Making this specific to feudal times but really asking about the hygiene practices of lower classes pre-industrialization. With no deodorant, soap, limited access to clean water, toothbrushes, etc, was there just a noxious cloud of funk around settlements? How did people combat the stench? How could the stand to have relations with each other?
Hello, I've written a number of answers on medieval hygiene, the most relevant one is probably here. Soap has been around for literally thousands of years, and most medieval settlements were built on rivers, providing ready access to fresh water.