What Made You Ugly In Medieval Times?

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 9 May 2025

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Beauty fads come and go - remember super low-rise jeans in the 90s? IYKYK.

What was considered cool and beautiful in the medieval period? What skincare routines were medieval people doing? And how did the Black Death affect how people dressed and presented themselves?

In this new mini-series, we'll be exploring the beauty standards - and ideas of ugliness - throughout time periods in history.

In this second episode Kate is joined by historian and author Dr. Eleanor Janega, co-host of our sister podcast Gone Medieval, to find out why wearing make-up was a crime.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm your host, Kate Lister.
0:02.4	If you would like Betwixt the Sheets,
0:04.4	ad free and get early access, sign up to History Hit.
0:08.7	With a History Hit subscription,
0:10.6	you can also watch hundreds of original documentaries
0:13.6	with top history presenters
0:15.6	and enjoy a new release every single week.
0:19.8	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:27.5	It's been 80 years since World War II came to an end in Europe.
0:31.3	And Wondry is marking the anniversary with three brand new seasons of British Scandal,
0:36.4	The Spy Who and Legacy. In our podcast, British Scandal, The Spy Who and Legacy.
0:39.2	In our podcast, British Scandal, we uncover the bizarre tale of William Joyce, dubbed Lord
0:44.6	Hawhor, the plummy voice traitor who became Hitler's favourite broadcaster.
0:49.5	His radio catchphrase, Germany Calling, reached millions of British listeners.
0:53.9	But behind the mic, Joyce's
0:55.7	loyalties were anything but British. In the latest season of The Spy Who, we open the file on Hardy
1:03.3	Amies, the spy who dressed the queen. Fashion designer Hardy Amies lives in two worlds, one of
1:10.1	elegance, where he dresses Hollywood icons and
1:12.7	royalty, and another in the shadows, where he orchestrates assassinations in Nazi-occupied
1:18.8	Belgium. And in our podcast, Legacy, we're talking about Joseph Stalin, a murderous dictator who
1:25.6	saved the world from another murderous dictator.
1:28.6	The man who defeated Hitler, but also the man who oversaw the deaths of millions of his own people.
	...

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