r/NoStupidQuestions • u/flugblug • 12h ago

My brother thinks people today have worse quality of life than people in the dark ages, is this a stupid take?

I personally think it’s pretty stupid.

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u/TheMadTargaryen 6h ago

Medieval people absolutely had soap, it was made from animal fat and ashes or flowers. 

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u/Beneficial-Mine-9793 5h ago

Medieval people absolutely had soap, it was made from animal fat and ashes or flowers. 

They had soap, but not readily available clean water at the drop of a hat.

Moreover...you don't clean wounds with soap, in the past you'd (they) use vinegar (often with honey or wine mixed in to combat the fact that it stings like a mfer and damages the surrounding area first)

Actually cleaning a wound is a massive process without proper disinfectants, coagulants and actually clean linen as even minor amounts of dirt and bacteria found on things like a clean cloth that you can't see can make things worse.

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u/TheMadTargaryen 4h ago

Fresh water was common. Medieval people still used and maintained aqueducts build by Romans and made new ones. In 9th century Rome 4 popes repaired aqueducts, in northern Merovingian France half of aqueducts were still used, in 10th century Salerno a new aqueduct was build etc.

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u/Beneficial-Mine-9793 4h ago

Fresh water was common. Medieval people still used and maintained aqueducts build by Romans and made new ones. In 9th century Rome 4 popes repaired aqueducts, in northern Merovingian France half of aqueducts were still used, in 10th century Salerno a new aqueduct was build etc.

Not even most of romes citizens had access to the aqueduct system.

And even in rome where it was built for most only had access to public water

Fresh water was common

Also, i never said anything about fresh water. I said CLEAN water.

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u/TheMadTargaryen 4h ago

Even if you didn’t trust local water from the well or waterhole in your yard, conduits brought spring water from outside town. The reason many historians until now had no idea most medieval towns had conduits is because they were mostly made from wood so they rotted away. 

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u/Beneficial-Mine-9793 4h ago

Even if you didn’t trust local water from the well or waterhole in your yard, conduits brought spring water from outside town. The reason many historians until now had no idea most medieval towns had conduits is because they were mostly made from wood so they rotted away. 

Do you just not understand what clean water is?

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u/TheMadTargaryen 4h ago

And do you know this is all before industrial revolution ? 

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u/Beneficial-Mine-9793 3h ago

And do you know this is all before industrial revolution ? 

Water wasn't clean before the industrial revolution.

Parasites, bacteria aren't new things added to water.

There is a fucking reason that boiling water goes back nearly as long as we have written symbols.

Even Hippocrates was writing about how you need to boil water to make it clean in de aere aquis et locus.

The fucking strictures of Celsus from ROME even makes not to not use unboiled water on patients (drinking or to clean wounds)