You can watch all four episodes of Eleanor's 'Going Medieval' series on History Hit TV right now: access.historyhit.com/going-medieval And remember, as TH-cam subscribers, you can sign up to History Hit TV with code TH-cam and enjoy 50% off your first 3 months! 👌
Sorry. No offence. But you speak of money like it was a common object. Rent, Christmas cash crop, etc. What peasants had money??!!? Lol. Maybe a coin or two, a gem or a nugget, or a promissory note. But their everyday existence did not include money, not in the way a modern person does. They paid rent in grain or goods for starters.
Eleanor Janega is an excellent historian and perfect host for this series. It's great to finally see her in a venue that will introduce her to a larger public.
I couldn’t agree more! She is so delightful and engaging to watch! You can tell how much passion she has for history and the work she does around it!☺️💗👍
This was so good. I especially liked the constant refrain that peasants, the regular people, are worth remembering too. It our job to learn about their tech, their lives, and their buildings. agree!
Part of this video really touched me , I'm English, for the first time I looked at my hands and realised the milenia of my ancestors , peasants, who survived for me to be here. It put things in perspective.
Yeah, the British isles are full of thousands of years of history and innovation. But all people want to think about Britain these days is colonizers, ignoring the huge role they've played in world history and the MOSTLY good they've done.
@@AlistairHig Also we often hear feminists nowadays saying that women were treated poorly by the patriarchy in medieval times. If we look into history, we see that it was more teamwork and reciprocation than modern people think!
@@AlistairHig As an Englishman myself I believe we have to be honest about the past and acknowledge the good and the BAD. We were colonisers, and no, we didn't do it for the good of the natives, we did it for profit and power.
@@keithlillis7962 like every other nation in the history of mankind that went in to another nation? Guess we should at hate the Scandinavians and Italians for what the Vikings and Romans done to us then? The past is the past. It seems ridiculous to feel guilt for what people done hundreds of even thousands of years ago.
@@AlistairHig I'm not asking anyone to feel guilty, but I am asking that we in the modern-day, acknowledge the facts from the past. In your initial post, you said that the English did 'more good than harm'. A benevolent dictatorship is still a dictatorship. All former colonising nations should acknowledge this.
I love the way Dr. Janega breaks down the aspects of common people's lives (food, clothing, work, tech, etc.). This is one of the best series I have found on life in the Middle Ages. I hope she will continue to produce these shows.
I had a professor in college who would teach history by telling stories as if she was there....but I know she wasn't so I learned to take her history with a shaker of salt
@@mikemondano3624 In which country? Lol. I just remember realizing that history is often written by the "winners" and thus, often not told accurately because some let their ego get in the way and leave out a bunch of things that they think will make them look bad
Thank you Eleanor for opening our eyes and our hearts to our ancestors lives. I'm so proud of their innovations and perseverance..they paved the road to moderniminity. In watching you, I feel like I'm sitting with a friend who is just the best story teller ever! I'm enthralled! Again..thank you!
Dr Jenega has long since earned my trust as a source of fascinating stories about the medieval times. How lucky we are that she shares her knowledge with such ease and brilliant storytelling!
Great lesson. The Middle Ages are far more interesting in all their details and aspects than some stubborn modern prejudices and clichés still want to believe. The History of peasantry - neither absolutely poor or enslaved, neither rich, but always extremely crucial to everyone - is a proof of that.
Dr Janega is exceptional at making history as real as yesterday. I enjoy everything I have seen her do so far with no doubts whatsoever that I will enjoy those to come🍀💚😊
Imagine saying to a medieval peasant "Even though we have modern technology in the 21st century, and have automated processes for most production, people work longer hours and more days out of the year than you do now"
We also have a far more comfortable lifestyle. I imagine they would have worked our long hours (assuming you are correct that they didn’t) if they got all the food they could eat, air conditioning, cell phones, medicine, etc
@@RyanBanman They may have had the same hours during the summer since it naturally had more sunlight (5 am to 8 pm?), but the other seasons would have been shorter with less work, especially in the winter. Candles may not have been cheap. We are more comfortable physically and should be healthier because of technology. Most of us have comparably smaller or no family to rely on. They relied on ale on God for emotional comfort. We rely on hard liquor, heavier illicit drugs, and social media for emotional comfort. I suppose the sexual market was more serious back then. Farming and animal husbandry can be more rewarding because you can easily see the fruits of your labor. It's easy, free exercise as well. Most white-collar work now consists of b*llshit jobs and meaningless tasks. Lower class service workers are treated like serfs anyway. Lack of physical movement and a poor diet are the norm nowadays, and that is leading to shorter life-spans anyway. They didn't have to worry about rampant life philosophies and ideological theories. Their lives were hard but simpler. Heavy or constant work takes your mind off the complex. That's why rates of anxiety and depression are rising steeply in the modern world where you worry about everything even though you have less and lesser work.
I’m always excited to see something new with Eleanor Janega pop up. The life of the ordinary people (the peasantry) is so much more interesting to me. And so much harder to understand for the reasons given here. Thank you.
I've studied Church history on my own for decades, and just learned more in this 24 min video about Peasants than I have, pertaining to them, in all my other studying! Kudos to this channel and Eleanor Janega for presenting history as fact based as possible, without skewing it, this way or that...
All history is an interpretation of sources. Another historian might present these same sources differently. There's no such thing as objective history.
I can listen Eleanor for days!!! Love the way she "lives" through the time frame she is talking about... well, almost always Medieval period, but she even makes that time period sound fun!
For a really interesting narrative of daily medieval life, centered around an abbey and castle. I highly recommend the Brother Cadfael historical novels (by Ellis Peters, pen name). The peasants were not only farmers; they also were potters, blacksmiths, vellum and parchment makers, weavers, and all other trades. And the books also show the differences between Welsh and English religious and social practices, as well as the constant drama of the very destructive civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maude. And they’re great murder mysteries and quick reads!
I was introduced to Cadfael by the TV show, and read the books as I could find them. And if you're looking for violence and/or murder, "One Corpse Too Many", "Monk's Hood" and "Virgin in the Ice" spring readily to my mind.
@@OmmerSyssel Cadfael is a unique History/Mystery series. There's only a very small amount of romanticizing and much more general realism to life in a Medieval town with a large Abbey owning a lot of land. There's even a leaper colony and pilgrimages. Read a few and see if you don't end up loving it.
