texts:
Is there any information about who was Chief Poking Fire? He was the chief of Kahnawake reservation close to Montreal (Canada).

On all the pictures he looks like a person with European descent.
Is there any information about this person?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohawks_of_Kahnaw%C3%A1:ke
https://www.flickr.com/photos/73517217@N00/473886076/in/photostream/
https://picclick.com/POKING-FIRE-FAMILY-Caughnawaga-Indian-Reserve-Canada-361741223551.html
https://picclick.com/CAUGHNAWAGA-INDIAN-RESERVE-Chief-Poking-Fire-Native-Americans-133072336746.html


texts: How did Germany deal with the East German communist Government structure after unification?

texts: When West Germany annexed East Germany, what happened with the Government structure in the East? For example, were the police, judiciary system and executive branch in the East simply renamed, created from scratch, or merged and their members verified? If verified, how was the verification done?


texts: Did Mithraism and other Roman cults surpass the original Greco-Roman religion in popularity before the rise of Christianity?

texts:
From the death of Alexander the Great onward, the religion of the ancient Greeks steadily absorbed foreign elements creating new forms of worship and new deities. Some examples of newly worshipped deities include Serapis, Harpocrates , Mithras, Sol Invictus and so forth.

Also in this time, influential philosphical ideas started to spread such as Neoplatonism, Alatrism, Neopythagoreanism and others.

By the time of Emperor Constantine, was the worship of traditional Greco-Roman gods (Zeus, Athena, Heracles etc) by the general population as widespread as it was in pre-hellenistic times? Or had the beliefs in these old gods become out of fashion?


texts: Does Chinese history really span the past 5000 years?

texts: Chinese kids the world over are frequently taught that there is "5000 years of Chinese history". What basis is there for this claim?


texts: Were there punishments in the Roman Empire for not believing in the official religion?

texts:
In popular culture Christians were being killed in the Colosseum because they did not want to accept the Emperor as a god. An example can be the novel Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz, who won the Nobel Prize for this. The Colosseum is a Catholic sacred place, however, not because it was used to kill Christians, but because many people died there.

The Jews for example had never accepted Caesar to be a god and nothing happened. The Greeks had their own Pantheon, very similar but a little different.

How (in reality) did the Roman Empire treat people who did not want to accept Roman gods? Were they killed or punished (eg. with a fine)? Or was it just not important to anyone?

In Wikipedia an article (with a "citation needed" remark) states:

  In western Classical Antiquity, theism was the fundamental belief that supported the divine right of the state (Polis, later the Roman Empire). Historically, any person who did not believe in any deity supported by the state was fair game to accusations of atheism, a capital crime. (...). Christians in Rome were also considered subversive to the state religion and persecuted as atheists

(but maybe atheism was something worse than just believing in another religion)


texts: Is there any science behind this graph that suggests we'd be exploring new galaxies if not for the dark ages?

texts: I stumbled on this "graph". While it is clearly a dank meme, I was wondering if there was any actual science behind it: Is there anywhere a measure of scientific discovery per unit time? Do we have anywhere a scale of scientific knowledge and if so, what is it based on?


texts: What was the general idea of the 'Theme' system that the Byzantines employed?

texts: I have heard that the Theme system was effective until some disaster, but what did it actually do? What was it supposed to do?


texts:
Italian mafias are a well-known example of an ethnic-based mafia in USA but are there other examples of European mafias based in ethnicity in USA?

I'm especially interested in North European examples, e.g., a German mafia or Prussian mafia or similar.


texts:
If you had $1 when Caesar was assassinated 2063 years ago and had saved it with 2 % real interest rate you would have 1,02^2063 = 5,5 x 10^17 dollars today.

Even if it is difficult to translate the value of $1 today to some basket of goods 2000 years ago, it is pretty obvious that even that long ago, having $1 was not something unique for kings or something. A chair or a pig is still a chair or a pig and worth significantly more than $1, both then and now. There were plenty of people that could have put aside something that corresponds to today's value of $1.

