Years: Salted fish life since going to the countryside.

Chapter 1569 Bathhouses of That Era

During the ancient mule and horse period, this mixed-gender bathing practice originated among the kings, nobles, minor nobles, and church members of the upper class, and gradually expanded to involve the entire society.

The king and nobles sat in luxurious baths, bathing and swimming with their favorite wives, maids, and noble families.

There is a Bible called "Wangze's Bible" that describes a scene similar to this.

When King Vanze IV of Bohemia was imprisoned, the bather Susanna helped him escape from the bathhouse.

They escaped by boat completely naked and drifted for a long time before finally getting out of danger.

After regaining his freedom, the king married the maid and lavishly renovated the bathhouse where he had fled in disgrace, transforming it into one of the finest bathhouses of the time.

For the nobles of the ancient mule and horse era, bathing was a symbol of wealth and power, and an important etiquette for entertaining guests.

Their subordinates, as well as some merchants, would "basically" send over or sell the beautiful women they collected to these nobles.

Those beautiful women, if they were lucky, might become the mistress of a nobleman.

Those less fortunate would be given to the king or a noble of a higher rank.

Those who were unlucky were sent by these nobles to bathhouses to work as maids, becoming the playthings of some nobleman.

The most famous example of such a bathing banquet was when the Duke of Burgundy hosted Queen Charlotte of Savoy at his own bathhouse in 1467.

They enjoyed four wonderful and luxurious baths together.

During this bath, they used all the most expensive bathing products available at the time, and enjoyed the most luxurious food available at the time.

During this period, there were more than 300 servants serving them in their baths.

Of course, there are definitely many details that are unknown to outsiders, and that's...

During that period, not only nobles treated guests in this way, but kings and queens did the same.

Sometimes they would use their own bathhouse as a living room to receive guests, without any taboo against men and women.

For example, the tutor of one of Queen Marie Antoinettes received ministers and bishops while taking a bath.

When Madame de Genne was summoned by the Bishop of Bern on horseback, she removed her clothes in front of him and stepped into the bathhouse with great confidence, talking to him while bathing...

Madame Châtelet, who was known as "the outstanding Emile," had almost all male servants by her side when she bathed.

After recounting the stories of the two giants, kings and nobles, Kennan Spencer took a sip of coffee and began to talk about the last giant of that period.

The king, the nobles, and the church were the three major powers of that period, with the church being the last of the major powers.

At one point, the church was even more powerful because they had the power to forgive and crown kings.

Missionaries, monks, pastors, and nuns had the means to issue indulgences.

Therefore, the church at that time not only had great power, but it was also very easy for them to amass a large amount of wealth.

Once these people in the church possessed immense power and wealth, their lives, detached from labor, naturally lost their nobility.

Moreover, at that time, the church did not require priests and nuns to be chaste and virtuous.

Once most people in the world experience the pleasure of it, they often develop even greater desires.

These affiliated monasteries and churches, in order to maintain their luxurious lifestyles, spend vast sums of money to purchase whatever they desire. These monasteries and churches also do so to maintain their dominant position in the local community and ensure the safety of their members.

To ensure they can comfortably enjoy all of this, they not only need to have a private army, but also need to expand the number of members in their religious corps.

This situation has led to a gradual decrease in the offerings and money that the monasteries and churches under the church pay to the church.

In that era, almost every one of the church's high-ranking officials, including the cardinals, archbishops, and other senior figures, kept many mistresses.

What should we do when these people have more mistresses but the church's income starts to decrease?
First of all: force is definitely not an option; the church needs to be distributed in various places, monasteries, and churches to prove its status.

The church needs these literate middle and lower-level staff to help them spread the word and raise funds.

Moreover, among those who manage monasteries and churches, there are those who are trained by the church itself, as well as those who are the sons and daughters of nobles.

These people are almost all fools. If the church takes too big a move or targets too many of them, some of them will definitely resist.

If these people who oppose the church unite, it will be very difficult for the church to maintain its current position.

Those church leaders were well aware that if the lack of internal unity became known to outsiders, it would cause serious problems.

That would be tantamount to the church exposing its own weakness to those kings and nobles.

No one in the world likes to be oppressed, and no one likes to be controlled.

These kings and nobles would definitely take the opportunity to overthrow and split the church, or at the very least, to gain some benefits for themselves.

Furthermore, it will affect the image of the church in the eyes of the general public, making it more difficult for the church to collect taxes and sell indulgences.

The best solution is to replace the management of those monasteries and churches one by one.

However, the most basic requirement for people who can help the church manage these places is that they are literate.

In that era, learning knowledge was a privilege reserved for nobles.

Ninety-nine point nine percent of people have no opportunity or qualification to learn knowledge. These people are not only illiterate, but they don't even have surnames or given names.

(In the Western Continent at that time, people without surnames were considered inferior or slaves.)
Ordinary people are simply not qualified to help the church manage monasteries and churches.

The local king and nobles would not accept such a lowly person as a shepherd.
Therefore, the vast majority of people who were able to help the church manage monasteries and churches were the illegitimate sons and daughters of nobles, and a small number were people trained by the church itself.

If the church wanted to play it safe, one option was to support (or instigate) another nobleman in the local area to challenge the other.

This is not only a lot of trouble and effort, but they will also likely have to repeat it again before long.

Another approach is to teach how to utilize the people you have trained.

This would take too long and would also require the support of the local nobles.

So, the church leaders at the time came up with a good idea.

First, the church leaders began constructing luxurious bathhouses bearing sacred titles.

The sacred baths built by the church fall into two categories.

First,

(End of this chapter)