I recommend anyone interested in historical medieval tennant farming on church land watch Tudor Farm. Its a great series that looks honestly at what life was like when renting snd tending farms on church land, and also all the trades and how they were interacting with the church
What an excellent teaching! I absolutely love Eleanor Janega’s clear and interesting presentation of social dynamics during this period. It would be interesting to hear her thoughts about the impact of the Black Death on the lives of Medieval peasants after it spread across Europe.
Dr. Janega, I just watched a few of your videos and I really appreciate your very informative lectures and pictures. I have read this kind of History in my Encyclopedia as a child and it's so nice to be able to see it on video. You do an excellent job of bringing it all to life.
I see a lot of similarities between Eleanor Janega and Mary Beard. Eleanor is to medieval history what Mary is to ancient Rome. Both an absolute delight to watch and learn from.
I love Dr. Janega She’s a badass historian and definitely is one of my top 3 historians. Her passionate explanations are amazing and fun Thanks watching more….
One of , if not these best accounts of any historical period that I have listened to ...... bar none. Meticulously researched and inspiring presentation. Thank you very much . Fantastic.
Absolutely love this series. Excited for many more to come. Enjoying how she’s explaining the life of the majority of the population that wasn’t documented as well as the nobles
In the UK, the social station you are born into still very highly influences what education you can get, and still very strongly affects how long you live - up to 15 years less than the person born wealthy a mile away.
Australia is rich in folk who chose a less restrictive class structure and thus new opportunities. New arrivals either pointed to that or to a broken heart. So my Australian friends tell me.
@@GUITARTIME2024 1. A very long term and very robust study of children showed that poor children in the top performing 25% of all children at every stage are THREE TIMES LESS likely to get a well paid job in their 20s as the child of wealthy parents who performed in the bottom 25% from kindergarten onwards. This is not comparing average with average, but top with bottom achievers. 2. Schools in working class districts are underfunded in comparison with middle class areas where parents massively subsidise both the school AND private lessons and coaching for their children. 3. Many UK universities, especially the top ones, now require students to demonstrate ahead of matriculation that they have not only tuition fees covered but that they can maintain themselves. There is no longer a maintenance grant. No sweat for wealthier students whose parents can pay their rent and even their groceries, no chance for an 18 year old from a poor family who hasn’t even had a bank account before. How are they going to demonstrate that they can move to that city, get a full time job that will pay an 18 year old enough to live independently, and also study? With great difficulty. They are in places restricted to living at home. But wait - now that every middle class duffer girl and boy goes to uni, even unis in the north / north east like Durham, Newcastle & Hull are full of wealthy southern kids from private schools. 3. The amount of money owed in student debt after a degree is, to a poor person in the UK a HUGE amount, an amount that is frightening as debt. An amount incurred each year of study that is more than the parents earn. Middle class people are confident that they will get a job and be able to repay it. It is hard for poorer people to even imagine that possibility. It is a huge and dangerous unknown. 4. The poorer students in the UK know already that a massive number of jobs for graduates are got through personal connections, and that public advertising is just a formality. They know that apart from who their parents know (which is nobody) they will be judged on a thousand little social details that they don’t even know exist. 5. As said at the start, even the outstanding poorer graduates are crowded out of well paid jobs by not only the mediocre middle class but the dumb and lazy ones as well. And they know it.
@Eh… I'm American so I can't speak to all that. We have similar issues but we do have various college scholarship programs and such, many based on need or ethnicity.. One thing that we learn in America is to "code switch", which means speaking in a more neutral accent no matter where you come from. We call it non regional American. I'm from the South and Im good at it. My daughter has the accent naturally. In the UK, my understanding is you can't expect to sound like Karl Pilkington or an Essex hairdresser and make it in the corporate world. I think we understand the non-regional thing better than UK people.
I always think its an absolute Tragedy how close the peasant rebellion came to succeeding. They won the battle, but genuinely seemed to believe the King was trustworthy and it was the nobility under him who where corrupt. That one error became their undoing. I wonder what England would of been like if Watt hadn't taken that meeting.
Corruption isn't limited to certain classes. Whatever system England has, there will still be a certain amount of corruption. Human nature has its negative aspects, whether the individual is a serf or a king. Utopia is not a feasable option. Not with humans involved. Certainly, we should try to minimize bad behavior, but it will alway be with us.
The peasants losing wasn't the worst outcome. The peasants had wildly crazy demands, and were basically wanting communism to be implemented. Even more peasants would likely have died had the revolt succeeded. Then another country would sweep in and take control of the weakened country. That is the best case scenario if the peasants had won. The peasants simply didn't understand enough, to create a better system. There is a reason after many revolutions, a lot of the same people stay in power. Those people are the only ones that know how to keep society running, such as managing complex supply lines, and handling international trade. A successful revolution needs to be lead by better educated leaders, than your typical peasant.
Eleanor is an amazing presenter! The way she explains things really gets the point across. I enjoy all HH videos but the videos with Eleanor are my favorites! Thanks to HH for another brilliant video.
Over the past couple of years, I've begun to realise that if you go back as little as 100 years life was utterly miserable for basically everyone except the very richest in society. Go back 200 years, and life was rough even for royalty who despite their power, freedoms, and privilege, couldn't escape the fact that we still didn't have clean drinking water and medicine had barely advanced since ancient times. Add on to that the various restrictions on what you can say, think, or do, depending on your social standing or gender or race or whatever, and it makes you realise just how privileged we are in 21st century, and just how much society has advanced in almost every possible in the past 150 years.
What are your metrics for advancement? Family breakdown, crime, human rights, world wars? If all you're measuring is technological or material then I'd have to agree, but there's far more to life than that and I'd suggest the overall record is far less clear-cut. To me, the West appears less free than ever as it heads towards moral, spiritual, financial and demographic collapse.
I would so watch a full docu-drama series. Where we see a full narrative of the peasant revolt and her explaining the events and all the glorious details of what occured. Fantastic video and lecture by Dr. Eleanor Janega.
This is very interesting. I remember when they found remains on the Mary Rose (1545) and they were able to get a lot of information about the ordinary people from those remains. I would like to hear more on how the Black Death (1348-'49) brought change about. I heard that it gave the peasants a lot more control of their lives. This was because so many had died. They now had the power to threaten to leave if they weren't paid more. They actually had the land owners getting into a bidding war for their services.
