What Was Life Really Like For Medieval Peasant Women? | History Hit
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 พ.ค. 2024
- Dr. Eleanor Janega investigates one of the least recorded aspects of medieval life - working women. But dig deep and you can find the evidence - proving the medieval period is a fascinating window into the true history of women…and work!
Eleanor takes on the jobs and businesses of real medieval women, from Domina Agnes Ramsey, a highly skilled stonemason with a flourishing business making royal tombs, to Katherine of Bury, a blacksmith plying her trade inside the Tower of London during the Hundred Years' War.
And Eleanor gets hands on in the medieval kitchen with experiential archaeologist Caroline Nicolay to explore the jobs of country women, from dairymaids to cheese-sellers to bakers, uncovering some crooked practices along the way...
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I love this kind of topic. Real life. And especially women. The people usually erased from history.
thank u king
Same
Exactly. I hated history in high school because it was all about dates and wars. It wasn’t until I was 26 that i started watching videos like this. Now I love history
I think of the common people a lot. The unspoken heroes of humanity.
AHHH! No A.I. generated images please. Please go back to using REAL period art and visual references rather than A.I...please, please.
I seriously liked the video ~ and don’t understand what all the fuss is about. 😂
People complaining about videos, should just make their own. It’s a lot of work that goes into them from what I understand.
And they’re free! Sometimes school’s use these types of videos nowadays too.
Might consider trying to get a life just saying
This reads as truly pathetic.
This reads as truly path etic.
I understand not wanting to use AI. I don’t get why people are giving you a hard time for simply requesting not using it. I think it’s fair to not want AI. Unfortunately, AI will continue to improve and we’ll inevitably see it more and more whether we like it or not
I love these documentaries, and really do appreciate all the work that goes into them - that we can enjoy for free... But the frequent use of AI images was really, really jarring! I would have been happy with stock images of rural England or a snippet from a medieval manuscript...
omg i thought i was seeing things! this really takes my interest off any documentary...
@@edenn1278 I had the exact same feeling...
@@edenn1278 They really looked out of place.
On the one hand I get it, because AI is often overused but in this case I think it’s great because we get to see accurate (or as accurate as AI can get) examples.
They mentioned several times how it’s hard enough to find documentation of these women so I’m sure trying to find period accurate examples of artistic depictions is even harder. Personally I prefer the AI images over the renaissance era stock art when taking about the Middle Ages, or time accurate stock art showing few to no women at all we’d likely otherwise get.
Digesting all the research and scripting it into something somewhat comprehensible for the somewhat intelligent viewer must have involved Herculean effort by everyone involved with its presentation. I am awed and offer a hearty “thank you” for all your work.
My daughter was in the Peace corps in Ethiopia. The way of life that she described in the village she was in was so interesting. A had life but she said they were Happy
Yes as there's a much stronger sense of community so people feel very connected instead of isolated
Every time someone says "That job was to physically demanding for women in medieval times" and claims they couldn't have done it, I argue that they need to watch Ruth Goodman kneading huge mounds of dough, doing laundry, and then helping in the fields in all the Farm series of vids (Tudor Farm, Edwardian Farm, Victorian Farm). What she is doing is every bit as back-breaking as what the boys are doing.
Ahh-kinda like child bearing?
OMG please, for the love of God. Please use the word too, not to. They're not interchangeable
Loved your book and love these History HIT videos with you. I’m here for whatever material you create. I appreciate your authentic and factual sharing of what life as a woman was and what is has meant to be female in different time periods and how it impacts what it means to be female now
Such a fun and informative documentary; thank you!
I have been waiting for something like this for ages! Thank you!!
Take notes people we may all need these skills very soon.
my milk maiden days are over! i aint never going back and aint nobody ever gonna see my elbows again!
i'll reluctantly tend to the hearth and perhaps some light mending...
@@NIGHTGUYRYAN😅
😂@@NIGHTGUYRYAN
The wokeness will be gone though, almost looking forward to it.
If women were like this now, there would be a higher birth rate
Really great new information!
