texts: What percentage of the population in the "Old West" actually carried handguns?

texts: I'm hoping cenus information and historical gun manufacturing records make this an answerable question. What percentage of the population in the Old West actually carried handguns? Was it a minority or a majority?


texts: Why did the British "Indian" army come disproportionately from particular regions?

texts:
During World War II, the British field several armies that included Indians, but the most "Indian" of these, was the 14th Army, in which 8 of 13 divisions were predominantly "Indian." Of the battalions in this army, a disproportionate number of them were either "Gurka" (Nepal) or "Punjab" units. These were soldiers from the borderlands of modern India (or just across the border from it).

Notably absent, or at least underrepresented were units, from south and central India, that is, the country's "mainstream. Why was that? Did Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence carry greater sway with "most" Indians other than those discussed in the paragraph above?


texts: Why does the King of Spain still claim defunct titles like the King of Hungary?

texts: I am reading the Wikipedia articles on the titles of the King of Spain (this and this) and I am confused why they list countless places that are not under Spanish rule and or are totally defunct as a monarchy. The King of Hungary especially really caught my eye. How did the Spanish Crown come to claim that title anyway?


texts: Can anyone identify this early 20th century uniform?

texts: Maybe US, British or Irish.  Might be military or civil. Early 20th century.  Medals on right chest?  Commemorative or mirror image?


texts: Did a letter of marque give actual protection in the middle ages?

texts:
I was reading a book that touched on Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. After he was dethroned in 1439, he set up as a pirate in the Baltic. Now, the book claims that this was not entirely strange, and that privateers existed and had recognised legal status. Checking Wikipedia, I found that England had indeed issued letters of marque for over a hundred years by then, and that the idea reached back another fifty or so years.

However, I am wondering what kind of protection such a letter (or other equivalent proof of being employed by a state) would give someone when captured by another state. Klaus Störtebeker was executed for piracy, but that was after the Victual brothers had stopped being privateers and moved on to "real" pirating. Would it possibly have been different if he had been captured when King Albert was still at war with Queen Margaret?

I'm primarily interested in the fifteenth century and northern Europe, but arguments and examples from later (or earlier) and other parts of Europe are acceptable as substitutes.


texts: What is the origin of the name of the street Kings Butts in London, and its lack of apostrophes?

texts: I’m mainly interested in why there are no apostrophes in this name. If Butts refers to archery, then why not “King’s Butts” or “Kings’ Butts”? Are apostrophes commonly omitted in historical London street names? Or does Kings refer to an area and “Kings” is acting as an adjective?


texts: What is the difference between NKVD and OGPU (USSR)

texts:
I've been looking at the history of the USSR and while the secret police were fairly straightforward under the Tsarist regime and the USSR under Lenin (Okhrana and the Cheka), for Stalin's rule of the USSR, I've seen OGPU and the NKVD pop up concurrently.

I've established that both are secret police and used by Stalin as the instrument for the Great Purges and establishing terror throughout the country, but what is the exact difference?

I've asked someone and he has said that they are essentially the same, but surely there must be some distinction between the two, for they have two different names.

Thanks in advance.


texts: What was the role of the college of consuls in Ancient Rome?

texts:
Wikipedia says:

  By law, only three persons were required to create a legal collegium;
  the only exception was the college of consuls, which included only the
  two consuls.

I wonder what was the role of the college of consuls in ancient Rome? Was it another word for government or administration? Were the decisions of consuls formally adopted as decisions of the collegium? Did the consuls participate with their personal wealth in the collegium?


texts: In the Soviet Union, how was payment enforced for public transportation?

texts:
From my previous, related question, public transport was not free in the USSR. It seems prices were very low, around 3 to 5 kopecks.

This seems so low that I'm surprised the government didn't simply pay it all "for free" (via taxes and state-run business revenues). I'm wondering if the cost of enforcing public transport could match or exceed the profits?

How was it enforced? Turnstiles? Ticket booths? Did someone always check your ticket when getting on the vehicle? How and where were tickets bought?

I'm interested in the metro, buses, and trams, for the period around late 1950's or early 1960's. 1961 after the ruble reform is fine.


texts:
Did Lincoln provoke the US civil war?

Did there exist a position that Lincoln took that ignited the war, or was it just the consequence of long unsolved US problems.

If the reason is the second, which problems provoked the war?


texts:
The jews do not prolyselytes at all.

In fact, originally, Yahweh, is Jewish national god. Jewish scripture almost never claim unambiguously that Yahweh is god of all beings. He never complains about non jews worshiping other gods.

The Chinese, the mongol, have their own supreme God.

So why jewish God suddenly got 3 billions followers while other gods don't sell.


texts: What's the difference between Khan and Taishi/Taisha?

texts: What is the difference between a Khan and a Taishi/Taisha? I'm working on a project about Kalmykia, and I always see it called as the Kalmyk Khanate, but none of the rulers are called Khan, they are always called Taishi (or Taisha depending on the text). Is the only difference that it is an Oirat word?


texts: Counterfactual reasoning and analogical reasoning

texts:
This is a question on the historical method, or historiography. If it does not belong here, please kindly remove it and redirect me to a more appropriate place, thanks!

I'm currently researching on the topic of historical reasoning. I have noticed that counterfactual reasoning features dominantly in explaining the causes of events, with the schema "had X not done Y, then Z would not have occurred." Is there an argument for the legitimacy of such reasoning in history? Such statements seem (pardon me) little more than thought experiments.

Another kind of reasoning that I have seen is analogical reasoning. So for instance, historians pick out certain similarities between revolutions and elicit certain common causal factors.

(Thanks to Semaphore for this development.) A recent example of how laypeople use analogical reasoning is the downing of MH17, where many were quick to draw similarities between KAL 007 (see this for example).

I am not a practising historian, and I would really like to have some insights into the historical method.


texts: Why didn't early modern Christians object to pagan symbolism in art?

texts:
I've been to a couple European museums recently, and a question that has been nagging at me is how a society composed of devout Christians could have been so okay with the introduction of pagan gods and goddesses into Western art.

On the surface, it would seem that devoting so many resources to creating statues, busts, paintings, etc., of pagan gods is at least in tension with the Christian commands to not make for oneself a graven image, especially since the gods in question were the symbols of the very religion that played such a big part in fighting the spread of early Christianity. In some cases, it would seem that the art itself walked a very thin line between mere depiction in devotion; at Versailles there is a gazebo literally designated as a "Temple" to Eros. And this obsession with pagan art didn't even stop with the kings; much of this art was commissioned by high-ranking Catholic clergy and still exists in church-owned collections to this day!

I can see why there would be many Christians who simply didn't care. To draw a parallel with today, there are many Christians, even devout Christians, who just don't mind listening to music with explicitly satanic or anti-Christian messages. And if you believe that all the Greek myths are simply false, then of course there seems to be far less risk in obsessing over mythology. But at the same time, alongside these kinds of Christians exist stricter fundamentalist Christians. I grew up in a fundamentalist home, and even with the long tradition of Western art, if my elementary school art teachers had made us paint scenes of Zeus and Hera my mother would have been furiously calling the board of education about this attempt to "paganize" her child. (And both ends of this spectrum can exist even within a single denomination, e.g., Catholicism.)

And so, I guess what surprises me most is that never in any of my history or art classes, did I ever even hear of a movement that stood opposed to the introduction of pagan symbolism in art. I would have expected at least to hear about a movement (albeit an unpopular one) who felt that depicting pagan symbolism in art was a grave sin.

Did such a movement exist? How popular was it? Why was it ultimately unsuccessful?


texts: Why did public transport in London and Northern Ireland avoid privatisation?

texts: In the 1980s Margret Thatcher embarked upon the privatisation of British industry.  Part of this was the sale of previously state owned public transport across the country.  However, this did not occur in London or Northern Ireland.  Buses and trains in both places operate under large public corporations: Transport for London and Translink respectively.  Why?


texts: How common were horses at the beginning of the 20th century?

texts:
From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, in North America and Australia, how common were horses?

Was it easy for every man or boy to own a decent riding horse, or were they relatively expensive and valuable based on availability and quality?

It seems the average cowboy owned a very cheap, low quality horse, but how big was the market and availability for good horses, such as were deliberately bred well and not just mustered up and broken. How were horses sold?


texts: How many criminal exiles were sent to Kamchatka?

texts:
Exile in Siberia was a well-known punishment for criminals in Imperial (and Soviet) Russia. Exiles, who could be common criminals or political prisoners, were forced to walk in irons to their new job at a mine or saltworks. The more remote labor camps cost the state more. James Gibson wrote in Feeding the Russian Fur Trade that the exiles were "state servitors" and that:

  ... the worst offenders, such as traitors and murderers, were banished to the northern and eastern extremities of Siberia, including the [Okhotsk] seaboard and the [Kamchatka] peninsula, while lesser offenders were exiled to less remote and more civilized parts.

Under the rule of Catherine the Great (1762-1796), how many criminal exiles were sent all the way to Kamchatka? I can only name Benyovsky.


texts: What devices used computer-like programs in industrial era?

texts:
As possibly some of you remember early computers had very small human-machine interface and coding programs was done by cards like this one:

or a tape like these:

This invention of controlling machine using punched elements (having gaps or knobs) is older and was used in many cases like for workers' cards used to note their time of work, music boxes etc.

This invention could be made at first in Jacquard loom to control order of threads in different colours to make a pattern.

I'm sure I read also about other common use of this type (with gaps or knobs) of control machine, that was somewhat important in the industrial era, this could not be a steam engine, but I can't remember. What was other use of punched card (or a cylinder maybe) in industry?

(It was not what Wikipedia says:

  In the late 19th century, Herman Hollerith took the idea of using punched cards to store information a step further when he created a punched card tabulating machine which was used in the 1890 U.S. Census.

I'm sure it was a large machine)


texts: Did ramming tank battle tactics occur in WW2?

texts:
In one of his War thunder (a realistic tank battle simulator) videos, Oxide used a small, quick tank with a high armor penetration  weaponry, and proceeded to ambush and flank German tanks from alleys, then essentially destroyed them from point-blank range, while the tanks weren't able to do anything, because the target was too close.

