People didn’t shower or even wash their hands
Even though public baths and sanitary methods were common in Rome, Athens, and most big cities in Europe, all this changed in medieval times. Christians were prohibited from bathing naked and, overall, the Church proclaimed that being sanitary and public bathing led to immorality, promiscuous sex, and diseases. These “unwritten laws” of religion became part of the daily lives of most citizens who slowly started avoiding any kind of self-cleaning.