Furthermore, 2 % real interest rate is quite low compared to what you paid in interest anytime (?) during this period.

Obviously, this type of saving and compound interest has not happened.

What are the causes that prevented us from being infinitely richer today than we actually are?

(Not sure if this belongs to history or money or something else, or maybe it is on topic on both? Feel free to move it to a more suitable SE-site if you think it is OT here.)


texts: Was it possible to criticize the government without repercussions at the time when the 1st amendment was adopted in the US?

texts:
The 1st amendment to the US constitution provided for very broad freedom of the speech and freedom of the press. At the same time the 18th century wasn't particularly known for tolerating dissent towards government officials and even in the US the right to vote was limited to white men who owned property.

So how did the 1st amendment work in practice in the immediate decades after it was adopted? Did newspapers openly criticize the President and members of Congress?


texts: When did the earliest documented cases of beaching of ocean-dwelling animals (fishes, whales, etc) happen?

texts:
I was looking into possible effects from toxic chemicals introduced in the industry and to what degree these may be a factor in the beaching of whales and other ocean dwelling animals.

So with this in mind, I wanted to ask when did the earliest documented cases of beaching of ocean-dwelling animals happen?

Note that I am not here looking for:

Cases where e.g. it has rained fish somewhere as in that sort of
cases (if true) the fishes where picked up from the ocean by a
tornado or something.
Cases where the species beach themselves due to a natural drive to
do so.

I am looking for cases where the fishes may have beached themselves involuntarily, such as due to perhaps some illness. Also, "documented" in this case would mean something that was referred to in a news article or a research study.


texts: Do any churches continue to display length measures?

texts:
In 864, Charles the Bald issued what is today known as the Edict of Pistres.

One of his demands was that copies of the standards of measurements (e.g.
versions of a foot) were to be displayed on the outside of churches and monasteries. This was the completion of a movement that Charlemagne started 6 decades earlier.

Often these copies were made in stone, directly as part of the buildings.
My question is if there are any of these remaining somewhere in France or Germany?


texts: Did the Japanese use native Camellia species before Camellia sinensis was introduced from China?

texts:
According to Wikipedia the first known references to tea occured in the 9th century, when Buddhist monks introduced tea, a drink made from Camellia sinensis to Japan.
The Camellia variety sinensis is not native to Japan, (or not considered so, anyways,) but there are actually other Camellia species that are native to Japan, such as japonica and sasanqua, and they can be used to make a similar tea beverage. Japonica is pretty much in the name, sasanqua is native to China and Japan.
I wonder why there seems to be no apparent evidence that these other plants were used before Camellia sinensis.
Also, something about the ancient writing systems of Jindai Moji—in reference to what is little known about ancient Japan, even though many believe the entireity of these these writing systems are more recent forgeries.


texts: What were the types of currency used in ancient Mesopotamia?

texts:
I noticed there were several types of currency mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi. Shekel, Gur, Gerah, Ka, Mina.

When you take into account that some of them could be weight measurements and could be counted in grain, silver, gold or other metals, it gets really confusing.

What were the actual currency used in their trades and what the relative value to them?

P.S.: Feel free to edit the tagging to better fit the subject. Thanks.


texts: What can these photos say about my father's service for the British in WWII?

texts: I am trying to determine what my father did in the armed forces during the second world war and have very little to go on apart from these three photos. The first one with three people was taken in Kalyan, India in August 1946 and that is the only info I have. I know he served in British forces, but I I don't know which branch. His name was Douglas Herbert Williams.


texts: How many troops did Hitler send back from the Eastern front to face the Allies' assault?

texts: After the Battle of Kursk, Hitler called back a lot of his forces to defend against the British and American invasion. My question is how much of his forces did he call back from the Eastern front?


texts: What was the death toll of non-Americans in the Vietnam War?

texts: How many Vietnamese and Cambodians were killed in the Vietnam war? How many civilians, and how many soldiers? What are the best sources on this question?


texts: What was Lenin's "New Economic Policy" and what complications did it have?