"It's not about size, it's how you use it."

Did such tactics occur in WW2? If yes, the how successful were they against trained tank crews


texts: Were there examples from Renaissance period of a relationship of erotic nature between a teacher and a student or during transmission of knowledge?

texts:
The context for my question is drawn from a movie on teaching history. The question per se, pertains to history. I hope that it was triggered by a movie scene is only seen as a context and not as a diversion.

In the 2006 movie "The History Boys", at the 53rd minute, the following scene occurs. The headmaster is scolding the teacher Hector, for abuse. The teacher seems indifferent to the scolding for the most part. He makes a feeble attempt to defend himself by saying:

  "The transmission of knowledge is in itself an erotic act".

Then, he is about to substantiate it by starting to say:

  "In the Renaissance......"

The headmaster abruptly cuts him off by saying: "Hell with your renaissance, the literature, Plato, Michael Angelo and Oscar Wilde". (I have slightly edited the exact text of cutting off to avoid unparliamentary words used by the headmaster).

The question is : Say, Hector was allowed to continue his statement that began with "In Renaissance...", what examples of personalities or historical episodes could he have quoted to substantiate the view that teaching as an activity may have an erotic angle to it ? Did the view exist at all ? Were there examples of this at all during the Renaissance period ? If yes, what were they ?


texts:
Can someone identify this badge please.

It has a number on the back that looks like 742299. What is the significance of the number and why is there a 60 in the crown on the front of the badge.


texts: Why didn't the British attack the Continental Congress?

texts: During the American Revolution, the British army was far superior to the Continental army. The Second Continental Congress was in session during most of the war, usually in Philadelphia. Why didn't the British army capture or at least scatter the Continental Congress?


texts: What's the name of the (false) assumption that people in past ages were less able to reason?

texts:
In arguments involving past decisions or tradition, people frequently blow off the claims of tradition by using the (false) assumption that people in days gone by, or even in ancient civilizations, were less able to use their powers of reason.

Is there a term for this assumption?


texts: How did the progressive politics of the early 20th century affect the American political parties?

texts:
EDIT: Tried tightening question to be less broad.

In the post Civil War era, I see the Republican Party and Democratic Party basically retreading the old questions of early republic political economy after the war. I see basically the old agararian, limited government party (Democratic/Jacksonian) vs. the pro industry, pro big business, expanded government controls party (Whig/Republican) but the platforms become pretty unclear, and you could say not really based on ideology as we accumulated more distance from the Civil War.

I see this model being kind of thrown into a loop when Teddy Roosevelt becomes president, though. He seems anything but advocating for an agrarian state, but he actively tries to curb the power of the monopolies and big business. Then Woodrow Wilson becomes a president and as a Democrat, he helps passes measures such as establishing an income tax and a national banking system that seem a little antithetical to the traditional tenets of old school Democrats. These two presidencies seem to be the output of a growing progressive current that wanted reform in American society and yet I'm not sure if if there's a conenction between here and the modern political parties in America today. My question is, what implications, if any, did these progressive presidencies have on the idealogies of  the seemingly non idealogical Democrat and Republican parties at the time?


texts: Was the cingulum militare any good as protection?

texts: Wikipedia information on the cingulum militare  is sparse. It is clear that it had a decorative function and displayed rank. The metal elements and widespread use of something similar by the Greeks create the impression it may have offered some protection. Yet that is difficult to imagine. For protection I would think something massive to be superior to stripes. At maximum I would expect 2 or three thick and rigid stripes for better mobility. So, was it purely decorative and symbolic, or is intuition misleading?


texts: Did the Soviet leadership ever address the American people on American TV?

texts:
As part of the détente between the United States and the Soviet Union, American president Richard Nixon made an 18-minute address to the Soviet people, which was broadcast on Soviet state television on May 28, 1972. New York Times journalist Hedrick Smith, writing in 1973 (The Russians, p. 605), indicated that this was one of two such public addresses by an American president.  (I am not sure when the other address was made or which president gave it.  Perhaps Smith was referring to the Soviet broadcast of Nixon's kitchen debate in 1959, though Nixon was not president at the time, and this was a dialogue between Nixon and Khrushchev rather than a direct address to the Soviet people generally.)

Did the Americans ever reciprocate by inviting the Soviet leadership to arrange for a public address to the American people on American television?  If so, when did this broadcast (or these broadcasts, if there were more than one) occur, which leader(s) spoke, and are there any recordings available online?


texts: Who governed London during the Great Plague?

texts: I am writing a story for a game and I want to try to make it as accurate as possible. To this end, I would like to find who governed London, England, during the time of the Great Plague, but I can't seem to find it. So, who governed London during the Great Plague?


texts:
I have studied the holocaust in some depth, and I am familiar with the repulsive ideological reasons for the Nazis' persecution of Jews, Poles, Slavs, Communists, etc, but I haven't seen any explanation for their similar policies regarding Jehovah's Witnesses.  Obviously, eugenics and race had nothing to do with it, and I'm not clear on what political problems would be attributed to JW's.

Why did the Nazis target Jehovah's Witnesses?


texts: Roman navy propelled by animals instead of human rowers?

texts:
I have read one brief account of military planning around the time of Roman emperor Constantine the Great (272 – 337) whereby the Roman navy's rowers could have been substituted by animals (source citation: Anon. de rebus bell. 17,1 – 2).

Do we know anything more about what animals would have been employed, what the  proposed scheme was, and whether something along such lines was ever tried in war? The account mentions that the overall aim was to reduce labor cost.

UPDATE I guess I better add more details about my sources before everybody starts thinking this is some kind of joke :) The brief account occurs on p. 365 of German historian Raimund Schulz' book Feldherren, Krieger und Strategen: Krieg in der Antike von Achill bis Attila. There's a footnote pointing to the aforementioned primary Latin source as well as to this French book as secondary source: M. Reddé: Mare nostrum. Les infrastructures, le dispositif et l'histoire de la marine militaire sous l'empire romain.

And the history of warfare has known some strange war vessels indeed, such as the planned World War II air craft carrier made of pykrete (a mixture of wood pulp and ice) ...


texts: How isolated were Yemenite Jews in the last millenium?

texts: Following up a related question, how isolated was the Jewish Yemenite community from the rest of the Jewish world in the last 1000 years?


texts: How did plague affect military management in 17th century North Africa?

texts:
I’m doing some research on Morocco’s history during the early 17th century, and more specifically the chaos leading to the fall of the Saadians Dynasty. One of the main causes, if not the main, is the death of the sultan Ahmad al-Mansur in 1603. He is known as a Sultan even though he claimed the title of caliph (who is considered as an Islamic Emperor) after conquering the Songhai Empire in eastern Mali (which no other Moroccan ruler has attempted before or since) and stopping the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in West Africa. His vision of forming an Islamic Caliphate led him to divide his kingdom between his three sons making each one of them a Sultan after his death. Unfortunately for him, things didn’t go as expected.
First, by the end of the sixteenth century, the kingdom was hit by a deadly plague. The first wave of the epidemic struck between 1597 and 1598, disturbing his rule. As preventive measures al-Mansur abandoned his palace in Marrakech and ruled from tents in the countryside.
Between 1599 and 1601, the plague and its fatalities abated but resumed the next year. In 1602, his favorite son Al-Shaykh (ruler of Fez) rebelled against him with the intention of taking the throne. Forced to leave his tents in the countryside, al-Mansur headed to Fez with his army to fight his son. He managed to stop the rebellion and Al-Shaykh was imprisoned. Al-Mansur who was ruling from tents outside the city of Fez, which was the most hit by the plague, got infected and died in 1603.
Zaydan who was left with the power in Fez was recognized as a successor by local notables. But the notables of Marrakech did not recognize him and proclaimed Abu Faris. The three sons started a civil war that, with the help of the plague and the famine, plunged the country into years of darkness and chaos.
Now onto the question, Al-Mansur raised an army to attack his son in 1602, and after his death, his sons raised multiple large armies to attack each other with the armies reaching sometimes 40,000 men. While the plague ended in the year 1608, with the years 1598 & 1603 considered the worst years of that plague wave (I've read in some sources that the sultan before his death have replaced his guards and servants with slaves so things were pretty bad) and considering that by 1598 the plague took the lives of at least 450,000 Moroccans:
How was the plague affecting the armies, and how were they dealing with it while marching to war?


texts: Did the Americans trade destroyers in the "destroyer deal" that they would later need themselves?

texts:
In the fall of 1940, the U.S. and Great Britain made the so-called "destroyer deal," of 50 old American destroyers in exchange for the use of British bases ranging from Newfoundland to the Caribbean. That made sense because it would be more a year before the Americans got into World War II.

When America got into the war, the German U-boats enjoyed their "Second Happy Time" from January to midsummer 1942. That's because few American ships sailed in convoys, and the ones that did had few escort vessels. Only by late summer/early fall did the Americans even begin to take countermeasures such as establishing escorted convoys.

How many (or few) destroyers or other escort vessels did the Americans deploy between January-July 1942 in the Atlantic? How did they compare in efficiency with the destroyers that had been exchanged? What role did the acquired bases play in anti-submarine warfare in the same period?


texts: In the Football War between El Salvador and Honduras, the El Salvador claimed that genocide had occurred in Honduras. However, was anybody actually prosecuted for these actions, or were these claims unfounded?


texts: Why was Italy unified under the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and not under a stronger state?

texts:
On paper the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies appears much stronger with about twice the land and population. So how come it was Victor Emmanuel II who became King of Italy and not Francis II Bourbon?

Was it a combination of luck and skill through Cavour's deals with the French, or did the Northern kingdom also possess a much better economy, institutions and army?


texts: In the famous Alexander Mosaic found in Pompeii, Darius is wearing some form of head covering, it appears to just be cloth wrapped around his head. What is the hat called? I can't find any information on it. Was this common combat attire, or just artistic?


texts: What "silly places" (according to Muggeridge) did Nikita Khrushchev go to during his visit in the United Kingdom?

texts:
According to this article, more than half of places visited by Nikita Khrushchev in the UK were "silly":

When Nikita Khrushchev visited Britain, Muggeridge made up a list of
the silliest places the Soviet leader could visit. At least half the
places on the list were in Khrushchev's actual itinerary.

