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https://www.economist.com/culture/2024/02/21/is-everything-you-assumed-about-the-middle-ages-wrong

Is everything you assumed about the Middle Ages wrong?
There was more to the period than violence, superstition and ignorance,
argues a new book
A drawing of a man showing his wife her reflection in a mirror in the 1500s.
image: getty images
Feb 21st 2024

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“In public, your bottom should emit no secret winds past your thighs. It
disgraces you if other people notice any of your smelly filth.” This
useful bit of advice for young courtiers in the early 13th century
appears in “The Book of the Civilised Man”, a poem by Daniel of Beccles.
It is the first English guide to manners.

Ian Mortimer, a historian, argues that this and other popular works of
advice that began appearing around the same time represent something
important: a growing sense of social self-awareness, self-evaluation and
self-control. Why then? Probably because of the revival of glass mirrors
in the 12th century, which had disappeared from Europe after the fall of
Rome. The mirror made it possible for men and women to see themselves as
others did. It confirmed their individuality and inspired a greater
sense of autonomy and potential. By 1500 mirrors were cheap, and their
impact had spread through society.

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