I’m 44 and I did all these jobs at my grandparent’s farm every summer. So am I a medieval woman in modern times??🤷🏽♀️
Wow! You were a dairy maid, brewer, baker, blacksmith and a stone mason at your grandparents? Very cool.
Growing up in Moldova this is all still the way of life in the rural areas
History is about rich people and a little bit about the average Joe.
@@myka788very modern 38, and I did animal feeding, egg harvesting, etc. The milking was done by someone else, we still buy fresh cow's milk from the farmer. I baked to sell cakes and sweet breads, helped with the building of buildings and did alot of gardening. I still garden and preserve food. I've done alot of brewing, including elderberry wine, and elderflower champagne and mead too. Now I still fish too and would help as a child and teen to harvest clams and sea snails from the reefs. So I'm then medieval, as I have friends who also make cheese and butter every few weeks.
@@myka788Don't forget the sex workers! Apparently the grandparents had a fairly diverse little operation going. 😉
MOST Medieval women worked IN their own homes, especially when they had kids. Yes...SOME medieval women worked a paid job outside of their homes, especially if they were an "old maid" , single or a widow with kids to feed. But that was the exception not the rule.
12:30 You could put the herb costmary into the brewing beer.
Wonderful, educative documentary🙌
Beautiful architecture! I love it!!!
I love all these videos
Excellent documentary
What a wonderful video. I love hearing how capable women are.
The Knights Templar were suppressed on Friday, 13 October, 1307 by king Philip (“the fair”). Your date of 1312 applies only to England, where they were never suppressed actually, but rather simply relocated to Scotland. In any case, the date of 1312 is inaccurate.
My goal, someday, for a side project is to dive into my roots and genealogy. It’s hard to find records but fascinating to learn. I can’t fathom how hard it was to just live back when.
Caroline's my hero
Thank you for this. If anyone loves peasants' history I recommend the relative Schwerpunkt's playlist
Honestly it is a sad joke how many times I have read this exact comment. Mr Schwerpunkt spends his whole life creating new TH-cam accounts and writing the same thing. You are pathetic and so many people have realised this. Bu the way, your videos are shit.
You mean that white supremacy channel?
fake spam account from you as usual
One reason I love Eleanor: 2:25 "Ooooh"
Very good camera chemistry the both of you in the first bit 👍🏻
Been there, done that! I grew up on two small farms and milked two cows all through high school, so I KNOW! :))
I could appreciate that despite using some AI images, they did take the time and effort to put together a set, wear the clothes and do the actual manual tasks too.
Its far from youtubers who just narrate auto generated research text over a completely AI art slideshow.
10:46 Anyone with a large-scale brewery wasn't a peasant, by definition. An alewife wasn't a full-time brewer, either.
The YT channel Modern History TV is actually all about medieval times and does excellent deep dives into life then, and into what words and terms meant to the people who used them.
I really need to know more about those hats.
The costuming really got my goat. “ I’ll pretend to be a peasant wearing my black work coif based on a literal rich woman’s headgear. And agitating cream with one’s hands? The wooden paddles are called butter hands because the warmth of one’s actual hands caused the butter to not be firm.
I was surprised to see AI images used in this video. AI image generators cannot depict historically accurate scenery - it most especially cannot depict historically accurate clothing and I personally feel like its inclusion dramatically devalues this content. Of course there is also the consideration that AI art generators are still trained on stolen artwork. I would love to see high quality, historically literate AI programs that made it easier for channels like this to flourish but the moral and quality considerations are too significant for that to be possible as yet.
What are all you people complaining about?
I thought it was a seriously great video!
Exactly. We're going to be going back to these manual labor jobs to survive because companies are taking the lazy route of AI to create content. Stealing from artists and taking jobs away from people who need them.
Please don't stumble and fall from your soapbox. Wouldn't want to hurt yourself trying to activize while watching free content.
Agree, I love History Hit but very disappointed to see the use of AI images.
@@Sarcasmhime I didn’t find it a bad use of AI.
The cost to replicate historical garments might play a role for many channels. Simple wool, silks or cottons would be hard to replicate considering the old ways it was produced vs. the commercial garment industry.