I managed to find the list of places visited by Khrushchev, but I could not find the list created by Malcolm Muggeridge to compute the intersection.
Question: What "silly places" (according to Muggeridge) did Nikita Khrushchev go to during his visit in United Kingdom?


texts: Gathering of water before modern cleansing methods

texts:
Sorry if this is a stupid question but i simply could not get my head around it.

Before modern day cleansing of salt water to produce drinkable water how was this gathered? especially in areas that does not have fresh water lakes?


texts: Who discovered first that the Moon does not have its own light?

texts: Who (and when) discovered first that the Moon does not have its own light?


texts: Price of a shot and a bottle of whiskey in 1870s American West

texts: What was the price of a shot and a bottle of whiskey in the American West in 1870s roughly? For the end consumer, in a saloon, not wholesale.


texts: I was reading Eusebius' work The Church History which says Tiberius "succeeded to the throne after the fifty-seven-year reign of Augustus". This appears to be inaccurate, being that this event mentioned occurred occurred in A.D. 14. 57 years before that was 44 B.C. yet Augustus became Emperor in 27 B.C., and 57 years from 27 B.C. is A.D. 31. Was Eusebius wrong or is there an explanation?


texts: Why didn't the Black Death result in favorable results for surviving peasants in China?

texts:
The Black Death affected Europe and China alike.

In Europe, the Black Death resulted in increased social mobility for the peasants and, as a result, labor-saving innovations were introduced. All these laid the foundation for the European Renaissance later (see the above Wiki page).

Why didn't the Black Death have the same social and economic effects in China?


texts: How long did it take for a letter to arrive in England in the 1830s?

texts:
How efficient was the postal service in England in the 1830s?

For example, is it possible to estimate how long it would have taken for a letter to arrive if sent by a standard service from London to Nottingham in the 1830s?


texts: Why would the heads of the Manhattan Project have been imprisoned in the event of its failure?

texts:
In The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes, Secretary of War Henry Stimson is quoted as saying, after the Trinity test and Potsdam declaration but before the bombing of Hiroshima:

  I have been responsible for spending two billions of dollars on this atomic venture. Now that it is successful I shall not be sent to prison in Fort Leavenworth.

It is also indicated in the text that project director Leslie Groves would have been in trouble:

  The bomb was also to be used to pay for itself, to justify to Congress the investment of $2 billion, to keep Groves and Stimson out of Leavenworth prison.

For what crimes would they have been charged? Or would they simply have been detained until the end of the war? What precedent had Stimson worried about the possibility of being imprisoned for being the leader of a failed project?


texts: What taxes were assessed on people in Alta California?

texts: Countries and their churches extract rents from their citizens or subjects through various taxes. What taxes were individual Alta Californians required to pay in the Spanish and Mexican periods?


texts: Did the Sword of the Republic really fall from the Arc de Triomphe on the first day of the Battle of Verdun?

texts:
According to several sites - none of which offer sources or citations - the Arc De Triomphe de l'Étoile was damaged on or near the same day that the Battle of Verdun began in February 1916. These sites, including this one, claim that the Sword held by the Republic on the La Marseillais relief broke off.

Some accounts go on to say that the damage was immediately concealed behind a tarp to prevent people from treating the damage as an omen portending disaster:

  The sword carried by the Republic in the Marseillaise relief broke off on the day, it is said, that the Battle of Verdun began in 1916. The relief was immediately hidden by tarpaulins to conceal the accident and avoid any undesired ominous interpretations.
  -  Wikipedia

Note:  The footnote citation in the Wikipedia article links to the page I linked above, which offers no sources or citations

Is there any evidence that this story is true, and if so, when and how did the damage occur?


texts: What was the life expectancy of an ancient Roman child and adult?

texts:
I'm assuming the average life expectancy of a Roman did not change very much between 500 BC - 500 AD (?), as there was probably no significant progress in medical knowledge or nutrition. Do historians have accurate estimations/sources, how old a Roman got? I don't mean soldiers, who of course had a much shorter average life expectancy than non-soldiers. I assume, if a child managed to survive typical childhood diseases, the chance to reach the normal average life expectancy increased. Rome needed many young men for successful expansion, did they manage to decrease mortality rate of children?

Can anyone quote some numbers here, showing the mortality rate for children and adults(men/women/soldiers)? Apart from average age, how old got the oldest humans at that time?


texts: Are there recorded incidents of the Gentlemen Pensioners protecting the monarch in the 16th century?

texts:
The Gentlemen Pensioners were the forerunner to the modern Her Majesty's Body Guards. Henry VIII instated it in 1509, disbanded it in 1515/16, and re-created the unit in 1539.

They are described as the King's elite bodyguard (and here), but there is hardly any mention of them in public sources (most mentions seemed to refer to 18th/19th century fiction characters with a (a la 'The Gentleman Pensioner: A Romance of the Year 1569'). Their WP entry is nigh on useless for detail though it does mention two battles, one of which falls into the time when the aforementioned article says they were disbanded. WP does say this:

  As the "Nearest Guard" to the Monarch, the unit attracted an aristocratic and aspiring membership, which could be utilised as a cadre of young officers when levies were raised for overseas service.

It also describes how the Gentlemen Pensioners were armed with battleaxes. Alison Weir describes their armament as poleaxes (talking about Mary Boleyn's husband William Stafford whose WP entry makes no mention of him belonging to the Gentlemen Pensioners). Weir's book also described how Stafford was meant to sleep (when on duty) in front of the King's bed/bedchamber, and to protect him from assassins.

WP also mentioned they partook of the Battle of the Spurs, but no specific mention is given.

The article above focussed on the Attempted Coup of July 1553 where many Gentlemen Pensioners sided with Northumberland (because they owed their positions is a simplified description) but there's no specific mention of combat, or of Mary being saved by the Pensioners who sided with her.

I should note that especially with Walsingham's prominence in the later Elizabethan court, a need for such a bodyguard (who sleeps on one's doorstep) seems to lessen slightly -- but I think this could be based on false assumptions (that Walsingham's spy ring would cut off all would-be assassins). In any case, Elizabeth kept the guard around so she must have seen value -- while Henry VIII clearly didn't think they were good enough value in 1515/16 if he actually disbanded them then.

Therefore, are there any specific recorded incidents where the Gentlemen Pensioners managed to fulfill their role as a bodyguard in the 16th century?


texts: Why did JFK give approval for the CIA to encourage Diem's deposal?

texts:
In 1963, weeks before his own assassination, President Kennedy gave approval for the CIA to encourage a group of South Vietnamese generals to depose President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam. The generals murdered him and his brother on November 1.

Vice President, Lyndon B. Johnson, later said that it was the worst mistake we ever made.

What was President Kennedy's reason for this?


texts: Why did the island of Bali remain Hindu when most of the rest of Indonesia converted to Islam?

texts:
The Wiki page on the spread of Islam in Indonesia stresses that our knowledge of this macro-historical process is fragmentary, for instance often we don’t how the religion diffused out into the general populace after a ruler converted.  Bali seems to be the most prominent example of non-conversion, as opposed to say Java, earlier the site of the Hindu kingdom Majapahit.  Javanese courts like the one in Yogyakarta retained a lot of Indic cultural features like court ritual, dance, and costumes while becoming Muslim.  What prevented Balinese courts from going the same route?

Possible factors:  Bali was isolated from the trade routes that spread Islam;  conditions after the fall of Majapahit made Bali a refuge for fleeing Javanese aristocrats;  charismatic Hindu mystics like the Shaivite Dang Hyang Nirartha (see Wikipedia) helped rejuvenate Hinduism on Bali at the same time as Java was going Muslim.  And if not at that time, why not later as with Lombok and other islands to the east?


texts: What are the origins of organized crime?

texts: Is there any scholarly consensus about the origins of organized crime historically? Do movements such as the Ndrangheta have analogues in the pre-Christian or Medieval world? Or is it a relatively new, post-Industrial kind of thing?


texts: What is the oldest European royal house?

texts: What is the oldest European royal or princely house, either enthroned or dethroned, that patrilineally survives nowadays?


texts: When did the Greeks stop calling themselves "Roman"?

texts:
I've been reading a lot about the Byzantine Empire recently, and one of the things I see pointed out over and over again is that "Byzantine" is a term coined by historians, not by the people themselves.  If you'd asked a citizen of the Byzantine Empire what he was, he would say "I am Roman."  In fact, even the term "Romania," as I understand it, came from these ethnically eastern but politically Roman people.

I remember hearing in my youth that the Greeks continued calling themselves "Rhomaios" even after the Byzantine Empire fell, and that they only reclaimed their independent "Greek" identity in the 1700s, as a response to increasing interest in ancient Greece over in England and France.

Is this true?  When did the Greek (and Eastern European in general) identity finally drop its association with the Roman Empire?  The only article I've found (Wikipedia) only covers the earlier period, not that which followed "Rhomaios."


texts: When did the defeated General José de la Cruz sail back to Spain?

texts:
José de la Cruz was a Spanish military commander in Mexico's wars of independence. He was finally defeated by his ex-subordinate, Pedro Celestino Negrete in Durango, just after the Treaty of Córdoba, at the end of August or beginning of September of 1821.

The book "101 villanos en la historia de México" mentions that Agustín Iturbide let de la Cruz return to Spain. That would place the date of the permission before Iturbide's abdication in March of 1823. According to Zelia Nuttall, in "Two Remarkable California Baskets", the general stopped in California first, which I find dubious. According to the Spanish Wikipedia article, in 1823 de la Cruz became Spain's Minister of War.

