It depends on the area the peasant lived in. In Mediterranean countries the tradition of bathing remained alive and well until the sixteenth century. In practically every city there was a bathhouse, and people went about once a week. Peasants usually bathed in the nearest river or pond, more often during summer and probably never in winter. In northern Europe we have evidence of communal saunas, also in villages. So the peasants weren’t nearly as dirty as we tend to think.