I still enjoyed the video and felt that it gave the viewer a glimpse of the past ways. It wasn’t that many years ago when TH-cam was literally just low quality home videos. We’ve come so far in such a short time. I liked the video!
Love this presenter. 😊
I love the fact that this is true history. Women in industry. Forgotten history! Finally someone speaks the truth with no spin or victim mentality
Eleanor rocks
Sooo, how do I get Caroline's job?
I'm subscribed to this and the other affiliated HH channels as I've been excited by history since I can remember myself. And when I discovered YT, I felt so grateful for the access to information.
However, now I am getting increasingly weary of these kind of 'new' YT videos with false click-bait titles consisting of discombobulated mash-up of existing videos..
And now they have added the AI images to make these videos even longer..
It's just sad and disappointing.
27:10 So the poor people would be the ones who got overrrun if an attacking army got in since their neighborhoods were right against the walls and the rich would be more or less protected.
Well yeah, the peasants were disposable. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Yeah but everybody inside the city would eventually starve to death
yep!
The guy she brought in for the crime and punishment didnt even answer her question about what age was someone concidered an adult and Im pretty sure the value of a pig would put people over the threshold of being hanged as alot of the time it was the value of the goods not the actual goods.
Once governments figured out that they can tax everyone and not just men the game was on.
Precisely true!
4:07 did she had to keep saying coming when she was doing that 😂
Cheese mongering, a sure fire way to advance in the world.
The fact that BABIES who are born of sex workers are considered “slightly sinful” is wild to me.
Fire prevention was around since then, for a reason! Don't want to burn down the neighborhood! 😊
Electric Light Orchestra wrote a song about medieval woman
Most of the women during this period were experimental archeologists.
I kinda like the AI images
The amount of men in the comments section in a huff about woman getting a bit of recognition is appalling.
It's scary how eager they are to tell us they're losers.
Those comments must've quickly been redistributed toward the bottom bc I've so far only seen positive comments by both and women... and I've already scrolled through a lot
Women are strong 💪💪
I don’t believe they had safety eye wear back then :)
is that billie eilish in the thumbnail😂😂😂 i knew she was an old soul!
I've been to villages in India where the women milk cows or buffalo each day and make bread from scratch. They are very proud of their work.
The food is superior to what passes for food here in the USA.
Also, oranges and bananas taste sweeter.
Everything is fresh!
Where do you live in the US that you can’t get fresh produce? I know we’re luckier in Texas than in most places, but I wasn’t aware anyone in the US had to live on canned fruit and wonder bread.
@@erzabetf9544I think freshness of food goes wider than just whatever doesn't come from a can.
"Fresh" food at supermarkets often is days if not weeks old by the time it's sold. Even things that have a shorter turnover time, like bread, I'd hardly call that fresh considering what's in it and how it was processed. It's not necessarily made to be the best for us. As long as it has a long shelf life and it sells.
I think that growing, making and baking your own food often trumps whatever the average supermarket presents us with. When I eat "real" food, I taste and feel the difference.
@@absb.5978 What’s stopping you from growing, making, and baking your own food?
@@erzabetf9544 What's stopping me personally? Nothing. I have a good amount of outdoor space and the skills to make the most of it. I grow/make a fair amount of food, I can bake bread, preserve my own food and am a lover of all things fermented. Skills that I've developed over the years. I also happen to originate from cultures where people are used to eating what their land provides, but that's not the way things work where I grew up and live now.
Anyway, none of that changes the point that was raised about the quality of the food offered in supermarkets. Not everybody is in the same position to grow their own food. I know I wasn't back when I lived in an apartment in the city. Some people rely on stores to feed themselves. And what they have to work with is not the best from a nutritional standpoint, including the so-called fresh produce.
@@absb.5978 One point you’re missing, although you’re actually making it, is that you don’t have time to grow, make, and bake all of your own food. I also have the skills to grow, bake, and preserve my own food. I think we’re all from cultures that used to grow their own food. (My great grandparents were all farmers.) But I also have a job. And I’d much rather go to my office than milk a cow or have to bake bread. The lifestyle the original poster is touting requires other people to devote themselves to feeding her. I doubt she’d be as excited by it if she actually had to milk the cows herself. She might appreciate those apples from cold storage more if she didn’t just assume that the “pride” these women in a developing country took in their skills was enough for them.