That leaves a range of up to about 18 months when de la Cruz could have crossed the Atlantic. More specifically, when was his voyage to Spain?


texts: Who originally said, "The most segregated hour . . ."

texts:
There is a video on YouTube where MLK says '... at 11 o'clock in Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours, if not the most segregated hours, in Christian America.' in 1960 but in the documentary of James Baldwin 'I Am Not Your Negro', there's a part where Baldwin quotes this but says 'as Malcolm X once put it, "the most segregated hour in American life is high noon on Sunday."' Is there a slight chance MLK quoted Malcolm X there or Baldwin just misremembered or misquoted, or Malcolm X used the line himself after MLK and Baldwin heard the quote from Malcolm X?
MLK video
Baldwin video


texts: Where can one study the movements of the natives of North America prior to European contact

texts: I was curious to know what is currently the best source (or the best sources) for information about people indigenous to the Americas prior to European contact. I am especially interested in the area around where the Massachusetts Bay Colony would be formed.


texts: What made the generation-switch hard in Soviet Union?

texts:
I always wondered, why didn't the Soviet leadership have similar generation changes like Chinese had later with Deng Xiao Ping?

Only Gorbachev could get the leadership as second-generation communist and we can say by his time Soviet Union already had several problems. Before him Andropov and Chernenko took power for a short while, but they clearly belonged to the old style communists, they were both old.

What factors made the Communist Party of the Soviet Union a "club of elderly people"? Did they have some specific problems with giving the leadership to younger generation?


texts: Why was there so little information about sex in Eastern Block countries?

texts:
By "Taboo" I meant the lack of widespread access to the information (very few sources, sparse information in biology books etc). I've edited the title for clarification.
As you all probably know, "there was no sex in Soviet Union" - at least according to famous TV shows that allowed people from Boston and Leningrad to talk about their day-to-day problems. Of course this statement was taken bit out of context - the Russian woman was going to say that "there is no sex in television" - but the truth is, that the whole Eastern Block was treating sex as something that you shouldn't think about at least until you have three kids.
The sexual education was almost non-existent: I remember the biology book in the primary school that only showing silhouettes of naked man and woman with description "human reproductive organs" (without even pointing at anything). There wasn't any information about contraceptives since the most popular method of birth control was... abortion (even now, Russian Federation has the highest number of abortions per 1000 women) and the condoms (assuming they were available) had horrible quality (in one article I remember one women said that "it was like having sex with a motorbike").
It is not like there was no requirement for better information about sex - the famous book "A practical guide to marital bliss" published in 1978 was sold in Poland in over 7 million copies, even while it was more akin to IKEA manual rather than to Kama Sutra - but that was probably the only publication in that time. In similar fashion, there was no access to erotic/pornographic magazines, yet quite a few people were trying to smuggle some "dirty" magazines from West Germany.
So why, it there was such demand that could be relatively easy fulfilled, the communist governments were doing nothing about?
To clarify, I'm asking only about the former Eastern Block countries (Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria etc), not current ones (China, N. Korea). I'd like also to know if there was any inherent Marxist reason for such behaviour: while many of those countries had strong traditional religious values, Party was usually trying to dismiss religion and instead "be progressive". So saying that sexual education was ignored because it could offend Christians seems strange if at the same time admitting that you are a churchgoer could lead you to trouble.
Just to clarify further, I was asking mainly about sex-education and erotic art (books, movies), not pornography (so for example books like Lady Chatterley's Lover or Lolita)


texts: Did Nathan Bedford Forrest wear a wig or dye his hair?

texts: I have seen pictures of Nathan Bedford Forrest with a dark beard and light hair on his head.  Given that his head hair color does not match his beard color, did he wear a wig or dye his hair?  I have searched around for dyeing hair, and it seems he did not live to see the day when this was practical.  I have read about him, but I have not read he had a wig.  It seems that he had a receding hair line.  The black-and-white photos show a stark difference in his beard color and hair-on-his-head color.  Given that he was the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, it seems like he would have liked lighter hair color.  Here is an illustration of the different head hair and beard hair color.


texts: Was electricity free in the Soviet Union?

texts: Did people receive free electricity in their homes in the Soviet Union? If so, how was it rationed out? Were there any quotas on how much you could use?


texts: In World War 1, why were the Australian and Canadian troops so good?

texts:
I'm reading a book about the first world war, and makes it clear that the Canadian and Australian troops made quite a name for themselves. They acquitted themselves very well in many of the actions they participated in (within reason), and were regarded as Britain's crack troops, even by the central powers.

In the battle of Amiens in 1918 the British went into quite a lot of effort to hide the fact that specifically four Canadian divisions were being brought onto the scene.

It also seems like there is a very high concentration of good military commanders, such as Monash.

Why is this the case, when these colonies didn't really have any kind of military tradition at all and not that much experience in warfare in general?


texts: Can someone help me identify this sword?

texts:
It looks like a wide hacking blade, obviously a short sword. But because the tang isn't real wide and the way the handle fits, it looks like it was ceremonial or even ornamental.

The blade itself is 16" long x 2-1/8" with the initials J.B.S. and another B directly under the B in J.B.S. The initials are down by the hilt. Handle made of brass or bronze, Lions head I'm guessing. Can someone help me identify this. I don't even know where to start.


texts: Were there any Chinese expeditions to explore the world? If not, why not?

texts:
It occurred to me today that all essential historical exploration was done by the Europeans, who discovered the Americas and mapped most of the world.

This got me wondering about Eastern civilization. They knew about Europe, since we had the long Silk Road land route, so they knew there was much more to the far west along land. But did they ever wonder what was beyond the ocean to the east? Did the Japanese, Chinese, or other civilizations of that region ever send voyages out into the Pacific? Or were they very inward focused?


texts: Could a ruler demand a homage from an independent prince?

texts:
The Polish Wikipedia about the battle of Kowal (1327) says (translation mine, maybe in some places duke and prince are not used correctly):

  In 1327 Władysław I Łokietek [the Polish king] begun the process of subordinating the [Duchy of] Masovia from Poland. The successful process was giving to Łokietek a chance of unifying subsequent Polish lands, increasing access to Teutonic [Order] boundaries and improving relations with allied Lithuania. The divided Masovia was then ruled by: Rawa [Mazowiecka] prince Siemowit II, Czersk prince Trojden I and Płock prince Wacław, who on January 2, 1326 in Brodnica signed a defence treaty with Teutonic knights. The treaty was directed against aggressive and claim-ful politics of the Polish king and was to guarantee by the Order the independence and integrity of Mazovia. The fact of negotiations with the Teutonic Knights was not accepted by Władysław Łokietek. After refusal of homage to the Polish king by the rulers of Mazovia, in July 1327 Polish troops invaded the Płock principality of Wacław, while the Lithuanians of Gediminas - lands of Siemowit II. In accordance to the treaty, the Teutonic [Knights] came with an assistance to the Płock prince.

(The war was eventually won by Poland, but Masovia managed to stay independent).

Of course I understand that such a type of war was common those days, and there could have been many different casi belli, but the question is whether a king (or other ruler) could demand a homage from anybody?

The Wikipedia article about vassals is very brief, so is Britannica article, but also other sources do not say it was obligatory to have a senior (lord) and the system is shown as some sort of a contract.

(Please do not include examples where a ruler became a vassal because of a lost war).


texts:
This is a question related to competitive cycling, as well as to competitive car racing. I am interested in the political and social aspects, but I would gently ask to leave them out from the specific question asked here.

Does anybody know when and where the first podium girls appeared at a cycling race? (I do not exclude answering myself the question in the near future, I am asking in case someone already did this research)


texts: Did Akhenaten's religion influence early Judaism?

texts:
There were some claims, for example in the 1st 2 chapters of Moses and Monotheism by Freud, that early Judaism was basically a spin-off of Akhenaten's religion. There are indeed some remarkable similarities:

Akhenaten, an Egyptian, is perhaps the 1st monotheist in History; Judaism is the 1st organized monotheistic religion, and its becoming one is associated with the Exodus from Egypt.

Akhenaten calls his god Aton; one of the names used in Judaism is Adon or Adonai.

The word Moses means "son" in Egyptian, as in Ra-mses or Tut-mos; Biblical Moses was raised as the son of an Egyptian princess (perhaps because he was one).

Moses was fluent in Egyptian, but "tongue-tied" in Hebrew, even after considerable time as the leader of Jews.

There are also remarkable dis-similarities between early Judaism and the traditional Egyptian worship that denied the religion of Akhenaten:

The animals that were traditionally worshipped in Egypt (not by Akhenaten) are deemed "dirty" in Judaism.

Jews are forbidden to shave their heads, which was a common practice in Egypt.

Etc., Etc., Etc.

The speculation by Freud goes something like this:

The followers of Akhenaten's religion are persecuted after Akhenaten's death. The son of Akhenaten's daughter, known further as "the Son" or "Moses", decided to flee Egypt. A natural leader, he decides not to flee alone, but to create a new nation, become it leader, and install the religion of Aton with it. Jews, enslaved in the Delta, seemed a good pick. He convinces Aaron, the son of his wet nurse, to disseminate the story that Moses was actually a Jew, and to act as Moses's mouthpiece (and perhaps Hebrew-Egyptian interpreter).

Thus the question: is there any historical evidence to either support or deny such claim? Are there any contradictions between the described above speculated line of events and some reasonably known facts about ancient Egypt history?


texts: What led to American air superiority over the Axis in World War II

texts:
In his 1943 "State of the Union" Address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt commented, "in Africa, we are shooting down two enemy planes to every one we lose, and in the Pacific and the Southwest Pacific we are shooting them down four to one."

Studies by Depuy and others have shown that on the ground, one American, British, or Soviet soldier was not the equal of one German soldier. And even with a large superiority in numbers and firepower, Allied forces had difficulty inflicting human casualties on the Germans at a rate much above one to one. The disparity in tank effectiveness was even more skewed in favor of the Germans, as they inflicted tank casualties on the allies at a multiple of their own.

