abstract:Marseille soap or Savon de Marseille is a traditional soap made from vegetable oils that has been made around Marseille, France, for about 600 years, the first documented soapmaker in the area being recorded in about 1370. By 1688, Louis XIV introduced regulations (Edict of Colbert) limiting the use of the name savon de Marseille to soaps made in and around the Marseille area,Soap of Marseille from Avignon-et-Provence.
AnAmsterdammerchantpurchasingsoapfrom a merchant in Marseillecouldgo to an exchanger and pay the exchanger the equivalent sum inguilders, the Dutch currency.
As for that alleged disdain for soap, the statistics ignore the savon de Marseille, an unscented household soap used by many French people, especially southerners, for washing bodies as well as clothes.