Gotta find myself a Dairy Maid
In America, you will only find a Dairy Queen!😅
Bizarre how misogynistic the comments are? I love Dr. Janega! Defo agree that AI images are unnecessary but I guess everyone's doing it now...
Shout out to the South African potjie pot ❤️
Time line say different
there was no wastage everything was fed to the pigs or the chickens
Couvre-feu!! I never knew 🙂
Dairy maid had the highest death rate of all occupations throughout history. I looked it up, because my husband's grandmother was killed by a Holstein dairy cow in 1928.
A) the "Dairy Maid" would not be milking cows, that was the work of the milk maid b) Dairy or Milk maids had by no means the highest death rate throughout history - Mine workers for instance were far higher c) The fact your grand mother was killed by a cow does not make a historical trend
@@davehopkin9502They said they looked up the history because of the family history.
women had higher death rates throughout history, but its because of death by childbirth and not from farm work
@yerabbit6333 childbirth is a condition, not an occupation. Thank you for your response. Nice that people are interested in history.
Through the ages high sea fishermann and seaman have the highest deathrate. If you do it right you cannot be killed by a cow, they cannot kick forward and in will not roll on you when you milk them.
I'm sure medieval women were strong and dominant and could slay trolls single-handedly and didn't need no man.
😮 medieval women loved their men ❤
People always have needed one another.
Marriage is supposed to be a team effort. Choose a spouse carefully. You don’t want someone with poor personality characteristics or bad habits.
I see what you did there lol...mr subflow
@@indiaandrews6996also beware of old witches or devils merely taking the guise of a potential partner!
I'm sure they still needed their men slay those pesky dragons.
Here in the USA, about the closest we can come to medieval life is the Amish and Mennonite communities. Such a simple, sometimes hard, but rewarding lifestyle, everyone looks out for each other and when times are tough, everyone bands together. Sadly this level of self-sufficiency is now under attack in Penn. with the Amish coming under fire for daring to refuse government overreach. The "old ways" are more important than ever these days, and as things continue to crumble, those humble folk who know the land, and can work with little will be the ones to survive.
❤❤❤❤❤
And think of what was happening in America during these times
American natives living in peace😅
Really disappointed in the heavy use of AI Images here, you want to show what "life was really like" and then use a bunch of unrealistic AI Images?
i was just scrolling to find this comment. super weird. i agree. use of AI looks REALLY lazy
some day everything will be AI
@@williamspitzschuh8167 doubtful
It's hard to find photographs of medieval women at work.
@@susanmercurio1060 lmfao 😂😂😂. we’re just asking for re-enactment photos or drawings. not just “ai, make photo of medieval sexy woman with bread”
What Was Life Really Like For Medieval Peasant Women?
Where's the use of the natural bacterial cultures in raw milk to acidify the curd?
You don't actually have to add anything. Unpasteurized milk separates on its own. When it's churned the cream and fat floats. And then it fermented as its own natural bacteria grows
@ClarissaBurtness absolutely, from native lactobacilli, thatsbwhat I said. But that's NOT what they're doing here. They're adding vinegar and that's historically inaccurate
@@cassieoz1702 sorry I guess I misunderstood.
i actually like these AI images, kinda cool
Not fun, I can tell you that right now!
A detail that shouldn't go overlooked is that many of those women showcased took over the role from their husbands or fathers. While I'm sure that wasn't always the case, it does suggest women's work" was still supportive rather than leading.. Which, regardless of how it sounds, is certainly as important as everything else. The work they did in the home undoubtedly was.
Love the theme and material but the use of AI generated art is extremely disappointing from yall
Only half this video is about women, right? I'm so confused
I’m sure they were more independent and looked after the house hold
how much was rent
@@NIGHTGUYRYAN fair enough rent was cheaper back then but it is ideal in my opinion for the woman to stay and look after the house while the man works.
Gruelling...I think is the answer to that question 🤭
AI images? Really?
....this was barely about women...