It wasn't the Black Death that was the turning point that was more or less the straw that broke the camel's back. The Feudal system had been falling about for over a hundred years by the time the plague arrived. One of the earliest event was the passing of the Statute of Merton of 1235 which allowed the Lord of a Manor to enclose common land for his own use provided enough pasture remained for his tenants. It also set how and when he could assert his rights over waste land, Woodlands and pastures against his tenants. This statute quickly became a basis for English Common Law, developing and clarifying legal concepts of ownership.
@@neiloflongbeck5705 He is correct. You live in a two tiered system. They just dress it up with "democracy" to fool you. Besides, Tony Blair basically runs the Tory agenda anyway.
I'm not a huge history buff and ran across this video while randomly scrolling TH-cam. I really enjoyed listening to this historian and am off to watch another video she hosts. Thanks!
Thank you, Dr.! I really appreciate your enthusiatic and thorough presentation of ordinary lives, rather than focusing on dates and battles and the famous.
I just want to add/correct two things in the video: Alfalfa may have been common in medieval Britain (I'm not sure that it was), but as far as most research goes, the plant mostly disappeared from Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, and it was cultivated in Iran and North Africa instead. Also while farmers knew a lot about plants, they most certainly did not know what nitrogen was or even that it existed, nor which plants took it or put it back in the soil. The three field system usually consisted of planting autumn wheat in one third of the field, spring wheat or vegetables in the second one, and letting the third one rest, while fertilizing it with the help of the animals.
I would assume this was something that was discovered over time that soil needed time to repair and what worked best for agriculture. Of course at the time they wouldn't have known about nitrogen. The only fault here is that she didn't make it clear 🤷
This is literally one of the best series i have watched on medieval europe. I scratched that particular itch that i have when i try to think about medieval times and how things looked like back then. Thanks so much for this
Really top. Thanks Dr. Janega! It's amazing that for the entire history of civilization, the vast majority had to sacrifice their full human potential in order to support a few elite who could (if they chose) become fully developed humans. Then, in the Industrial Age - almost within living memory - it became possible for all humans to be free of exhausting toil and develop fully. Yet humans have not yet learned to distribute wisely the wealth created. That's our task in the 21st century.
23:38 I think that is a very poinent message, I'm not a historian but when I try and understand what life was like for the average person it becomes so frustrating finding nothing, I know what a noble man's life is like but no one else's.
I’ve seen many history documentaries, but this ancient history documentary stands out for its in-depth analysis and engaging narrative. Truly enlightening!
A really outstanding presentation. Superb research with a riveting historian presenting facts and explaining their relevance. Watching this was fun and I learned a lot of history I was never aware of.
Brilliant video. I especially liked the story about Thomas Collins of Halesowen, because Halesowen is a place I know well today. It's great to have a feeling of continuity between ordinary working families over a period of 600+ years.
Thanks for going into detail about medieval farm technology. I read too much Terry Pratchett, and he pretty much says this period's innovation boiled down to the new horse collar design!
I'd think that what we see with the European farmers, is not so much a 'Peasants' revolt, as it is a Yeoman's revolt. So something of quite a different nature, and also far more threatening to the technocratic power structures ? Its also going to be the case that said Yeoman class will have little in common with, or have sympathy with, today's equivalent of the peasant class, which whilst it may not amount to the 80% of society mentioned in the video, its probably still around 65% of western populations.
I just recently finished S.P.Q.R by Mary Beard, she spent a good amount of time explaining the average person's life in various periods of Rome's first few centuries. There were several overlapping factors and problems trying to unearth the "typical" person's life then, too - peasants simply didn't leave a lot of belongings and writings behind because they didn't have much to leave behind, while the well off had all the goodies and built (more like had things built) in stone...
One advantage oxen had over horses is they didn’t need expensive harness Most peasants could chop out Oxen yoke themselves making a horse harness is much more involved and not likely made by the peasant themselves Also oxen are easier to care for and feed I’ve worked with both horses and oxen and oxen are probably easier to train but horses remember their training better Oxen of course is just a cow usually a castrated bull calf so probably more easy to come by then a draft horse
@@mwillblade Most of them are pretty mellow in my experience. Draft horses are pretty mellow as well. My family preferred horses when they were farming. There's an interesting book called "Zero Fighter" by Akira Yoshimura and in it among other things, he discusses how Zero fighters were hauled on ox carts to final assembly because there was no airfield at the factory. Eventually they have to go to draft horses as the production ramps up and the oxen can't keep up with the numbers because they're getting worn out. It's a pretty good read.
@@mwillblade I think when startled Oxen are more likely to freeze while a horse is more likely to bolt When I was a kid I saw a team of horses run off with a plow, it was bouncing 4 feet high! Scary
Didn't@@deadhorse1391 Had a boss who had horses, 2 draft. Had a homemade sled, railroad tie runners, for them to pull. They were big. Came to work one day, shirt mostly open, bandages all over his chest. The draft horses had bolted, yanking him off the sled. Dragged him aways before he let go. Wife was digging gravel out of him for awhile. Crazy man...LOL Crazy riding horses too. One threw me, car came up from behind, dirt road, spooked it. Landed pretty hard, didn't spill a drop of beer. ;0) Horse just went to the roadside to eat grass. Didn't even check to see if I was OK, the bastard.
I really appreciate programmes like this, as I know these are my direct ancestors. I don't relate so much to histories of kings and nobles and upper classes, as I have no known ancestors who were in that sphere. I love documentaries about the common folk. They gradually open up their world to me and help me understand the lives of my own ancestors.
I Love this presentation. Aside from the information, the presenter is fantastic. She is so animated and makes everything interesting. She reminds me of Caitlin from the podcast Ask a Mortician.
Eleanor is a very good medieval historian and she writes an excellent blog as well. I knew about the three-field system and strip farming. Does anyone know the technical difference between the ox collar and the horse collar? Would love to find out more
The invention of the horse collar must have been a disaster for the equine species, condemning most of them as it did to unending drudgery, as they could be made to pull more weight behind them than they could otherwise have carried on their backs. Only the internal combustion engine released them, thanks to a Jewish man, Siegfried Marcus, who lived in Vienna.