What accounts for the relative U.S. superiority in the air? And is it fair to say that without air superiority, the U.S. and Allies would have had great difficulty beating the Germans? Or are there credible sources or studies that show that the Allies could have won only using overwhelming numbers and firepower on the ground, without superior airpower?


texts: What was the Tang Dynasty definition of imperial 嫡子?

texts:
The distinction between 嫡子 and 庶子 was supposedly crucial in struggles for the Chinese imperial throne. It is often repeated (example) that only sons of the Empress were considered 嫡子。
Here it is stated explicitly, that the sons of 貴妃 were not 嫡子. And yet in the Zizhitongjian， scroll 238 , the son of a highest ranking concubine (貴妃) is referred to as 嫡子。
Relevant passage:

立遂王宥為太子，更名恆。恆，郭貴妃之子也。諸姬子澧王寬，長於恆。上將立恆，命崔群為寬草讓表。群曰：「凡推己之有以與人謂之讓。遂王，嫡子也，寬何讓焉！」

Partial translation attempt:

The King of Sui, You, was installed as crown prince. His Name was changed to Heng. He was the Son of Guo Guifei. The son of an ordinary consort, King of Li, Kuan, was elder than Heng. The Emperor wanted(?) to install Heng . He instructed Cui Qun to draft an abdication for Kuan. Qun said: […] „ The King of Sui is a 嫡子！ How could Kuan abdicate (i.e.: as he was not entitled to begin with)?

So, what was the precise definition of 嫡子？Was the above just a deliberate distortion of facts by Cui Qun? Or perhaps my understanding of the Ancient Chinese quote is crucially flawed?
Supplements

Dictionaries Link 嫡子 to 正妻
My Hanyu Dacidian defines 嫡子 as the son of 正妻：

正妻所生之子

This is also repeated here:

嫡子（正妻所生之子）

Who is 正妻？
If we start out from this definition (that 嫡子 are precisely  the sons of 正妻) the prevalent claim seems to be that only the Empress is 正妻. This source states:

皇帝的女人虽然多，但是正妻却只有一个，那就是“皇后”。/ Although the Emperor‘s women were many, there nonetheless was but one 正妻，namely the Empress.

Here is one more article that implicitly equates 皇后 with 皇帝的正妻 (“ “后”本来是君王的称呼。后来成为帝王妻子的专用名称，既然是皇帝的正妻，于是称“皇后”“).
Here one more that makes it explicit.
I see at least three possibilities:

Only the Empress is a 正妻，崔群 is not explained
The first properly wed wife is 正妻
Several wifes are 正妻 as it is alleged for pre-imperial China

Is the relevant maternal rank that at time of childbirth?
Based on the example of 商纣王 and brothers by the same mother here I assume mother‘s rank at birth to be relevant. Is this correct for 嫡子 in the Tang period?
Legal Situation (presumably not for royals)
Is very clearly set out in 唐律 159. After the primary wife reaches a certain age, an ordinary son (庶子）may be made 嫡子。


texts: When did US federal government's revenue exceed combined state and local revenue?

texts:
Approximately when did the US federal government's revenue become larger than state and local revenue?
Even after the Constitution in 1787 the federal government's revenue was still much smaller than local. When did it become larger? Was it in the 1910s after the income tax, or only post WW2?
Basically, when did the US federal government's taxation power become more powerful than state+local?


texts:
For my research I found these wonderful pictures showing all artillery weapons used during the Seven Years War.

http://crogges7ywarmies.blogspot.de/2012/09/prussian-7yw-artillery-scale-drawings.html

Although I have checked all avaiable references I could find, I haven't found equivalent pictures of the Prussian artillery used during the Napoleonic Wars.

Is someone in possession of a book that could deliver these information (technical measurements are the most important facts here, but an image would make the 3D recreation much more easier)


texts: What were French collaborators specifically accused of after the Liberation of France in WWII?

texts:
I came across the title of a book, 'France: The Tragic Years, 1939-1947' by Sisley Huddleston, which struck me as odd, as I supposed France's tragedy to have ended with the retreat of the Germans in 1944. I looked it up on Amazon and saw by its subtitle "An Eyewitness Account of War, Occupation, and Liberation" that the author considered the Liberation as part of France's tragedy and that it lasted three years. (Incidentally, Amazon has it listed as a "Mass Market Paperback" for a mere $973.90 plus $3.99 shipping, a price that doesn't seem to have discouraged shoppers as "Only 1 left in stock - order soon".)

Sisley Huddleston was a journalist who wrote on France for leftist or left-leaning American magazines. He was a lifelong Francophile who has three other books listed on Amazon, Those Europeans: Studies of foreign faces, published 1924, Articles De Paris A Book of Essays, published 1928, and Between the Hills : A Normandy Pastoral, published 1931. Apparently, during the Liberation, he and his wife barely escaped execution. His eyewitness account of the war in France was published in 1955.

Presumably, an execution during Liberation would have been for collaboration with the Nazis, but about the only thing I remembered from history class regarding the treatment of collaborators in France had to do with women and shaved heads. Executions are another thing altogether.

"Collaboration" is an extremely vague, flexible term. What specific charges were leveled at French citizens that qualified as collaboration or evidence of collaboration? Were there incriminating actions, like participation in a certain Nazi procurement program, e.g., that were used as proof of collaboration? Or was it like the Bolshevik "enemy of the people", which needed no evidence of any particular inculpatory act on the part of the accused to justify execution?


texts: Why was the Polish 1st Parachute Infantry Brigade dropped at Driel on the South bank of the Rhine?

texts:
While the deployment of the Polish 1st Parachute Infantry Brigade started on 18 September 1944 on the North bank of the river, the rest was dropped at Driel on the South bank of the Rhine on 21 September 1944.

This seems like dissolution of troops, which may not be good especially when the rest of allies were already in defending positions.


texts: What do these artillery shell stamps indicate?

texts:
I found this inert shell decades ago at a garage sale in New Brunswick, Canada and finally got around to cleaning it up. I'm not really well versed in the various marks on it, but I've attached some pictures with the hope that someone on the forum could provide us with some information on it.
It weighs 27.6 lbs and I think it might be WWI  era. It is 13.25 inches tall and 4.5 inches in diameter. It also has stamped on the body SF4765U and above the U there is an arrow pointing up. Lower on the shell there is an STS under the T there is a line and then a W. A little lower there is CN. On the bottom it has stamped on it S.E. CO 17.6.18 and above it is 45 HR IX or TX and then NO. Any help would be much appreciated. I can provide more pics if necessary


texts: How did early Judaism and Zoroastrianism influence each other, if they were so far apart?

texts:
I've been reading, from various sources, fairly vague and hand-wavey claims that Zoroastrianism and early Judaism influenced each other (and that both were influenced by Atenism).

Looking at summaries of the content of these religions, such a claim seems prima facie plausible, but then I looked at a map.

Zarathustra himself is placed in space and time as, roughly, eastern Iran, perhaps in the 10th century BCE or a couple of hundred years later. This is about 3,000 km from Jerusalem, it would take weeks of dedicated walking to cross that, and the terrain is (and presumably was then) inhospitable. This does not seem prima facie plausible to me -- although it does not seem unreasonable to have, say, trading routes along there, but the integration of two religions seems like it should require an intimate sharing of culture and politics over a long period of time. The geography seems prohibitive.

So, is it actually plausible that early Judaism and Zoroastrianism were sharing ideas? If so, what was the mechanism for that influence? How would the people have come together?


texts: What specific Medieval Rus waterway engineering examples are there?

texts:
I've been investigating a statement (cited below) made in Nicolle's 'Lake Peipus 1242' which describes waterway engineering by Medieval Russian princes but doesn't bring any specific examples. Which specific examples are there of waterway engineering (canals, removing large rocks, and paved portages) in Medieval Russia?

In fact communications were easier in winter than summer, for when the rivers froze, they formed highways for sledges. In summer the rivers still formed the main arteries of communication, though rapids and cataracts made frequent portages necessary. Russian princes did what they could to improve things by building wooden bridges (though these were easily damaged by floating ice during the spring thaw) and by paving portages with timber. Rulers also offered military protection for the most important portages. In the north there were even efforts to improve rivers by digging canals and removing large rocks.

In the north seems to refer to Novgorod; but I don't know of any specific canals or portage constructions there. Wikipedia doesn't mention any in the article on Novgorod.
Wikipedia's List of canals in Russia has a list, but most of these are post-18th century. The two exceptions are the Don–Volga portage and the Vyshny Volochyok Waterway, but despite these pages mentioning that the routes were in use in Medieval times, there is no specific note of what was done to make these better/more easily usable.
The Volga trade route article is interesting, but also says that the route lost importance by the 11th century. No specific mention is made of portage improvements, but using portages is described in the briefest detail. The Dniepr trade route article also mentions portages, but no specific upgrades (and really can't be described as matching Nicolle's description of "in the north").
I found this article, 'The Impact of the Water Routes of Novgorod...', which looks like it would be useful, but I don't have access.


texts: Religion in European international politics after the Peace of Westphalia?

texts:
Thirty Years' War started out as a war of religion, and then almost all European entities got involved in it. It was concluded by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, which led to a great deal of changes in European politics, but especially to the reorganization of the Holy Roman Empire.

Even though the significance of the Peace of Westphalia as a watershed moment in the European history is seldom debated, I am given to understand1 that there are two opposing viewpoints about a certain aspect about it. According to one viewpoint, the Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia mark as the events after which religious politics played a little part in the diplomatic relations amongst European powers, i.e. after 1648, diplomatic relations amongst European entities were dominated by secular issues. On the other hand, some historians argue that the Peace of Westphalia did not mark such a dramatic transition from religious to secular politics.

As far as I know, the first viewpoint seems reasonable -- most of the major wars that happened after the Thirty Years' War had purely secular origins. What are some of the arguments put forward by the opposing side to justify that religion still played a significant part in the international diplomatic decisions? (Note that here I am ignoring the part religion played in the internal politics -- for example any civil war that might have its origin in religion.)


texts: How did the South USA become more overtly Christian than the North?

texts:
What historical factors led to a more overt and rooted Christian culture in the southern USA compared to the northern states?

