Why didn't they bathe in Medieval Times?

Answer 1

Actually, they did bathe in the Middle Ages. The people believed that cleanliness was next to godliness and kept very clean. They also believed that bad air, with foul odors, carried diseases. They had public baths in many villages.

Later, the Renaissance came. People discovered perfume and went into a period when the only parts of the body to get cleaned were the parts other people could see. They knew medieval people did not have perfume, and liked very much to describe the Middle Ages as inferior to their own, so they called the medieval people dirty and stinky. They convinced alter historians of their own superiority, and people still believe them.

Answer 2

Some did, but as an occasional luxury. The Medieval idea of bathing as unhealthy was still widely held, apparently.