Great video! Nice reference to the Medieval Warm Period, and Little Ice Age. What caused the flooding prior to the Great Famine? There were no gasoline cars, gas boilers, coal fired power plants back then.
_'The monks don't work the fields.'_ Moments later, a drawing of monks ploughing the fields. The abbeys were also involved in the transformative process of raw agricultural commodities, for example turning milk and grapes into cheese and wine, respectively. Many early advancements in botany and animal husbandry were done by the monks. And because monks were to avoid eating meat (unless ill), cheese was a source of protein for them. They took a keen interest in the development of new cheeses to give their diet some variety. Bee keeping was another activity performed by the clergy. At the time there were two orders of monks, the Benedictines and the Cistercians. The Cistercians believed that they must do all the work by their own hands. The Cistercians tended to want to get away from it all, so they established abbeys in remote places on marginal land, for example marshes. Draining fields followed. In the monastic orders were also lay brothers, members who usually were uneducated. They followed the same prayer routines as the monks, often took vows of silence, and performed manual labour. Choir monks were expected to perform manual labour too, especially during harvest time. Sheep were important for more than wool (and meat and fertiliser). From them came parchment, rennet, and glue. Historians. So wrapped up in 'the narrative' they fail to see the facts in front of their own noses.
Thank you! It just be crazy easy to get your doctorate in history studies. Bc this lady makes frequent and wildly incorrect statements, and is also crazy prejudiced against anything involving the church at the time 😂
People shit on the Church. They did ablot of bad, obviously. But they did a lot of good, and the secluded religious groups were really just peaceful and did their own chill thing.
There is a huge difference between writing a carefully sourced and edited academic history book an delivering a lecture. A video like this is more like a lecture delivered to a popular audience. Every lecturer (teacher) does get some things wrong from time to time. For a history enthusiast to listen to a professional academic, spot one incorrect fact, and then discount the whole person is a little naive. Perhaps she was making a distinction between monks. I doubt she is completely unaware that medieval monks worked.
I love the way Dr Eleanor is able to tell us both about a topic like medieval life while interjecting real stories to really connect the dots to reality. Dr Eleanor is able to take a vast ranging topic and break it down for us “peasants of history”. I am definitely going to subscribe to this channel after seeing this. Thank you for the knowledge.
Some good points . doesn't mention fishing ponds or rivers , duck , geese and dove cots and hunting game. the former.were particularly important to monastic communities and Lords of the Manor.
Hi Eleanor, fantastic! Is it true that in post-black death era, the system of serfdom weakened and the plight of peasants alleviated to some extent due to the fact that there was a shortage of man power to work on farms?
You can watch all four episodes of Eleanor's 'Going Medieval' series on History Hit TV right now: access.historyhit.com/going-medieval
And remember, as TH-cam subscribers, you can sign up to History Hit TV with code TH-cam and enjoy 50% off your first 3 months! 👌
She presented that intro as if your place in society no longer effects all of those things!
@@joshuataylor3550 h
uhm, you were saying how your place in society determined all these aspects of your life, pretty sure it all still applies.
Sorry. No offence. But you speak of money like it was a common object. Rent, Christmas cash crop, etc. What peasants had money??!!? Lol. Maybe a coin or two, a gem or a nugget, or a promissory note. But their everyday existence did not include money, not in the way a modern person does. They paid rent in grain or goods for starters.
If you don't know what the word "pejorative" means, don't use it.
Eleanor Janega is an excellent historian and perfect host for this series. It's great to finally see her in a venue that will introduce her to a larger public.
I couldn’t agree more!
She is so delightful and engaging to watch! You can tell how much passion she has for history and the work she does around it!☺️💗👍
Also, she looks like the waitress from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
Totally agree! I loved this and really fed off her passion and knowledge.
She got nice cans too
She's perfect
This historian is excellent. She explains historical events in a fun and relatable way.
She has some great historical movie reaction videos
@@MidwestFarmToys she kinda looks a bit like the waitress in Always Sunny lol. not intending to mock, she genuinely looks a bit like that actress
She really is! She has a great tempo and interesting information. I haven’t seen her before but she’s is absolutely excellent.
Why do you fancy her?
@@MidwestFarmToys Lucy Worsley 10/10 Yankee woman 1/10🤣
This was so good. I especially liked the constant refrain that peasants, the regular people, are worth remembering too. It our job to learn about their tech, their lives, and their buildings. agree!
Commoners are the regular class of peoples. Peasants are by definition not common and not regular. Peasants are below the commoner class.
Yes it’s an interesting angle rather than focusing on the monarchy.
Shaul is a fine peasant name.
Most of you spoiled wokist would go beserk living under such demanding circumstances. Not much glorification or hysterical genderism those days 😅🤷🏼
@@lukeshaul820 did she peasants made up 80% of the population who could prosper but there was a subclass of serfs?
Part of this video really touched me , I'm English, for the first time I looked at my hands and realised the milenia of my ancestors , peasants, who survived for me to be here. It put things in perspective.
Yeah, the British isles are full of thousands of years of history and innovation. But all people want to think about Britain these days is colonizers, ignoring the huge role they've played in world history and the MOSTLY good they've done.
@@AlistairHig Also we often hear feminists nowadays saying that women were treated poorly by the patriarchy in medieval times. If we look into history, we see that it was more teamwork and reciprocation than modern people think!
@@AlistairHig As an Englishman myself I believe we have to be honest about the past and acknowledge the good and the BAD. We were colonisers, and no, we didn't do it for the good of the natives, we did it for profit and power.
@@keithlillis7962 like every other nation in the history of mankind that went in to another nation? Guess we should at hate the Scandinavians and Italians for what the Vikings and Romans done to us then? The past is the past. It seems ridiculous to feel guilt for what people done hundreds of even thousands of years ago.
@@AlistairHig I'm not asking anyone to feel guilty, but I am asking that we in the modern-day, acknowledge the facts from the past. In your initial post, you said that the English did 'more good than harm'. A benevolent dictatorship is still a dictatorship. All former colonising nations should acknowledge this.
I love the way Dr. Janega breaks down the aspects of common people's lives (food, clothing, work, tech, etc.). This is one of the best series I have found on life in the Middle Ages. I hope she will continue to produce these shows.
it's called historical materialism. marx theory. it's how adults do history now.
I know i love that stuff. Like how they combed their hair made deoderants washed and pooped slept worked.
