Bodies were often covered in vermin
For the average individual of the medieval period and ensuing centuries, life was a lousy proposition. Literally. Vermin shared the residences, the bedding, the clothing, and the bodies of the people. Scalps crawled with lice and fleas. Beds, mostly made of straw ticking, were liberally occupied with those creatures, as well as others including bedbugs. The more crowded the quarters, the greater the vermin population. Servants quarters in the great houses, where people were crowded together like olives in a jar, provided fertile breeding grounds for all forms of crawling pests, all anxiously awaiting an opportunity to ingest human blood. The curse of pestilence was not limited to the medieval age, it continued for centuries beyond that period. When George Washington, as a youth, wrote his rules of civility he addressed, at least in a sideways manner, the ubiquitous presence of vermin.
Washington was not the author of the 110 Rules of Civility today attributed to him. He copied them from a Jesuit text written in the 16th century. Among them, George dutifully reproduced, “13. Kill no vermin, as fleas, lice, ticks, etc. in the sight of others…” The obvious inference to be taken is that the presence of vermin was so common that one should not draw attention to it. They were simply an accepted fact of life. In the absence of disinfectants and strong soaps, and the infrequency of bathing and washing of clothes, there was simply no way to get rid of them. When watching films featuring the revealing gowns of the 17th and 18th century, it is difficult to imagine the wearer crawling with lice. But the character being represented most likely was.