texts: I have recently read an article on Lenin's New Economic Policy, and I was wondering if there were two sides to the story. What were some of the complications of this policy? In addition to this, was it advantageous to the Russian economy or not?


texts: Is there a reason why Turkey took the Balkan territories of the Ottoman Empire, instead of Greece or another of the Balkan states?

texts:
After the Ottoman Empire collapsed, why did Turkey (i.e. its successor state) retain control of the Empire's Balkan holdings? Considering the historical origins of the Empire Turkey should have gotten its holdings in Anatolia and Asia Minor, while Istanbul and the Balkans should have been given to Greece (after all, Constantinople had been the seat of the Eastern Roman Empire for about a millennium).

Looking at the map now, Turkey literally holds what used to be the territories of the "Byzantines" (I don't like that word myself).


texts: Ancient Romans generally identified years by the names of their consuls. When was AUC, ab urbe condita, or any of its various abbreviations first used? It was very popular in the Renaissance but it may have been used in classical times (though I do not know of any cases).


texts: How much of a effect did linguistic relativism play in ancient Europe?

texts:
In linguistics we have a concept known as 'language relativism'. It's the idea that since languages change with time, and that they can share features with each other, the borders between them can be quite fuzzy, with two people who speak the same language merely having a very fuzzy border between their personal languages, with dialects merely making these borders more noticeable.

This concept sees languages like nations, defined more by agreement and consensus then by any real set of defining characteristics. It's why dialects aren't languages, since non-dialectals can still understand them, and why – even if you don't speak Japanese – you could still understand words like 'konnichiwa' or 'arigatou' in a way that feels like English.

If you want to see linguistic relativism at work: watch this video on Scots.

Any-who, let us focus on ancient Europe and the various degrees of ængles the peasants probably spoke.

In learning linguistics, we're taught how people in medieval Europe often lived in villages, and would rarely stray far from their community. Thus, people developed accents and dialects, ones much heaver then the those today (imagine if every dialect was a deep Scottish one).

Due to the relative nature of language, speakers could often speak to neighbouring communities, with nearby communities having more communication and thus more of an effect on how people spoke. This resulted in people having a linguistic circle of influence, a certain range of neighbouring tongues they could understand, with these neighbouring dialects getting heavier and heavier the further they went from there community, eventually reaching a point at which they simply couldn't understand them anymore, with these dialects having become languages from their point of view.

How would this have played into life back then? If communal languages made it so that a kingdom could contain countless communal languages, each linked in terms of who could understand who.

In my classes we learned this stuff as it's a really good example of relativism at work, but we never really explored the history it brought. Thus, I'm simply very curious as to what this would have done to medieval life.

Did armies have to deal with this variability in understanding?
Did tax collectors and town criers need to be communally picked?
How much is written about people back then using dialects to identify communal origin?


texts: Russian war reparations from Germany post WW2

texts: Is there any record of negotiations(if any), regarding war reparations from Germany to Russia following WW2, if there were reparations paid by Germany to Russia following WW2, do they have an impact on modern Europe today, as reparations did play a major part in the formation of post WW1 Europe?


texts:
I happened to notice that the flagpoles outside of EU Parliament are not ending with a spear-shaped tip (in their upper part), so I wondered why usually flagpoles resemble spears.
I suppose that anciently flags were hung at spears (or similar implements), but I haven’t been able to get any cue about that idea on English Wikipedia (or wherever, to be honest).
As showed by the subsequent discussion, the question seems to be more properly related to war flags, which are a subset of general flags or banners.


texts: My freind sent me thise picture and he is asking to which age this currency  belong


texts: What was Gen. Buford's ultimate objective at the Battle of Gettysburg?

texts: On the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, Gen. Buford and the Union cavalry were initially defending the ridges to the north and west of the town. Even after Gen. Reynolds arrived with the Union I Corps, they ultimately had to retreat through town and defend Cemetery Ridge south of town. My question is, was this Buford's plan all along? Defend the high ground closer to the enemy so you could fall back to other high ground if necessary? Or was it just a fortunate coincidence? Or maybe somewhere in between?