Honesty I'd watch any video with Eleanor Janega, she explains everything in an amazing way and her enthusiastic energy is super infectious
she has huge tits too!🤪
OMG I love this lady! I could listen to her all day. She is one of those rare teachers who talks like she was really there.
She’s great. Having someone who’s enthusiastic and animated about their subject makes the subject so much more engaging for the rest of us.
I'm a half of the way in, this video is great, exactly the kind of historical content I like. This presenter is excellent
I could watch and listen to her teach history all day long. She is excellent.
Eleanor makes learning history fun! Wish we had her in School!
Agreed 100% Still liked learning history in school but it didn't stand out as much to me then.
I had a professor in college who would teach history by telling stories as if she was there....but I know she wasn't so I learned to take her history with a shaker of salt
I'm pretty old, but they didn't teach any history in my school. There wasn't any yet.
@@mikemondano3624 In which country? Lol. I just remember realizing that history is often written by the "winners" and thus, often not told accurately because some let their ego get in the way and leave out a bunch of things that they think will make them look bad
Thank you Eleanor for opening our eyes and our hearts to our ancestors lives. I'm so proud of their innovations and perseverance..they paved the road to moderniminity. In watching you, I feel like I'm sitting with a friend who is just the best story teller ever! I'm enthralled! Again..thank you!
Great presenter, love seeing stuff focussing on everyday life and not just war.
Yes not just war and kings. She doesn’t even mention who the monarch is at the time
@@chesterdonnelly1212 Yes she did! Richard11.
I am in my 50s and history at school was farming, diseases, etc.
Dr Jenega has long since earned my trust as a source of fascinating stories about the medieval times. How lucky we are that she shares her knowledge with such ease and brilliant storytelling!
Great lesson. The Middle Ages are far more interesting in all their details and aspects than some stubborn modern prejudices and clichés still want to believe. The History of peasantry - neither absolutely poor or enslaved, neither rich, but always extremely crucial to everyone - is a proof of that.
What I wish I can know more about are the lives of women in the medieval times.
I love her enthusiasm, not just for history, but for teaching it. I know it’s gonna be a good video if Eleanor is in the thumbnail!
Dr Janega is exceptional at making history as real as yesterday. I enjoy everything I have seen her do so far with no doubts whatsoever that I will enjoy those to come🍀💚😊
Imagine saying to a medieval peasant "Even though we have modern technology in the 21st century, and have automated processes for most production, people work longer hours and more days out of the year than you do now"
... and we pay higher taxes.
@@marek_petrovsky which mostly go to a social security net, if you live in continental Europe, at least.
@@AggroJordan86 But they had children instead. Real family, not 1 per woman on average (which leads to fast and inevitable crash of our civilization).
We also have a far more comfortable lifestyle. I imagine they would have worked our long hours (assuming you are correct that they didn’t) if they got all the food they could eat, air conditioning, cell phones, medicine, etc
@@RyanBanman They may have had the same hours during the summer since it naturally had more sunlight (5 am to 8 pm?), but the other seasons would have been shorter with less work, especially in the winter. Candles may not have been cheap.
We are more comfortable physically and should be healthier because of technology. Most of us have comparably smaller or no family to rely on. They relied on ale on God for emotional comfort. We rely on hard liquor, heavier illicit drugs, and social media for emotional comfort. I suppose the sexual market was more serious back then.
Farming and animal husbandry can be more rewarding because you can easily see the fruits of your labor. It's easy, free exercise as well. Most white-collar work now consists of b*llshit jobs and meaningless tasks. Lower class service workers are treated like serfs anyway. Lack of physical movement and a poor diet are the norm nowadays, and that is leading to shorter life-spans anyway.
They didn't have to worry about rampant life philosophies and ideological theories. Their lives were hard but simpler. Heavy or constant work takes your mind off the complex. That's why rates of anxiety and depression are rising steeply in the modern world where you worry about everything even though you have less and lesser work.
I’m always excited to see something new with Eleanor Janega pop up.
The life of the ordinary people (the peasantry) is so much more interesting to me. And so much harder to understand for the reasons given here.
Thank you.
I've studied Church history on my own for decades, and just learned more in this 24 min video about Peasants than I have, pertaining to them, in all my other studying! Kudos to this channel and Eleanor Janega for presenting history as fact based as possible, without skewing it, this way or that...
Churches were basically the complete opposite of ordinary peoples life. Leeching on hard working peoples outcome, demonising and punishment..
All history is an interpretation of sources. Another historian might present these same sources differently. There's no such thing as objective history.
@@kaclama Tell me you've been brainwashed by Howard Zinn, without telling me you've been brainwashed by Howard Zinn...
How would it look like skewed? 🤔
Dr. Janega has a really gift for communicating this stuff. Obviously very knowledgeable.
I love how passionate she is with these very specific historical characters
Eleanor Janega - always
I love watching a master at their chosen craft. Making history come alive!
I can listen Eleanor for days!!! Love the way she "lives" through the time frame she is talking about... well, almost always Medieval period, but she even makes that time period sound fun!
Of all the documentaries I have watched, I love this historian.she really makes the information relatable. So well done!
For a really interesting narrative of daily medieval life, centered around an abbey and castle. I highly recommend the Brother Cadfael historical novels (by Ellis Peters, pen name). The peasants were not only farmers; they also were potters, blacksmiths, vellum and parchment makers, weavers, and all other trades. And the books also show the differences between Welsh and English religious and social practices, as well as the constant drama of the very destructive civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maude. And they’re great murder mysteries and quick reads!
Are famine, lawlessness and violent death part of that 'wonderful' storytelling?
Aaaaah I used to watch the TV adaptation of those books with Derek jacobi.
I was introduced to Cadfael by the TV show, and read the books as I could find them.
And if you're looking for violence and/or murder, "One Corpse Too Many", "Monk's Hood" and "Virgin in the Ice" spring readily to my mind.
@@OmmerSyssel Cadfael is a unique History/Mystery series. There's only a very small amount of romanticizing and much more general realism to life in a Medieval town with a large Abbey owning a lot of land. There's even a leaper colony and pilgrimages. Read a few and see if you don't end up loving it.
I love historical fiction! I have never heard of this series. Thanks for the suggestion
I hope educators use these videos for teaching. Fantastic.