The Bible Belt is an informal region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism plays a strong role in society and politics, and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.
Bible Belt. (2017, February 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:38, February 27, 2017, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bible_Belt&oldid=766096166


texts: When did the Nuu-Chah-Nulth stop whaling?

texts:
I am wondering when the Nuu-Chah-Nulth stopped whaling.

I've been looking around and can't seem to find anything.


texts: Who Is to Be Served First, Duchess or Son?

texts: Suppose this is England in the Victorian Era and there are two individuals, a duchess and her son, dining together. The son, roughly thirty or so years of age, is seated across the table from his mother. His father, the duke, has recently died and left the title to him, which makes him not only heir apparent but literal duke, I presume. As mentioned, the son is dining at the manor with his mother, the duchess (but not dowager duchess, since the son is currently unmarried--I believe that is how it is decided, but please correct me if I am wrong!). If there is only one servant serving food to the two of them, who would this servant serve first? Would it be customary to first serve the duchess, because of her years and bearing, or her son, who has recently acquired the title of duke? Does the latter circumstance matter? What if the duke was still alive but absent from this meal--would the duchess or the heir (being male) be served first? Thank you in advance!


texts: How did Irish defeat Norse at Battle of Tara in 980 CE.?

texts: At the Battle of Tara in 980 C.E. the Norse were (apparently) heavily defeated by the Irish. There is not much material or sources on this battle. Does anyone have  ideas on how the Irish were able to win?


texts: Where can I find financial data for the first world war?

texts:
I want to analyse the first world war on the financial aspect. Here are some of my questions.

Which countries borrowed money to win the war?
Where were weapons manufactured?

Where can I get information about these topics?

Google at least just shows me current bank problems with these keywords.


texts: Why did Jews not immigrate to the Muslim world?

texts: Throughout most of history, Jews lived significantly better in the Muslim countries than in Christian ones. Moreover, after the expulsion from Spain, many Spanish Jews moved to the Muslim world (from Morocco to the Ottoman Empire). Yet, when Jews were evicted from Central and Eastern Europe, or even after pogroms there (until the 1800s), Jews just moved from country to country in Europe (and sometimes even back to the original country that evicted them). Why didn't they move out to the Muslim world?


texts:
During the Meiji Restoration, the previously powerful samurai class was abolished. What did all the former samurai become?

I have heard often that many former samurai joined the new conscription army and took up positions as officers, but the samurai class constituted something like 5% of the population of Japan. No military needs that many officers. Samurai were not only well-trained but well-educated, enjoying great social mobility, so I imagine most would have transitioned to various roles in the upper strata of the modern society; some samurai became notable businessmen, such as the founder of Mitsubishi.

Are there any statistics or records on where the samurai ended up and in what professions or roles?


texts: What was the original process for becoming a US citizen?

texts: So it's 1789 and the US constitution has just come into force.  Who is now a citizen of this new government?  Were some granted citizenship automatically, or were there also forms to fill out and oaths to take?


texts: Has an armed gang ever taken a medieval city?

texts:
Are there any instances of a medium small armed gang (<100 men) entering and taking over a medieval city (in any part of the world)?  How well did medieval city defenses work against medium-small groups of armed robbers?

It seems like this would be a more common threat than an army laying siege to a city.

ADDEDNUM
Let me see if I can be more specific.  I am aware that pre-gunpowder cities around the world often had walls.  It makes sense that you could hide behind walls if an army showed up.  But cities had to be open for business: people have to come and go from a city.  A lesser force (which I call a gang in the OP) might catch the gate guard by surprise, or walk in one at a time.  Or 2-3 confederates in the city might catch the gate guard at night and open it.

That all sounds fine.  I wonder if it has ever happened.  I see mention of incidents in the comments about gullible bishops etc.

A good answer would recount 1 or more incidents (with links if you do not want to go into detail in the answer) and then deduce a trend or pattern for such things.  Or, if it is nearly impossible for such a thing to have happened, lay out why.


texts: When Adam Smith discusses "corn" to what crop does he refer?

texts:
In "The Wealth Of Nations", Adam Smith discusses the price of corn in ancient times.  Apparently, books such as "Chronicon Preciosum: or An Account of English Money, the Price of Corn and Other Commodities, for the Last 600 Years" (written in 1707) document the price of corn.  This would seem to indicate that Europeans were eating corn since at least 1107.

However, I "learned" in school that it was Columbus who brought corn to Europe after 1492.

When Adam Smith discusses "corn", is he referring to some other vegetable food which differs from "corn on the cob"?  Or, did the Europeans in fact have corn before the time of Columbus?


texts: What cultures have had a lasting effect on Sicilian culture?

texts:
Considering that Sicily has been inhabited by multiple empires/peoples

native Sicilians/Italians tribes and communes
Greeks (partially)
Carthaginians (partially)
Romans
Ostrogoths (very briefly)
Byzantines
Arabs
Normans (briefly)
Holy Roman Empire
Spanish
reunified Italian rule

Are there major influences to the culture that persist?  From what I have seen there seem to be mutiple influences that touch on Roman, Muslim and modern Italain art influeces.  Typically when I have looked at the history of nations that tend to be difficult to reach, or islands, the influences from a historical perspective are assimilated into the original culture.  Not all of the empires/peoples who ruled had an effect, if they did it may be diluted by this time.  If this is true, what are the major influences that have occurred in Sicily and can still be seen in its architecture and culture today?


texts: How extensive and developed was the ancient Kushite (Nubian) horse trade?

texts:
In 1997 there was a fascinating paper published called The Horses of Kush by Lisa A. Heidorn in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies which summarized some finds about the popularity of horses from Kush being breeded and given or sold to neighboring countries and abroad, appearing to be a burgeoning business. Some of the horses ended up being traded or sent as gifts as far away as Assyria. The Dongola Reach appears to be one particular area of archaeological interest for evidence of horses in the region, being in the northern part of the kingdom.

Ann E. Killebrew in Jerusalem in Bible and Archaeology wrote of one such example, saying "With the Assyrian army in the region, Silkanni, the king of Egypt (Osorkon IV), felt compelled to send Sargon twelve magnificent horses as a gift. These were probably Kushite horses from the Dongola Reach area, already an important horse-breeding center at this time" (pg 240; also citing Heidorn).

A press release this year (2018) elaborated on some of the conclusions about a 2011 uncovering of a Kushite horse grave found in Sudan with the following photograph and a caption saying, "Archaeologists believe an ancient horse burial was a symbolic signature of the ascendant Kushite Dynasty". (See also the release from Purdue University which it was based on).

Apparently this was a chariot-drawing horse buried in "a tomb complex with a chapel and pyramid aboveground", as this article indicates. It also states:

  "The skeleton dates to around 949 B.C., and it is thought to be the
  most compete horse skeleton from that period ever found, according to
  a new study describing the grave and its contents, published online
  April 25 in Antiquity Journal. "

Given the evidence that has emerged over the last two decades since Heidorn's article concerning some neglected chapters in Nubia's history, including fresh evidence of the temporary rule of Nubian Pharaohs in Egypt as they expanded northward (such as under King Taharqa) as National Geographic explored in a winter edition of its magazine in 2008, I'm wondering if a more comprehensive picture of the extent of Kushite horse breeding and trade has emerged as part of this "ascendant Kushite Dynasty" and has been summarized in recent scholarship.

Since evidence has come out rather piece-meal over time I'm hoping to get a bigger picture of the Kushite horse "industry" (if it may be called that). Can anyone provide me with a summary of what we know as of 2018?

[As a small editorial note, I am mostly (though not exclusively) interested in the history prior to the Greek period; even though the Kingdom of Kush continued into the Common Era]

Edit: As one further consideration on these Kushite horses' prize status and their value in trade I will cite Heidorn's words on page 109 of her paper (linked above) on that topic:

  The references to Egyptian and Kushite horses in Neo-Assyrian texts
  indicate that the two North African countries actively bred horses,
  and that the horses of Kush were a breed prized by Assyrian
  charioteers. Dalley suggested that the markets established by the
  Assyrians in the territory of Gaza and on the eastern border of Egypt,
  which are mentioned in the inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser III and
  Sargon II, respectively, were involved in the horse trade between
  Assyria and Egypt. She noted that most Assyrian merchants at this time
  were either explicitly labeled "horse-traders" or can be shown to have
  been involved in the horse trade, and she was therefore inclined to
  believe that Tiglath-pileser and Sargon established these markets to
  encourage trade with Egypt in order to acquire Nubian horses for their
  chariotry.


texts: When did mature redwood trees become possible to harvest?

texts:
The Coast Redwood and the Giant Sequoia are related, massive, long-living softwood trees growing on the west coast of North America. Their wood is straight, resistant to pests, and easily splittable, but they take centuries to mature. Specimens may exceed five meters in diameter and a gigagram in mass.

Widespread exploitation of the trees began with Anglo-Americans immigrating and building sawmills around the 1840s. Many of the few remaining specimens are now protected in parks.

Minimal tools and technique are needed to cut down a young redwood, but harvesting a mature one and transporting its wood, even in pieces, is dangerous and technical. Besides gigantic saws, it can take wedges, sledgehammers, drills, platforms, and maybe more.

