After the "meddlesome priest" Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was
murdered in his cathedral in 1170, those who viewed the body were witness to the process of lipoxeny* resulting in part from the 12th century view that bathing was either a sin, an indulgence, or an invitation to illness -
Layer upon layer of clothing was removed: a mantle, a surplice, a lamb’s wool coat, another and then a third, the black Benedictine robe, a shirt, and then a haircloth. When the final garments were removed, the lice that had lied in the clothes near to the warmth and nutrition of the body “boiled over like water in a simmering cauldron, and the onlookers burst into alternate weeping and laughter."
* "desertion of the host by a parasite." The term typically refers to the parasite moving after reaching full maturity. In this case the louse seeks a better host because this one is too cold. Interestingly, the lice reportedly also move if the host gets too hot (i.e. develops a fever from typhus).
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