texts: Was it common practice in Victorian London or other Western European cities to name locations as places where fictional characters lived and acted?

texts:
When recently reading Dickens's description of Dr. Manette's residence in "A Tale of Two Cities" , I found in the notes to my edition (B&N Classics) the following: "A replica (of 'The Golden Arm') hangs above a residence in what is now Manette Street in Soho". (See also: Part of additional adjacent buildings that they also acquired in Manette Street was the site of the Old Goldbeater's House. )

So it appears that the name of that particular street in London was changed to Manette Street to commemorate Dickens's memorable Manette family of that novel. This struck me as quite unusual: Naming streets and buildings to memorialize people who actually lived is of course commonplace, but I don't recall ever hearing of a street being named after a fictitious character from a novel as an attestation that said location was the place where something fictional occurred.

Was/is this practice commonplace in England or Europe, or is London's Manette Street something exceptional: A great testimony to how beloved and believable Dickens's writings and characters were to the British.

Edit (and change of question title) in reference to the answers:

Several have mentioned clever, catchy naming schemes of places referring to fictional characters, but have no real connection to the fictional characters.  The uniqueness of Manette Street is that it's designating a real place on the map as the site of the residence of fictional characters. i.e. - By calling it "Manette Street" they were essentially saying "This is where it happened", although the story is fiction.


texts: Did the Byzantine Empire use Roman numerals?

texts:
Wikipedia says about Byzantine emperor Heraclius that he was responsible for "introducing Greek as the Eastern Empire's official language".

If so, is it right to assume that Byzantines used Roman numerals up to that point, and then after Heraclius, Greek numerals?


texts: Why did Paris name a metro station and a street after Étienne Marcel?

texts:
During the hundred year's war, Étienne Marcel did not recognize Charles V as a king and led an opposing power in Paris. Given that Charles V managed to settle his legitimacy later, how come France named a street and a metro after him, and even has a statue of him? Since he lost, I would have expected him to be considered as a betrayer.

The street was created in the second half of the 19th century, the métro opened in 1908 and the statue is from 1888. Also, there is a street Étienne Marcel in Tours. So even if he was a hero in Paris at that time, that's a lot of recognition from France, more than five hundred years after his death.


texts: Is it true that the soldiers returned from WW2 either didn't marry or kept themselves from families?

texts: Could anyone provide any supporting evidence to indicate that this may have been true? It would be especially helpful if this information could indicate whether this might have been due to mental and physical fatigue, or if it was attributable to other factors.


texts: What did US Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart study as an undergraduate?

texts:
Potter Stewart graduated as an undergraduate in 1937 from Yale University, and then served a Fellowship of one year at Cambridge University; but in what subjects did he major or specialise?

I am curious because when asked about the best writer on the Court, Justice John Paul Stevens has repeatedly distinguished and selected Justice Stewart as the best writer.


texts: Why was capturing the south of Okinawa necessary?

texts:
The Battle of Okinawa was one of the bloodiest and most difficult of WW2. But, if I understand correctly, most of the casualties were incurred during the fighting for the southern part of the island. Considering that the sole use of Okinawa for the Americans was as a base and stepping stone for the invasion of mainland Japan, why was the capture of the south necessary?
At the time of the battle the Japanese garrison had no hope of resupply so the Americans could have just captured Yontan airfield and enough territory around it to prevent artillery attacks and then let the Japanese either starve in their positions or waste themselves in hopeless attacks against a defensive line. Why did the Americans insist on an extremely difficult and, to my mind, pointless capture of the southern part of Okinawa?


texts: When did “Duck, Duck, Goose“ migrate from Sweden to America?

texts: I am curious as to when the game “Duck, Duck, Goose” moved from Sweden to America.  Many of my friends whose parents are 65-80 years old never played the game and only heard of it because their children, us, played it.  We are all 40-50 years old.  Curious if any certain immigration from Sweden to Minnesota happened in the late 70s that may have influenced the migration of the game throughout the USA?