Double standards have no place in religion or government. Much less in life itself.
A very modern idea
😀
Knight tempers are women then. Just spun off in another direction.
The British look on history..luckily the rest of western europe was a bit more progressive and liberal. Suppose that's still the case. Cultural things...
It wouldn't be "real money" if those workers were serfs, which the landlord owned.
It feels like a lotion..... or something like that.... mmmmmm.
Absolutely love Eleanor Janega, she’s a wonderful communicator! However, these AI-generated thumbnails and images really cheapen what is actually a great documentary. There are better ways to illustrate these ideas.
This is wonderful and it looks like you had fun ,thats great i too would love that have made butter 🧈
Overall little to nothing to do with the lives of medieval peasant women. 👎
12:23
"I don't like hops."
Good.
Hops taste terrible and are high in phytoestrogens.
No hormone therapy in my beer, please.
Why is she pronouncing it “Frawnce”? 😂
I think that's her doing a French accent
@@lydiasefton4780 Maybe. But she’s not even close.
Yeah I noticed that, it was jarring to switch the accent for one word.
Can you next do a video on how unfairly Prostate and Testicular Cancer effects women more than ANYONE ELSE
You okay, little guy?
The AI pics definitely ruining the chronicle vibe for me not gonna lie
when do they get to the wild sex part of the day 🤣😂🤣
They somehow found the time! My grandmother had 15 children.
Yikes devilry
These are the worst AI generated images 🙈🙈
Lol the front image is obviously AI. The woman in the middle looks like Billy Eilish hahahahah
everyone smelled
I was interested till I saw the ai images in the production. No thank you.
I am very interested in the erased history of women as far back as we can go. That lost history is a huge reason I am anti-religion.
Horrible im assuming
Poor Billie Eilish
WOMEN'S OLDEST PROFESSION IS MOTHERHOOD.. MY COMMENTS ARE MY BELIEF ONLY WITHOUT PREJUDICE.
Why are you yelling?
@@Polisciandfries I AM NOT YELLING. I AM USING CAPITAL.
WHY ARE YOU CONTACTING ME ?
ARE YOU TRYING TO
BE RUDE F.W. ?
@@aimaction7393 In online communications like this, writing in all caps is considered “shouting”, and poor etiquette. Also, on TH-cam comments, anyone is able to reply to anyone, it’s not “contacting” you, really. It’s just having conversation. It’s difficult to understand another person’s tone, sometimes, but I really think the person asking was genuinely asking, since, as I’ve said, you were technically seen to be “shouting” by writing in all caps. (But yes sometimes people are just being rude, too.)
If you have poor eyesight, which I suspect might be why you prefer typing in all caps, it might be possible to get whatever you’re typing on to show much larger size font, like large-print books. I could maybe help you figure out how to get that setting changed so you can read and write more easily without having to “shout” in your typing, if you like. Hopefully it’s a very simple few clicks. I could maybe find a step-by-step guide online somewhere. Would that help you?
In reply to your idea that women’s oldest profession is motherhood, I understand what you mean, but as an expansion on the idea of sex work being the oldest profession. Motherhood is not a professional position. “Profession” generally means doing something for pay, which, while motherhood is hard work, is unfortunately not paid labor. But you raise an interesting idea: women have been valued for their bodies not just sexually but for reproduction too. Their body, for use in sexual pleasure or for reproduction, has always been the most basic desirable commodity women had to offer, and to this day, it remains a hot commodity. Meanwhile, for millennia men’s bodies have been similarly commodified in terms of physical labor. Fortunately, through time, humankind has learned that there are more ways to make a living from one’s labor. (Pun intended, maybe!) But society *still* divides men and women’s jobs, even when it’s not necessary.
Progress is a permanent process. Some things never change.
@@Polisciandfries AN OLD WOMan.😊
Miserable, brutal, and short.
Unless you're one of the deserving upper classes, who are blessed by God and worked so hard for what they have.
Working class people be so lazy 🦥
The AI "imagery" took me right out. Just remove the AI altogether, it's not even necessary and really detracts from the history. Awful.
It sadly is cheaper for production costs.
They knew their place back then😅