Most of this is fantasy, esp. the parts about bathing and cooking. People bathed frequently. Most towns had public bathhouses for that purpose. The avoidance of bathing because it was thought unhealthy is an early modern development—1600s and early 1700s; Louis the XIV’s era. Towns became filthier in the early modern period (late 1500s, 1600s onward). Absolute monarchy grew in that period, warfare became nearly nonstop. Witch persecutions are also early modern more than medieval. “Around 1500” is right between these two epochs.
Almost all the filthy, tyrannical stuff that most people associate with the “Middle Ages” is actually more characteristic of the early modern era than medieval period.
Taking a bath in early america was a big deal. Go out and pump enough water to fill a tub, but first warm it up in the fireplace or on an old wood burning stove, carry to tub, add until 1/2 full and then add cold water to make it just warm enough so as not to burn...On my grandma’s farm we were lucky and had a pump house attached to the kitchen. Circa early 1900’s to 1940’s. But you sure had to lug a lot of water to fill a tub.. . Dad was born in 1901, tub baths were few and far between, but that didn’t mean they didn’t wash. In nursing its called a PTA bath if short of staff...Stands for Pit, T!ts and a$$