I recommend anyone interested in historical medieval tennant farming on church land watch Tudor Farm. Its a great series that looks honestly at what life was like when renting snd tending farms on church land, and also all the trades and how they were interacting with the church
BBC Living History is awesome!!
All of the farm series are great. They also did one on building a castle in France
What an excellent teaching! I absolutely love Eleanor Janega’s clear and interesting presentation of social dynamics during this period.
It would be interesting to hear her thoughts about the impact of the Black Death on the lives of Medieval peasants after it spread across Europe.
Eleanor's speaking and information presentation style reminds me so much of Caitlin from Ask A Mortician! I love them both!
Yes!
Dr. Janega, I just watched a few of your videos and I really appreciate your very informative lectures and pictures. I have read this kind of History in my Encyclopedia as a child and it's so nice to be able to see it on video. You do an excellent job of bringing it all to life.
I see a lot of similarities between Eleanor Janega and Mary Beard. Eleanor is to medieval history what Mary is to ancient Rome. Both an absolute delight to watch and learn from.
Dr. Beard is one of my favorites, and I will agree Dr. Janega is outstanding.
I definitely.agree with you .Both are great to watch ❤
I love Dr. Janega
She’s a badass historian and definitely is one of my top 3 historians. Her passionate explanations are amazing and fun
Thanks watching more….
One of , if not these best accounts of any historical period that I have listened to ...... bar none. Meticulously researched and inspiring presentation. Thank you very much . Fantastic.
Absolutely love this series. Excited for many more to come. Enjoying how she’s explaining the life of the majority of the population that wasn’t documented as well as the nobles
Thanks!
I like how we go straight into the lives of real people and names in the medieval era. I can see myself living in this world.
Fantastic series and Eleanor Janega is such a good presenter/teacher.
Well done Dr.Janega. Some history presenters make history dull. I very much enjoy how you are able to make history both informative and enjoyable.
In the UK, the social station you are born into still very highly influences what education you can get, and still very strongly affects how long you live - up to 15 years less than the person born wealthy a mile away.
Australia is rich in folk who chose a less restrictive class structure and thus new opportunities. New arrivals either pointed to that or to a broken heart. So my Australian friends tell me.
keep crying about it
In England, your social status is pretty accurately determined by the time you have spoken a half-dozen words.
@@GUITARTIME2024 1. A very long term and very robust study of children showed that poor children in the top performing 25% of all children at every stage are THREE TIMES LESS likely to get a well paid job in their 20s as the child of wealthy parents who performed in the bottom 25% from kindergarten onwards. This is not comparing average with average, but top with bottom achievers. 2. Schools in working class districts are underfunded in comparison with middle class areas where parents massively subsidise both the school AND private lessons and coaching for their children. 3. Many UK universities, especially the top ones, now require students to demonstrate ahead of matriculation that they have not only tuition fees covered but that they can maintain themselves. There is no longer a maintenance grant. No sweat for wealthier students whose parents can pay their rent and even their groceries, no chance for an 18 year old from a poor family who hasn’t even had a bank account before. How are they going to demonstrate that they can move to that city, get a full time job that will pay an 18 year old enough to live independently, and also study? With great difficulty. They are in places restricted to living at home. But wait - now that every middle class duffer girl and boy goes to uni, even unis in the north / north east like Durham, Newcastle & Hull are full of wealthy southern kids from private schools.
3. The amount of money owed in student debt after a degree is, to a poor person in the UK a HUGE amount, an amount that is frightening as debt. An amount incurred each year of study that is more than the parents earn. Middle class people are confident that they will get a job and be able to repay it. It is hard for poorer people to even imagine that possibility. It is a huge and dangerous unknown. 4. The poorer students in the UK know already that a massive number of jobs for graduates are got through personal connections, and that public advertising is just a formality. They know that apart from who their parents know (which is nobody) they will be judged on a thousand little social details that they don’t even know exist. 5. As said at the start, even the outstanding poorer graduates are crowded out of well paid jobs by not only the mediocre middle class but the dumb and lazy ones as well. And they know it.
@Eh… I'm American so I can't speak to all that. We have similar issues but we do have various college scholarship programs and such, many based on need or ethnicity.. One thing that we learn in America is to "code switch", which means speaking in a more neutral accent no matter where you come from. We call it non regional American. I'm from the South and Im good at it. My daughter has the accent naturally. In the UK, my understanding is you can't expect to sound like Karl Pilkington or an Essex hairdresser and make it in the corporate world. I think we understand the non-regional thing better than UK people.
Thanks!
I always think its an absolute Tragedy how close the peasant rebellion came to succeeding. They won the battle, but genuinely seemed to believe the King was trustworthy and it was the nobility under him who where corrupt. That one error became their undoing. I wonder what England would of been like if Watt hadn't taken that meeting.
@Turaglas What do you mean by Commonwealth countries?
Corruption isn't limited to certain classes. Whatever system England has, there will still be a certain amount of corruption. Human nature has its negative aspects, whether the individual is a serf or a king. Utopia is not a feasable option. Not with humans involved. Certainly, we should try to minimize bad behavior, but it will alway be with us.
The peasants losing wasn't the worst outcome. The peasants had wildly crazy demands, and were basically wanting communism to be implemented.
Even more peasants would likely have died had the revolt succeeded. Then another country would sweep in and take control of the weakened country. That is the best case scenario if the peasants had won.
The peasants simply didn't understand enough, to create a better system. There is a reason after many revolutions, a lot of the same people stay in power. Those people are the only ones that know how to keep society running, such as managing complex supply lines, and handling international trade. A successful revolution needs to be lead by better educated leaders, than your typical peasant.
@@maxpowers9129 Your extremely classist and fascist attudes are disgusting. Are u a descendant of an SS officer?
@@maxpowers9129 hi
Dr Janega is an absolute delight!
Eleanor is an amazing presenter! The way she explains things really gets the point across. I enjoy all HH videos but the videos with Eleanor are my favorites! Thanks to HH for another brilliant video.
Eleanor, you are an excellent presenter. Thank you.
Over the past couple of years, I've begun to realise that if you go back as little as 100 years life was utterly miserable for basically everyone except the very richest in society. Go back 200 years, and life was rough even for royalty who despite their power, freedoms, and privilege, couldn't escape the fact that we still didn't have clean drinking water and medicine had barely advanced since ancient times. Add on to that the various restrictions on what you can say, think, or do, depending on your social standing or gender or race or whatever, and it makes you realise just how privileged we are in 21st century, and just how much society has advanced in almost every possible in the past 150 years.
