
After years of accumulation of production technology, the production technology of French perfume has become more and more mature.
Why did Louis XIV not want to take a bath? In addition to the question of faith, there was another reason, and that was his fear of the Black Death. This terrible disease once killed 25 million people and decimated the entire European population.
The Black Death was widespread and devastating. Once infected, lumps form on the armpits and between the legs, and black-purple wounds appear all over the body with a foul odor.
This is precisely why Louis XIV was reluctant to take a bath.
As time went on, people began to circulate the myth that bathing was susceptible to the Black Death. Under the influence of this rumor, even if Louis XIV was not afraid of war and fatigue, he was afraid of disease.
Therefore, for health reasons, he chose to avoid bathing. Due to the development of medical conditions and technology, there are still many people who believe that not bathing can prevent diseases.
It was also the main way people prevented diseases during periods of frequent outbreaks of plague, so many ordinary people also adhered to the habit of not bathing.
In the changing times, medicine is also continuing to advance, and the causes and methods of the Black Death have been revealed by us. Plague, a terrible disease, is a bacterial infectious disease, and in order to fight bacterial diseases, it is important to maintain hygiene and maintain hygiene.
However, the people of that era had a wrong perception, which also caused them to suffer from illness. In the Middle Ages, the development of medicine in Europe lagged behind extremely lagging behind, and there were many erroneous medical concepts.
These misconceptions led to a high mortality rate at the time. So, it's understandable that they didn't know how to fight the Black Death. If people at that time had known how to fight the Black Death, they would probably have tried bathing, after all, physical health was more important than faith.
Epilogue: Louis XIV, in order to maintain his dominance, decided to lead by example. In addition, he took measures to combat the Black Death, and as a result, he decided not to risk taking a bath even in the stinking state.
In his 77 years of life, he had only bathed seven times, and even his favorite **Madame de Montespan hated his smell. However, apart from this monarch, other royal nobles would still maintain their personal hygiene, only that as emperor he was more cautious.
Nevertheless, in France, in such a situation, there were also people looking for a solution to the smell, and eventually developed various perfumes. Not only did they mask body odor, but later they also symbolized status, popular from Europe to the whole world, from the Middle Ages to the present day.
References: [1] Zhu Ninghong, The Rise and Fall of World Dynasties, [2] Lu Yimin, General History of France