Brothels and Charles IV: Czechast with Dr. Eleanor Janega
In this episode, we have a truly fascinating guest, Eleanor Janega, an American broadcaster, historian, and author with a deep personal and professional connection to Czech history.
Eleanor’s scholarship focuses on the late medieval period, including gender, urban life, and apocalyptic thought, but her passion for Czech history runs much deeper than her academic work.
As Eleanor explains, her interest in Czech history comes from her own family roots:
"Well, I was always particularly interested in it because of the family connection. My father's parents are immigrants, so my grandmother was Czech, my grandfather was Slovak, and they immigrated to the Dakotas, which was a rather popular thing to do for people from Central Europe. Eventually, they ended up moving to Chicago, where my father grew up in an area called the Little Village. It was pretty much all Czech speakers, and the local church was Blessed Agnes of Bohemia. I grew up speaking baby Czech with my grandmother, which turned out to be very old-fashioned, I later learned."
We also explore the legacy of Charles IV, one of the most significant figures in Czech and European history, and why Eleanor chose him as the subject of her research. She reflects on his vision for Bohemia and his unique approach to governance:
"This is what is incredibly interesting to study for me, because it shows you how good governance and real planning of a place can make a huge difference for regular people. Charles spends all this time not just saying, 'I get to rule you because I'm your ruler, deal with it.' What he says is, 'I am a new example of what it can mean to be Czech, and not only that, I think we have a place within wider Europe. I'm not some kind of outsider who's come in to Czech, I'm here to bring Czech out to the rest of the world.' And I think that is incredibly inspiring."
We also discuss Charles IV’s relationship with the 14th-century preacher Milíč of Kroměříž, whose work reflects the social and religious changes of the time:
"Charles is faced with this problem because he's got a brothel that is legally allowed to be there, but he doesn't really want it there. One of the things that Milíč does is say, 'Right, that's it, I'm proselytizing over by Betlémská kaple.' He spends all of his time talking to the brothel workers there, trying to convert them, and it’s really, really successful."
And, of course, we delve into the role of women in Charles IV’s reign. As Eleanor points out, their influence may have been hidden but was no less important:
"It could very well be that he's getting great political advice from his wives. You would never write that down. You would never say, 'Oh, and my queen told me to do this,' because that would make you look weak. But that doesn't mean that it isn't happening."
Eleanor is passionate about making history accessible and showing its importance in the modern world: "One of the reasons why I'm so passionate about Czech history and so interested in it is I think that it is very often overlooked, despite being incredibly important."
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Czechast, Radio Prague International
Czechast is a regular RPI podcast about Czech and Moravian culture, history, and economy.