texts: Who was the first American born citizen to become President?

texts:
Who was the first American born citizen to become President of the United States of America, we had this question recently in a pub quiz, the answer was George Washington, but several people said that as he was born in Virginia at the time of British occupation he could not be classed as American.
I would be glad if you could give the correct answer as to save further disagreements.

john


texts: Did the apartheid South Africa leaders seriously plan to make the bantustans be independent countries?

texts: Did the apartheid South Africa leaders seriously plan to make the Bantustans be independent countries (like Lesotho and Swaziland)? If yes, why did they assign such disjoint territories to each of them, so that it would not be a viable country anyway?


texts: What was the average age of first marriage in 18th century Russia?

texts:
I found the following claim on Wikipedia (Women in Russia) and I wonder if it is true:

  Early in the eighteenth-century, the average age for peasant girls to marry was around twelve years old.

In addition, if you know more about the history of the average age of brides in Russia, please share the data. Sources are appreciated.


texts: Did the Founding Fathers of the USA really make a distinction between a Republic and a Democracy (and despised the latter)?

texts:
I've come across this video that makes a distinction between a Democracy (rule of majority) vs Republic (rule of law). It contests that a Republic is a state that is designed to protect the rights of the people, whereas Democracy can't make such guarantees because a law under Democracy can be easily modified by majority voting. Therefore a Democracy has a tendency to degenerate over time into anarchy or tyranny.
In the video they provide some quotes to support the case that the founding fathers knew about this distinction and despised Democracy. Thus the word "Democracy" is not present in the US constitution.

If the USA really was meant to be a Republic, then can someone provide the moment at which Democracy became celebrated as something very desirable in the US culture?
Based on that video it is evident to me that there was a shift of perception of "Democracy" in the USA from a "primitive form of government that does a very poor job at protecting people's liberties and always ends badly" towards "the most superior form of government ever - and the only one which guarantees freedom". I'm interested in how and when did that shift of perception take place.


texts: What would be accurate illustrations of vikings and viking culture?

texts: Vikings didn't have horned helmets as is often depicted. Where can I find accurate representations how vikings and viking society looked?


texts: Did freed slaves keep a portrait of Abraham Lincoln on the wall?

texts: I read somewhere that post-civil war, many freed slaves kept a portrait/drawing of Abraham Lincoln in their house, and that this "tradition" went on for some time. Is this true, and can anyone share a source?


texts: How did India become a founding member of the UN?

texts:
I was looking at the list of founding members of the United Nations, and I was surprised to see that India is in that list.

India was a part of the British Empire in 1945 and became independent only in 1947.

So how did it become a founding member of the UN? Who represented India at the United Nations Conference on International Organization? Who signed the Charter, and how did the Indian Government ratify this charter?


texts: Why did the Mayflower leave so late in the year?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, the Mayflower began its voyage in July of 1620, was delayed while waiting for the Speedwell, and then ultimately left for America in September.

This put them in America at the beginning of November and left the Pilgrims very vulnerable to the winter conditions in America without adequate shelter and supplies.

I understand that the delay caused by the Speedwell could not have been foreseen but even counting that, why plan to leave mid-late Summer and not in the Spring, so that they would arrive under better conditions?


texts: Were aerial dogfights during WW2 and WW1 typically very one-sided?

texts: I am wondering whether most dogfights ended decisively and if so, whether many relatively inexperienced pilots knew they were probably going to die or at least have to eject from their planes. Or was it possible for even a new fighter pilot to at least have a chance of running away rather than engaging either a better pilot or a numerically superior group of planes?


texts: Is there a WW2 European bomb damage atlas?

texts:
For London there is a comprehensive and accessible (and readily available) atlas of damage done during the Second World War by German aerial bombing.