What are your metrics for advancement? Family breakdown, crime, human rights, world wars? If all you're measuring is technological or material then I'd have to agree, but there's far more to life than that and I'd suggest the overall record is far less clear-cut. To me, the West appears less free than ever as it heads towards moral, spiritual, financial and demographic collapse.
Exactly, even Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband, died from a water bourn disease
I would so watch a full docu-drama series. Where we see a full narrative of the peasant revolt and her explaining the events and all the glorious details of what occured. Fantastic video and lecture by Dr. Eleanor Janega.
This is very interesting. I remember when they found remains on the Mary Rose (1545) and they were able to get a lot of information about the ordinary people from those remains. I would like to hear more on how the Black Death (1348-'49) brought change about. I heard that it gave the peasants a lot more control of their lives. This was because so many had died. They now had the power to threaten to leave if they weren't paid more. They actually had the land owners getting into a bidding war for their services.
It wasn't the Black Death that was the turning point that was more or less the straw that broke the camel's back. The Feudal system had been falling about for over a hundred years by the time the plague arrived. One of the earliest event was the passing of the Statute of Merton of 1235 which allowed the Lord of a Manor to enclose common land for his own use provided enough pasture remained for his tenants. It also set how and when he could assert his rights over waste land, Woodlands and pastures against his tenants. This statute quickly became a basis for English Common Law, developing and clarifying legal concepts of ownership.
@@Demun1649 total bollocks.
@@neiloflongbeck5705 He is correct. You live in a two tiered system. They just dress it up with "democracy" to fool you. Besides, Tony Blair basically runs the Tory agenda anyway.
@@fritobandito5374 just because they can afford better lawyers doesn't mean a 2 tier system, so yes he is talking bollocks.
@@neiloflongbeck5705 It's more than just lawyers, mate. Look at the case of Jimmy Savile. Your naivety is kind bollocks.
I'm not a huge history buff and ran across this video while randomly scrolling TH-cam. I really enjoyed listening to this historian and am off to watch another video she hosts. Thanks!
Dr Janega's back! Can't wait for the rest of the series.
Thank you, Dr.! I really appreciate your enthusiatic and thorough presentation of ordinary lives, rather than focusing on dates and battles and the famous.
I just want to add/correct two things in the video:
Alfalfa may have been common in medieval Britain (I'm not sure that it was), but as far as most research goes, the plant mostly disappeared from Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, and it was cultivated in Iran and North Africa instead.
Also while farmers knew a lot about plants, they most certainly did not know what nitrogen was or even that it existed, nor which plants took it or put it back in the soil. The three field system usually consisted of planting autumn wheat in one third of the field, spring wheat or vegetables in the second one, and letting the third one rest, while fertilizing it with the help of the animals.
I would assume this was something that was discovered over time that soil needed time to repair and what worked best for agriculture. Of course at the time they wouldn't have known about nitrogen. The only fault here is that she didn't make it clear 🤷
This is literally one of the best series i have watched on medieval europe. I scratched that particular itch that i have when i try to think about medieval times and how things looked like back then. Thanks so much for this
Really top. Thanks Dr. Janega! It's amazing that for the entire history of civilization, the vast majority had to sacrifice their full human potential in order to support a few elite who could (if they chose) become fully developed humans. Then, in the Industrial Age - almost within living memory - it became possible for all humans to be free of exhausting toil and develop fully. Yet humans have not yet learned to distribute wisely the wealth created. That's our task in the 21st century.
I feel like she has to be one of if not the best History teacher in the world. I love her videos!
23:38 I think that is a very poinent message, I'm not a historian but when I try and understand what life was like for the average person it becomes so frustrating finding nothing, I know what a noble man's life is like but no one else's.
Excellent presentation.
I like how she explains the realities of life and not in a top down way.
What a great educator.
I have never been explained life in medieval times so well. Definitely interested for more. New subscriber here.
Well done. I've never seen her before, I really like Dr. Janega's presentation.
The quality of this is incredible. Love it!
I’ve seen many history documentaries, but this ancient history documentary stands out for its in-depth analysis and engaging narrative. Truly enlightening!
A really outstanding presentation. Superb research with a riveting historian presenting facts and explaining their relevance. Watching this was fun and I learned a lot of history I was never aware of.
Brilliant video. I especially liked the story about Thomas Collins of Halesowen, because Halesowen is a place I know well today. It's great to have a feeling of continuity between ordinary working families over a period of 600+ years.
Thanks for going into detail about medieval farm technology. I read too much Terry Pratchett, and he pretty much says this period's innovation boiled down to the new horse collar design!
I really appreciate the precentor’s attitude and delivery…. Every bit as great as as the content!❤
Couldn’t have come at a beter time because history’s repeating itself here in the Netherlands with a “peasants revolt” going on
You know how it ended, tho!
This one can't end the same way though.
Or else we are all slaves forever more.
@@markfranklin1869 What does nitrogen have to do with a revolt? Why not stop destroying your soil for profit and maintain it for the future?
I'd think that what we see with the European farmers, is not so much a 'Peasants' revolt, as it is a Yeoman's revolt. So something of quite a different nature, and also far more threatening to the technocratic power structures ? Its also going to be the case that said Yeoman class will have little in common with, or have sympathy with, today's equivalent of the peasant class, which whilst it may not amount to the 80% of society mentioned in the video, its probably still around 65% of western populations.
Very, very good. Eleanor Janega explains things so clearly. Thank you!
I just recently finished S.P.Q.R by Mary Beard, she spent a good amount of time explaining the average person's life in various periods of Rome's first few centuries. There were several overlapping factors and problems trying to unearth the "typical" person's life then, too - peasants simply didn't leave a lot of belongings and writings behind because they didn't have much to leave behind, while the well off had all the goodies and built (more like had things built) in stone...
Eleanor and Alice are the best!! I eagerly wait for their videos. Thank you all for teaching us so much.
