[Pseudoscience-is-malarkey (OP)]

Or was it most likely just another misconception in the pre-industrial, pre-enlightenment world?

[Petrochemicals]

Depends on whether it was bad or good water.

[alancalverd]

It really only got bad with industrialisation and urbanisation, culminating in the 1850s cholera outbreak in London.  Spring water and well water are still mostly OK in the countryside.

[evan_au]

I am sure that in Medieval England, having untreated sewage running down the center of the street and into the nearest river was not good for residents of the next town down the river...

[alancalverd]

Only if the street ran directly into the river, which was pretty unusual. Folk in towns drew their water from wells, where it had been filtered through layers of chalk or sand, just like today's sewage works. Even in the countryside, unless you had a clean stream flowing through your garden, you'd get drinking water from a well.

Caucasians have two genetic tolerances, for alcohol and milk proteins, that either evolved from, or uniquely allowed evolution to, an urban society and the ability to survive the winter in northern Europe. The brewhouse and dairy were the key to manorial living, providing potable water and storable fat and protein since the bronze age.

[Petrochemicals]

Beer was invented by monks because the alcohol purified the water, purely medicinal.

[Bored chemist]

Caucasians have two genetic tolerances, for alcohol and milk proteins,

All mammals tolerate milk proteins.


If you go to "the countryside" you see animals drinking water that is obviously not clean.
The water in a horse trough isn't something you would drink if there was an alternative.
But the horse drinks it and is fine.
And there's no particular difference between his immune system and yours.

The difference is that if you get an upset stomach, it matters more to your lifestyle.

What makes water "good" or "bad" is mainly luck.
Our clean-up systems push the odds very much in our favour, but water borne illness isn't completely eliminated.
Water still isn't "safe".

[alancalverd]

Soft water flowing through lead pipes has an unenviable reputation. Maybe that's why the Saxons finally beat the Romans, or indeed why the Romans never conquered Wales or Scotland: poisoned by their own plumbing - literally!

That said, Roman aqueducts remain a source of amazement. IIRC the Pont du Gard, bringing fresh mountain water to the colony at Nimes, was built entirely by soldiers: clean water was too important to be entrusted to slave labor.

[Pseudoscience-is-malarkey (OP)]

It was said that people drank loads of ale and wine because the water was considered unsafe to drink. Also, people for a long period of time in the kingdoms of the pre-unified Germany and Italy, were only bathed twice. The midwife performed the first bathing, and the undertaker the second...

[Colin2B]

Also, people for a long period of time in the kingdoms of the pre-unified Germany and Italy, were only bathed twice. The midwife performed the first bathing, and the undertaker the second...

I assume you are interested because these are your ancestors?

There is a famous ‘quote’ by Elisabeth I that she “bathed once a month whether she needed it or no”. This is often quoted but there seems to be very little evidence for it.

Although medieval and renaissance society bathed less than modern society on the whole, their hygiene was often to a higher standard than that of many later centuries. It's a common myth and misconception that the last few centuries "invented" regular bathing. Medieval society, particularly nobility, gentry, and even wealthy commoners probably bathed once a week, and washed their faces, hands, and private areas daily. There are records of heated bathhouses existing in London since the early middle ages. Soap was also manufactured and used commonly by those of means,
Some of the houses Henry VIII inherited already contained luxurious bathrooms such as Edward III’s bathroom at Westminster with “2 large bronze taps for the kings bath to bring hot and cold water into the baths”
In 1529, Henry VIII ordered a new bathroom built on the first floor of the Bayne Tower at Hampton Court. This tower was Henry VIII’s luxury suite and consisted of an office and strong-room; a bedroom, bathroom and private study and a library and jewel house.
Thurley (worth looking up) describes the bathroom in great detail:
“The Bathroom had deep window-seats with cupboards beneath and a ceiling decorated with gold battens on a white background. The baths were made by a cooper and were attached to the wall; they were supplied by two taps, one for cold water and one for hot. Directly behind the bathroom, in another small room, was a charcoal fired stove, or boiler, fed from a cistern on the second floor which was filled by the Coombe conduit.”
Other similar bathrooms existed at the Tower of London, Windsor Castle and New Hall.

Obviously the common folk could not afford such luxury, but stream and lake bathing were common and often mentioned, especially when washing clothes. A common folk song theme is the lad who espies a maiden bathing (dream on lad).

[evan_au]

It's a common myth and misconception that the last few centuries "invented" regular bathing.

If you visit the English town of Bath, you can see the reconstruction of Roman baths that were there about 2,000 years earlier.

Apparently, a renter complained that hot water was seeping into their basement.
- The inspector found lead sheeting that was part of the Roman baths

Only the Roman elite would have enjoyed the hot baths - the locals would have been employed hauling wood and stoking the fires for the sauna...
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquae_Sulis