Eleanor Janega

1 month ago | going-medieval.com | Eleanor Janega

Being a medieval historian is weird, in general. I spend a lot of time reading and thinking about a thousand years of history which is largely ignored. When I do manage to then attempt to share my love (or obsession, if you want to be a dick about it) I am often met very specifically with pushback from people who have a deeply held, preconceived idea of the medieval period as ‘violent, dark, and dirty.’ Admittedly my experience could be anecdata.

2 months ago | wielkahistoria.pl | Eleanor Janega

W średniowieczu kobiety przenoszące się samotnie ze wsi do miast często borykały się z trudnościami, których nie doświadczali mężczyźni. „Pozostawione bez nadzoru mężczyzny często postrzegano jako zagrożenie. Nigdy nie wiadomo, co może zrobić samotna kobieta” – komentuje Eleanor Janega na kartach nowej książki pt. Kobieta średniowiecza. W niektórych miastach wymagano, aby przybyłe z zewnątrz kobiety znalazły sobie gospodarstwo domowe albo żyły razem z innymi samotnymi kobietami.

2 months ago | going-medieval.com | Eleanor Janega

I was lucky enough to get to see a production of Christopher Marlow’s (1564 – 1593) Edward II at the Royal Shakespeare Company this week, and as with any good piece of art I come across, I have been thinking a lot about it since. Edward II (1284-1327) is one of those historical figures that people don’t really know what to do with, but Marlowe in the sixteenth century decided to take him on, and wrote a startling and nuanced play about the man and his court.

Feb 12, 2025 | going-medieval.com | Eleanor Janega

The other day I had the pleasure of ducking into the Temple Church here in London. I’ve been by a number of times, but never actually in, and so I was looking forward to being a little history nerd in a cool old space. Obviously, I am very aware of the fact that the Temple was severely damaged by the blitz, but there’s always something to see in a place like this, so in I went. For me, in the church the stars of the show are the gorgeous medieval tombs.

Nov 1, 2024 | fivebooks.com | Eleanor Janega |Neil Max Emmanuel

The medieval era in Europe lasted a millennium and saw massive social change and technological innovation, as well as calamities like the Black Death. That makes it a great period for historical fiction, offering a glimpse of a past that was very different from our own lives, and yet can resonate with the present.