One advantage oxen had over horses is they didn’t need expensive harness
Most peasants could chop out Oxen yoke themselves making a horse harness is much more involved and not likely made by the peasant themselves
Also oxen are easier to care for and feed
I’ve worked with both horses and oxen and oxen are probably easier to train but horses remember their training better
Oxen of course is just a cow usually a castrated bull calf so probably more easy to come by then a draft horse
Temperment on Oxen?
@@mwillblade
Most of them are pretty mellow in my experience. Draft horses are pretty mellow as well. My family preferred horses when they were farming.
There's an interesting book called "Zero Fighter" by Akira Yoshimura and in it among other things, he discusses how Zero fighters were hauled on ox carts to final assembly because there was no airfield at the factory. Eventually they have to go to draft horses as the production ramps up and the oxen can't keep up with the numbers because they're getting worn out. It's a pretty good read.
@@mwillblade I think when startled Oxen are more likely to freeze while a horse is more likely to bolt
When I was a kid I saw a team of horses run off with a plow, it was bouncing 4 feet high! Scary
Didn't@@deadhorse1391 Had a boss who had horses, 2 draft. Had a homemade sled, railroad tie runners, for them to pull. They were big. Came to work one day, shirt mostly open, bandages all over his chest. The draft horses had bolted, yanking him off the sled. Dragged him aways before he let go. Wife was digging gravel out of him for awhile. Crazy man...LOL
Crazy riding horses too. One threw me, car came up from behind, dirt road, spooked it. Landed pretty hard, didn't spill a drop of beer. ;0) Horse just went to the roadside to eat grass. Didn't even check to see if I was OK, the bastard.
If you've ridden horses, not for fun but as a means of transport, you very quickly realize why they invented the automobile
Dr. Eleanor Janega, you are a true scholar and a gentlewoman! 🥰
Great work! Very valuable research. It is always interesting to learn about the real history as much as possible.
Eale or Janegas’ delivery makes this amazingly. It is great to listen to a real historian.
I really appreciate programmes like this, as I know these are my direct ancestors. I don't relate so much to histories of kings and nobles and upper classes, as I have no known ancestors who were in that sphere. I love documentaries about the common folk. They gradually open up their world to me and help me understand the lives of my own ancestors.
Dr Eleanor is the best!
Dr Eleanor Janega is great! Enjoyed this a lot
Hello 👋.
How are you doing today?
I Love this presentation. Aside from the information, the presenter is fantastic. She is so animated and makes everything interesting. She reminds me of Caitlin from the podcast Ask a Mortician.
This was so well done , thank you i look forward to more of these i want more shows with her in it
You’re explanation of the times are extremely informative, love your presentation!
We want more Dr. Janega PLEASE 🥺🥺
I was SOOO into this, what a wonderful presentation!
Great episode ! Love the way she explains everything . She keeps it interesting instead of dry ! Like many do.
This was great to watch, she does an amazing job.
Eleanor is a very good medieval historian and she writes an excellent blog as well. I knew about the three-field system and strip farming. Does anyone know the technical difference between the ox collar and the horse collar? Would love to find out more
The invention of the horse collar must have been a disaster for the equine species, condemning most of them as it did to unending drudgery, as they could be made to pull more weight behind them than they could otherwise have carried on their backs. Only the internal combustion engine released them, thanks to a Jewish man, Siegfried Marcus, who lived in Vienna.
Great video! Nice reference to the Medieval Warm Period, and Little Ice Age. What caused the flooding prior to the Great Famine? There were no gasoline cars, gas boilers, coal fired power plants back then.
_'The monks don't work the fields.'_ Moments later, a drawing of monks ploughing the fields.
The abbeys were also involved in the transformative process of raw agricultural commodities, for example turning milk and grapes into cheese and wine, respectively. Many early advancements in botany and animal husbandry were done by the monks. And because monks were to avoid eating meat (unless ill), cheese was a source of protein for them. They took a keen interest in the development of new cheeses to give their diet some variety. Bee keeping was another activity performed by the clergy. At the time there were two orders of monks, the Benedictines and the Cistercians. The Cistercians believed that they must do all the work by their own hands. The Cistercians tended to want to get away from it all, so they established abbeys in remote places on marginal land, for example marshes. Draining fields followed. In the monastic orders were also lay brothers, members who usually were uneducated. They followed the same prayer routines as the monks, often took vows of silence, and performed manual labour. Choir monks were expected to perform manual labour too, especially during harvest time. Sheep were important for more than wool (and meat and fertiliser). From them came parchment, rennet, and glue.
Historians. So wrapped up in 'the narrative' they fail to see the facts in front of their own noses.
Thank you! It just be crazy easy to get your doctorate in history studies. Bc this lady makes frequent and wildly incorrect statements, and is also crazy prejudiced against anything involving the church at the time 😂
People shit on the Church. They did ablot of bad, obviously. But they did a lot of good, and the secluded religious groups were really just peaceful and did their own chill thing.
There is a huge difference between writing a carefully sourced and edited academic history book an delivering a lecture. A video like this is more like a lecture delivered to a popular audience. Every lecturer (teacher) does get some things wrong from time to time. For a history enthusiast to listen to a professional academic, spot one incorrect fact, and then discount the whole person is a little naive. Perhaps she was making a distinction between monks. I doubt she is completely unaware that medieval monks worked.
I really enjoyed this and learned so much. Thank you😊
Interesting content and great presentation. Thank you.
Definitely my favorite historian to look at while learning medieval history
I love the way Dr Eleanor is able to tell us both about a topic like medieval life while interjecting real stories to really connect the dots to reality. Dr Eleanor is able to take a vast ranging topic and break it down for us “peasants of history”. I am definitely going to subscribe to this channel after seeing this. Thank you for the knowledge.
(I totally got History Hit TV because of her)
Thank you, Eleanor!
Some good points . doesn't mention fishing ponds or rivers , duck , geese and dove cots and hunting game. the former.were particularly important to monastic communities and Lords of the Manor.
Dear History Hit, more Eleanor Janega please!
Thank you
This is a great series. She did a great job❤
I love the medieval period thank you for your presentation and approach much appreciated and very entertaining xxxx from British Columbia Canada
Excellent presentation about this era of history. Thank you!
Hi Eleanor, fantastic! Is it true that in post-black death era, the system of serfdom weakened and the plight of peasants alleviated to some extent due to the fact that there was a shortage of man power to work on farms?
I love listening to this story-telling! Well done and thank you for the beautiful history shared.