When did the large trees become possible to harvest and handle? Is it known who was the first to cut down a mature one?


texts: How was food produced in Europe/Germany prior to the industrial revolution?

texts:
I'd appreciate any pointer to books or other medias that cover the production of food prior to the industrial revolution (with the regional focus being in Europe or even more narrowly in Germany/Switzerland/Austria and another focus being on the common person)

Points of interest are

tools that were used (and if those tools were affordable to the common person)
possibility to study or learn agriculture
degree of specialization (did every farmer do a bit of everything or were some farmers specialized in, for example, growing wheat while others were specialized in growing vegetables)

I am also intrigued by the question if (and what) farming knowledge might have become mostly forgotten due to the industrial revolution (possibly related to the question History of scientific regression).


texts: If Hitler was a far right fascist, why did he say he wanted a socialist state?

texts:
Everything I read (from seemingly reputable sources) says the Nazis, although having "Socialist" in their name – were really far right fascists. They also, apparently, worked to eradicate socialism and socialists thinking in the party.
Britanica: Were the Nazi's socialists?
So how come in the Speech for the Heroes' Memorial Day (21 March 1943) does Hitler say this:
"Instead, it will increasingly strive to realize, in the service of the national interest everywhere, a true Volksgemeinschaft as the highest ideal. All the more so after the war, the German National Socialist state, which pursued this goal from the beginning, will tirelessly work for the realization of a program that will ultimately lead to a complete elimination of class differences and to the creation of a true socialist community." Wikisource:HitlersSpeechForHeroes
Even if this was a lie (to get popular support) – If he had already distanced himself from 'socialists', why was he still preaching 'socialism'?


texts: Why are there so few Greeks and Macedonians in India?

texts: India has be entered by people of various cultures which has led to cultural diversity but considering the fact that the Seleucid empire had ies and friendship with Indian empires why aren't there that many Greeks in India?


texts: Why was the capital of Ukraine moved in 1934?

texts:
The Russian Revolution is fairly famous for moving the capital from Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to Moscow. But I was surprised to learn that the capital of Ukraine was Kharkiv until it was switched to Kiev in 1934.

Why was this done? The only sliver of explanation I've found was on wikipedia's History of Kiev page, where it says:

  The goal was to fashion a new proletariat utopia based on Stalin's blueprints.

Kind of a brief ambiguous sentence there. Exactly which of Stalin's "blueprints" is it talking about? What exactly was it about Kharkiv that made this impossible?


texts: Did the U.S. and Soviet Union have a submarine battle in 1968?

texts: There are books and articles about the Soviet submarine K-129 and the USS Scorpion in 1968, with various stories of attempted nuclear attacks and reprisals. Is there a factual narrative about these events (or non-events, if that's the case)?


texts:
I came across this article, which recommends a few books. Below is a quote from the article from the part about Digital Typography by Donald Knuth:

For another, the book is, well, charming. Donald's writing for a 1970's audience, give or take a decade, and this stuff was breaking new ground, at least for the time. You have to appreciate the fact that when he published his first two volumes of the Art of Computer Programming, he had to use this giant, steaming-mercury metal monstrosity that might have been more at home in a Stephen King novel in order to print it nicely in book format.
Donald thought: "Hey, I'm a mathematician and a programmer; fonts and typesetting seem like they might be algorithmically tractable, so lemme see if I can write a program that will replace the printing press." He could, and he did — although it took him about 10x longer than his initial estimate, as do all the best software programs.

It is written here that Donald Knuth "replaced the printing press" by creating the first typesetting software. Based on this, my question is:
Was Donald Knuth the first person to typeset a book using a computer? And which book did he typeset on the computer first?


texts: What factors led to the differing attitude to (civil) engineering projects between Roman and Russian armies?

texts:
While this might sound like a bit of a leap (i.e., why should Roman armies and Russian armies have any similarities), the Romans were considered as one of the first civilizations to use as models (if only because Romans adopted Christianity and were, therefore, no longer all pagans). Russia, meanwhile, heavily invested into its legitimacy and imagery as Third Rome. Therefore, it surprised me when I read in Christian Wolmar's 'To The Edge Of The World' that Russian soldiers in the 19th century were reluctant to work on the Trans-Siberian railway:

Troops, too, proved to be unwilling railway construction workers. Orest Vyazemsky, who had the contract to carry out the construction of the line, commandeered several thousand soldiers to work alongside the prisoners, but they considered it menial labour beneath their dignity and conducted what in the days of strong unions and weak managements would have been called a 'work to rule', backed by their officers, who condoned their inactivity.

This refers to the early 1890's when the majority of the Russian army would have been comprised of peasant conscripts. It sounds to me (guesswork) that actual construction work that they'd have done while in the army would have stood them in good stead afterwards, whether in their home village or if trying to change trades.
Meanwhile, Roman civil and military engineering was top notch. Roman soldiers built numerous roads, fortresses, and other structures where they demonstrated their expertise to a very great level. While there is a time limitation given to this as "mid-Republic to mid-Empire" this encompasses the heyday of the Roman state. I've previously read (presently unsourced) claims that this was to ensure that the soldiers had something to do, but this argument should apply just as much eighteen centuries later.
In other words, it seems perplexing that when an epitome of military excellence such as Rome valued engineering skills, the late 19th Russian army did not institutionalise the same qualities and skills. How did this come about?
Now, something I've not allowed for above is that all 19th century armies would have looked down on construction work. As I came across the specific mention by Wolmar with regards to Russian troops, I don't have anything to back this up either way—except from my memory, many fortifications on Russian borders, Port Artur possibly being the best example, having been built by the armed forces. The other option is that (noble) officers created a culture of disliking engineering because it was 'beneath them' but I don't have any proof to back that up either. In other words, if this was a more endemic problem in 19th century armies, do let me know.
Lastly, I should note that Wolmar doesn't directly cite Russian sources in his claims above. He doesn't actually base his book on any Russian sources other than Witte's memoirs. At the same time, he is a British Labour party politician—with that in mind, some of Wolmar's statements do read slightly biased, but he does a fairly good job overall other than in his choice of sources.


texts: Can anyone identify this early 20th century european costume/uniform?

texts: Can anyone identify this costume/uniform for me? I am wondering if anyone recognises it or could connect it to any particular country or conflict. We found it in an album belonging to a great aunt who was born in 1901 in Corsica and then lived in the south of France.  I would date it to around WW1 but it does not look like a regular military uniform.  Any ideas?


texts: What U.S. President said “It's fiction, stupid!”?

texts:
In the epilogue to his final book in the “Space Odyssey” saga: 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997), Arthur C. Clarke writes:

And if any readers of the earlier books feel disoriented by such
transmutations, I hope I can dissuade them from sending me angry
letters of denunciation by adopting one of the more endearing remarks
of a certain U.S. President: "It's fiction, stupid!"

What U.S. President is he referring to and what is the context of the original quote? I'm unable to find anything other than circular references back to this epilogue by Clarke.
[Posted here deliberately and not in https://scifi.stackexchange.com/ because the quote is referencing a real President, not a fictional one (as far as I can tell) — in other words, other than that Clarke wrote it and in the epilogue to a scifi book, it doesn't seem to relate to scifi, but rather a presidential quote]


texts: Where did Wilson state that the US would have to force access to markets with violence?

texts:
US President Woodrow Wilson stated openly before the First World War:

"Diplomacy and, if need be, violence must open the way to the (foreign) markets."

His central argument was that US industries have

"spread to the point where they will burst at the seams if they cannot freely access the world's markets".(15)

Some historians even say that this was one of the main reasons for the US entering the First and Second World War.

This is quoted from Jürgen Todenhöfer: "Die große Heuchelei: Wie der Westen seine Werte verrät", Ullstein, 2019. (My translation from this page).

US-Präsident Woodrow Wilson erklärte vor dem Ersten Weltkrieg offen: „Diplomatie und, wenn es sein muss, Gewalt müssen den Weg zu den (ausländischen Märkten) erschließen.“ Sein zentrales Argument lautete: Die US-Industrien haben sich „bis zu dem Punkt ausgebreitet, wo sie aus den Nähten platzen werden, wenn sie keinen freien Zugang zu den Märkten der Welt finden“ (15). Manche Historiker meinen sogar, dies sei einer der Hauptgründe für den Kriegseintritt der USA in den Ersten und Zweiten Weltkrieg gewesen.

Allegedly, this is just citing

(15) Kennedy, Paul: Aufstieg und Fall der großen Mächte. Ökonomischer Wandel und militärischer Konflikt von 1500 bis 2000. Frankfurt am Main 1989, S. 374

The German version is not available to me, but checking this against
Paul Kennedy: "The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000", Random House, 1987 I could not find this quote. Not even something remotely similar.
Widening the search for anything like that directly by Wilson was a dead end as well.
As far as I understand formatting of citations, the author implies to get his Wilson quote from Kennedy and either shortens it or splices two closely related sentences into one:

Diplomacy and, if need be, violence must open the way to the (foreign) markets […?][because]  US industries have spread to the point where they will burst at the seams if they cannot freely access the world's markets.

Is this quoted out of context, invented, or did Wilson say something to this effect?


texts: How did John Duns Scotus live in England during the Scottish Wars of Independence?

texts:
Apologies, this might be a very niche question, but I recently discovered that the theologian John Duns Scotus - a Scotsman, unsurprisingly - lived in England in the late 1200s/early 1300s - during the First Scottish War of Independence and the reign of Edward I and Edward II.

I found it strange to think that a Scotsman could have lived, apparently unmolested, in England during a brutal mediaeval war between Scotland and England. How was this possible? Was he protected from possible persecution by the state due to his status a priest?  Even if so, would he not have faced significant hostility from the English general population?  Or was it, in fact, quite normal for Scots to live in England, and vice-versa, during this time period?


texts: Did people practice multiphasic sleep in the Middle Ages?

texts:
I remember reading somewhere that before the Industrial Revolution introduced shift-based work, people would undertake two periods of sleep - go to bed early, wake up in the middle of the night to go out and do some more activity, and then go back to bed until morning. The article (which I can't find) mentioned that people used these hours for social activity.

While it seems vaguely plausible, I am wondering if it's true. After all, wouldn't the night be too dark to go anywhere?


texts: Umar ibn Khattab and Omar as a Western given name

texts: The name "Omar" is used as a given name in Western countries, one of the most famous one is Omar Bradley, a US World War 2 general. Is this given name related to the Islamic Caliph Umar? How did it come to be used in an English-speaking Christian-majority country like the US?


texts:
After a few hours of search, I can't identify this shell. I know it's a 75 mm shell, from one of the WW (probably WWI, but can't guarantee it), found in France, but that's about it. Could be from any protagonist.
Someone has a lead?


texts: Why did the baths of Bath need a hypocaust?

texts:
Bath, England has 3 natural hot springs. The Romans built a place of worship and a thermae around the springs. Why did Bath need a hypocaust if the water was already 47C hot just from the geothermal energy? What water did they use for the frigidarium and the other cold bath?

