goals, for it was the goals of each acti\ity which in- 

 fluenced the associated customs and costume designs. 

 For this discussion we shall define bathing as the act 

 of immersing all or part of the body in water for 

 cleansing, therapeutic, recreational, or religious 

 purposes, and swimming as the self-propulsion of the 

 body through water. When we refer to swimming it is 

 necessary to distinguish whether it was considered 

 a viseful skill, a therapeutic exercise, a recreation, or a 

 competitive sport. Thus it is important to note that 

 while bathing for all purposes and swimming as a 

 physical exercise, recreation, and sport died out 

 during the Middle Ages, the latter continued to be 

 \alued as a skill, particularly for warriors. This 

 function of swimming survived to form the link 

 between the ancients and the 17th century. 



According to Ralph Thomas, the first book on 

 swimming was written by Nicolas Winmann, a pro- 

 fessor of languages at Ingolstadt in Bavaria, and 

 printed in 1528. The first book published in England 

 on swimming was written in Latin by E\erard Digby 

 and printed in 1587. As Thomas has stated, Digby's 

 book 



... is entitled to a far more important place than the 

 first of the world, because, whereas Winmann had never 

 (up to 1866) been translated or copied or even quoted by 

 any one, Digby has been three times translated; twice 

 into English and once into French and through this latter 

 became and probably still is the best known treatise on 

 the subject.'' 



This French version was first published in 1696 with 

 its purported author being Monsieur Melchisedesh 

 Thevenot. In his introduction Thevenot indicates 

 that he has made use of Digby's book in his own 

 treatise and that he knows of Winmann's pidjlication. 

 The English translation of Thevenot's x-ersion became 

 the standard instruction book for English-speaking 

 peoples. Typically, his reasons in fa\or of men swim- 

 ming were based on its being a useful skill (i.e., to 

 keep from being drowned in a shipwreck, to escape 

 capture when being pursued by enemies, and to attack 

 an enemy posted on the opposite side of a rixer).' 



In the 18th and 19th centuries numerous other 

 publications on swimming appeared — too numerous 

 to deal with in this paper. Nevertheless, the refinement 

 of the art of swimming was not related to the niunber 



'' Thomas, op. cit. (footnote ;i), p. 172. 



" Melchisedesh Thevenot, The Art oj Swimming (London; 

 [ohn Lever, 1789), pp. 4-5. 



PAPER 64: women's B.ATHING .AND SWIMMING 



of instruction books. Few of these books actually 

 offered new insights in compari.son with tlio.^c that 

 were outright plagiarisms or filled with misinforma- 

 tion. In the meantime, bathing was reintroduced and 

 as this activity became more widespread swimming 

 was regarded as more than a u.sefid skill, but only for 

 men. 



There is little evidence of women bathing or swim- 

 ming prior to the 17th century; these activities seem 

 to have been exclusively for men. Nevertheless, 

 Thomas refers to Winmann as writing, in 1538, that 



at Zurich in his day (thus implying that he was an elderly 

 man and that the custom had ceased) the young men and 

 maidens bathed together around the statue of "Saint 

 Nicolai." Even in those days his pupil a.sks "were not the 

 girls ashamed of being naked?" "No, as they wore 

 bathing drawers — sometimes a marriage was brought 

 about." If any young man failed to bring up stones from 

 the bottom, when he dived, he had to suffer the penalty 

 of wearing drawers like the girls.* 



Thomas goes on to say that the only evidence he had 

 found of women swimming in England in early days 

 was in a ballad entitled "The Swimming Lady" and 

 dating from about 1670. Despite these isolated ref- 

 erences it was not until the 19th century that women 

 were encouraged to swim. 



After its decline in the Middle Ages, bathing 

 achieved new popularity as a medicinal treatment 

 for both men and women. In England this revival 

 occurred in the 1 7th centiny when certain medical 

 men held that bathing in fresh water had healing 

 properties. The resultant spas, which were developed 

 at freshwater springs to effect such "cures," expanded 

 rapidly as the number of their devotees incrca.sed. 

 By the mid-1 8th century, ri\al practitioners claimed 

 even greater health-gi\ing properties for sea water 

 both as a drink and for bathing. An economic benefit 

 restdted when, tiny, poverty-stricken fishing hamlets 

 became famous through the patronage of the wealthy 

 in search of health as well as pleasure. 



When the early colonists left England in the first 

 half of the 17th century, the beliefs and practices they 

 had acc|uired in their original homes were brought to 

 the new world. Thus, it is important to note that 

 during this period in Europe, swiiiuuing was a skill 

 practiced by few, primarily soldiers and sailors. It 

 was not muil the second half of the ceniin-y that 

 bathing for therapeutic purposes was becoming 

 popular in the old world. 



■ rnoM.xs. op. cit. (footnote 3), p. ItiL 

 COSTUME IN THE UNITED STATES 