Take a look at the plans of the west baths of Bath [citation needed]. There's a hypocaust system under the tepidarium, the warm bath indicating that the hypocaust was not only there to warm the floor but to also heat the water. Beyond that, as far as I know there were some hypocaust system where the water tank was built above the praefurnium to also directly heat the water.


texts: Why did Japan fail to interfere with shipping from America to Vladivostok from 1941-1945?

texts:
Throughout World War II, the United States was able to supply Russia with food and many crucial war materials, such as aluminum, via Russia's Pacific port, Vladivostok. Japan steadfastedly refused to attack or prevent Russian shipping from reaching this port with a few isolated exceptions, such as the sinking of the Belorussia in 1944. As can be seen by the map below the route to Vladivostok goes right by Japan:

Japan had signed a neutrality pact with the Soviet Union in April of 1941, shortly before the German attack on that country. However, my understanding is the pact only guaranteed the land borders and said nothing about shipping. Also, nothing stopped Japan from disavowing the pact, just as Russia later did in 1945.


texts: Why does the Gregorian calendar start where it does?

texts:
The way a calendar is organized is very dependent on celestial events. A month is about the length of time the moon revolves around the earth and a year is the time the earth revolves around the sun. January 1st doesn't seem to have any sort of significance with any celestial phenomena. I would assume that a day like the spring/fall equinox or summer/winter solstice would be used as an anchor for the beginning of the year but this is not the case.

Why does January 1st not fall on the day of a celestial event such as a solstice?


texts: Did any civil resistence against the allied occupation of Japan exist?

texts:
I am looking for resistence against the allied occupation of Japan after the WWII.

What I've found:

There were soldiers, mainly on previously by Japan-occupied areas, who went into hiding after the lost of the war, and continued guerilla fight against the countries they've settled (like Hiroo Onoda). Some of them didn't even know (or didn't bother on) that the war is already over.
Yukio Mishima tried to initiate a coup d'etat against the now U.S.-friendly government in 1970. After he failed, he commited harakiri. But it happened far after the war.

Considering that

many soldiers have fighted after the Japanese capitulation in foreign countries,
and, there was at least one civilian taking bloody steps in home, but much later,

I think maybe a larger civilian resistance in Japan, just after the war should have been exist.

But I didn't find any trace of them by the (U.S.) Google.

Did they exist? At least as lonely guerilla combatants?

As far I know, the Japanese Emperor commanded the people to give up. But, I think, this commandment could have been easily challenged by saying, that the Emperor commanded it under pressure, thus it is invalid.


texts: Are there historical texts in England querying where Roman structures came from?

texts:
I watched a film recently called King Arthur, showing London post Rome (guessing set in Middle Ages with modern-ish buildings but still with some Roman buildings / walls showing.
It got me thinking: are there historical texts in England querying where these structures came from?
Post Rome I know we reverted to timber structures and lost a lot of knowledge in construction, especially road building.
It would be surely like finding a skyscraper in 1600, in that it would amaze and confuse people, or did they retain verbal knowledge passed down or via church like: "there was once a great empire that ruled this land"?
Looking at Rome itself, the Colosseum still stands so people must have retained respect for structures - I’m guessing - otherwise they would reuse the stone for other things.


texts:
When I studied art in high school my teacher mentioned that most futurists that went to war later denied the movement. I couldn't find anything relating to this in the interwebs, other than the fact that Marinetti fought and got wounded, and still preached his pro-war ideas.

What, if any, futurists that went to war actually denied the movement later?


texts: When did the modern visa system become widespread?

texts:
I was reading Malcolm X's autobiography and what surprised in the book was the fact that he was able to visit Saudi Arabia and numerous African states without obtaining a visa in advance. Nowadays this would be largely impossible as Saudi Arabia requires most visitors to apply for a visa in advance, especially for a visit to Mecca.

When did the visa system for regulating entry and exit become widespread as we know it today? E.g. until what year could an Indian/Afgani/Iranian citizen freely enter most countries in the world without pre-applying for visas?


texts: What is the earliest reference to King Arthur being raised by Sir Ector?

texts:
Thomas Malory's book "Le Morte D'Arthur" is the most famous account of King Arthur's life.  It begins with the story of how Arthur's father Uther Pendragon desired Igrayne, the wife of the Duke of Cornwall.  So he asked the wizard Merlin to make him look like the Duke of Cornwall, so he could trick Igrayne.  Merlin agreed, on the condition that the child produced from their union be given to him.  The child produced was Arthur, and Merlin gave the child to Sir Ector to raise.  Then after Uther's death, Arthur pulled a sword from a stone and thereby became king of England.

Now as I said Malory's book relates all this, but Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain", which is the earliest work mentioning the above story of Uther and Igrayne, does not mention Arthur being raised by Sir Ector or pulling out a sword from the stone.  Here is all it says:

  Uther Pendragon being dead, the nobility from several provinces assembled together at Silcestre, and proposed to Dubricius, archbishop of Legions, that he should consecrate Arthur, Uther's son, to be their king. For they were now in great straits, because, upon hearing of the king's death, the Saxons had invited over their countrymen from Germany, and, under the command of Colgrin, were attempting to exterminate the whole British race. They had also entirely subdued all that part of the island which extends from the. Humber to the sea of Cathness. Dubricius, therefore, grieving for the calamities of his country, in conjunction with the other bishops, set the crown upon Arthur's head. Arthur was then fifteen years old, but a youth of such unparalleled courage and generosity, joined with that sweetness of temper and innate goodness, as gained him universal love.

So my question is, what is the earliest reference to King Arthur being raised by Sir Ector?


texts:
So M.C. Escher created a piece of art called "Smaller & Smaller". The problem is, when you look it up, two similar but non-identical pieces of art come up:

and

The color difference isn't a big deal, since Escher is known for making copies with different colors. The problem is the other, non-color differences (look at the corners in particular).

So, why are there two of them? Are both made by M.C. Escher, or is one a fake?


texts: Participation of Jewish Red Army Soldiers in Rape/Atrocities in Germany?

texts: I recall reading but not where I read it that soldiers of Jewish extraction or actual Jews tended to avoid the excesses of the Red Army once German civilians were encountered. Is there any evidence of or explanation for this restraint?


texts: Is there evidence that Egyptian culture was originally matriachical?

texts:
I am currently reading The Origins and History of Consciousness by Erich Neumann. The book is essentially an application of recapitulation theory to the development of human consciousness, asserting that the gradual stages through which human consciousness developed anciently are re-lived by each individual as their consciousness develops from infancy to maturity, and that these stages are represented in the human psyche in symbols which are seen throughout the various mythologies of the world. The first section of the book describes the stage in which the individual consciousness struggles to break free from the influence of the unconscious. Since this stage is lived in humans while they are dependent on their mothers for sustenance, the unconscious is therefore symbolized as feminine in mythology. The book seems to imply that this feminine symbol being dominant in the earliest stages would lead early civilizations to be structured as matriarchies, and, on page 73 (of my edition), says

But with the passing of the matriarchal reign of the Egyptian Queens and the rise of the partriachal Horus, the sun-god, under the Pharaohs, Isis gradually became merged with the archetype of the Good Mother, who presided over the patriarchal family.

This seems to explicitly assert that the period of Egyptian history characterized by patriarchy and the reign of the Pharaohs (symbolizing the eventual breaking free of consciousness from unconsciousness as Horus, the son of Isis) was preceded by a phase characterized by matriarchy. However, Neumann does not provide references to support this claim historically. I tried some google searching, but all the results I found seemed to reference the anomalous presence of Queens during the age of the Pharaohs, and not any pre-Pharaohnic era. This answer also seems to imply the existence of matriarchal society in ancient times, but does not provide sources.
Is there any evidence that such a matriarchy existed at some time in Egypt or any other ancient culture?


texts: Quote on other cultures from Greek scholar

texts:
I can remember from my Greek / Latin classes that a scholar from antiquity once wrote that

  to write about another culture shows more about the writer himself than about the other culture

However, I cannot find the correct phrasing or the author of this quote. I think it might have been Herodotus but I have no source for it. Does anyone know the author, the correct phrasing and which book/work it comes from?


texts: Why would a rifleman have his bayonet fixed to the rifle in a non-combat situation?

texts:
Similar to hand-to-hand blades, I would expect bayonets to be sheathed in a non-combat situation, to avoid damaging/dulling the blade and hurting the people around.

However, it appears that (at least) Russian soldiers of the WW1/Civil War era kept their bayonets fixed to the rifle at all times, see, e.g., photos in the linked Wikipedia page (as well as many others).

While the overall length of the rifle was such that normally the bayonet was so high that it could not come into contact with anything outdoors and out of a forrest, still, why keep it fixed?


texts: What Time of Day Was Hitler's Opening Speech of the 1936 Summer Olympics?

texts:
In the movie Contact, aliens from the Vega system contact humans by retransmitting Hitler's August 1st opening speech of the 1936 Summer Olympics, popularly held to be the first radio transmission to make it into deep space.

Taking a wild guess that the broadcast was at high noon in Berlin, the sky from that city would have looked like this (via the planetarium software C2A):

I have helpfully highlighted Vega, centered in the cyan crosshairs.

As you can see, it's right on the horizon.  For reasons I won't get into, the exact altitude makes a huge difference in whether a radio signal reaching Vega is merely improbable or outright impossible, and the altitude of Vega depends on the rotation of the Earth.  Therefore, the following question:

At what time of day did Hitler make his address?


texts: Was a medical ship sunk during the evacuation from Dunkirk?

texts: In the trailer for the upcoming movie Dunkirk, a scene implies the Axis forces struck and sunk a medical ship carrying the red cross.  Can anyone tell me if this was considered unlawful engagement of war for the time and if so, was it covered in the Nuremberg trials as a formal charge?


texts: What was the official currency used in North Carolina in 1814?

texts:
I was surprised to find it stated in the Laws of North Carolina, 1814, Chapter V, Section IX that:

  a tax to the State of ten pounds shall be paid

Does this refer to British pounds? I would have assumed that by 1814 the official currency in use in the US would have been something other than the British pound.