Are there similar atlases available for Europe, especially for Germany or key cities in Germany? I know both the US (through the Strategic Bombing Survey) and Britain (through the British Bombing Survey Unit) conducted surveys of bomb damage after the war, but can't find a presentation of these that is accessible in the same way the London survey is.
Is there a WW2 European bomb damage atlas (or atlases) available, similar to the The London County Council Bomb Damage Maps?


texts:
Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia. Its name means "New Flower" in Amharic (አዲስ አበባ), and the tale of how it got its name is told thus:

The location of Addis Ababa was chosen by the Empress Taytu Betul, and the city was founded by the Emperor Menelik II in 1886.
In 1886, while Empress Taytu Betul admired the landscape, she saw a flower of remarkable beauty.  She fell in love, and asker her husband Emperor Menelik II, to build her a house in the area. She named it “Addis Ababa”, and the rest is 130-year-old history.

So my question is: what was the flower of Empress Taytu that she saw there and named the city after?


texts: What was the earliest known written constitution?

texts:
I was reading Wikipedia today, specifically the Constitution of Medina article and it states:

  This was the first written constitution in the history of the world.

With two book references (that I'm unable to access, unfortunately). This seemed a tad late to me (622 CE), so I found the History of Democracy article and the Constitution article, which lists several constitutions prior to this, written and unwritten.

I found this surprising, and was wondering if there is major dispute about which came first and which is considered by historians to have been the first?


texts: Before Liberty Ships became widely available, what kind of cargo ships supplied Britain?

texts:
I would like to know what kind of cargo ships supplied Britain during the early years of WW2, before Liberty Ships became available in huge numbers. The approximate timeframe I'm interested in is 1939 to 1941.

What kind of cargo ships supplied Britain during this time? How much cargo did they carry? How fast were they? How many people crewed each one?


texts: What sort of architecture existed in Catholic Eastern Europe around the late 1100's and very early 1200's?

texts:
What I'm really interested in most is building materials, but I'm pretty open to answers. Essentially, it sounds like the late 1100's in Eastern Europe were still pretty solidly Romanesque, with Gothic architecture originating in France and still not having become vogue in Eastern Europe.

What are the sorts of ways that people would build castles at this time, and how large did they tend to be? Did they tend to also build stone walls enclosing towns, or leave them open? What would a basic living space look like?


texts: Are there any important biographies of nobodies?

texts:
Biographies usually cover interesting people who said and did notable things. I'm curious about lives notable just for their contexts: the stories of unremarkable people in historically remarkable circumstances. Have any major works been written about nobodies that had unusual lives?

By unremarkable and nobody I mean people who attracted historiographical study solely because of their lived experiences. To identify them we need to exclude not just works about leaders (Theodore Rex) and those written by commissioned biographers (The Joseph Majors story), but also works of anthropology in which individuals proxy for their social group (The Children of Sánchez), works predicated on access to a single unusual source (Montaillou), works addressing events after the subject's death (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks), and autobiographies, whose success establishes the author as a remarkable person (The Diary of a Young Girl).

Are there any well-known books about nobodies? Ishi in Two Worlds may be an example, but not having read it, I don't know whether Ishi's performative cultural testimony was central to the story.


texts: What was the range of medieval bombards?

texts: We know the weights of various medieval bombards and the weight of the stones they launched (such as the famous Mons Meg or Dardanelles gun). But I can't find any information about their range or how much gunpowder they required. I presume the powder was less efficient than the corned gunpowder used in the age of sail, so for the same weight shot did a bombard use more powder for the same kind of range, or was the range much less?


texts: Did ancient Greeks harden steel weapons?

texts:
Let's limit this question to the Classical period (c. 5th-4th centuries BC)

Did Greeks harden their iron swords, spearheads, arrowheads etc. before putting them into use? Was hardening technology known for Greeks at all?

I do not know of which characteristics and quality was the steel produced for weapons and whether it was of any use for such weapons to be hardened. Probably hardening wasn't used for weapons but for other metal items.


texts: Who suppressed the Book of Jubilees and why?

texts:
Wikipedia says the Book of Jubilees was suppressed in 4th century CE:

  The Book of Jubilees (Hebrew: ספר היובלים Sepher hayYobelim),
  sometimes called Lesser Genesis (Leptogenesis), is an ancient Jewish
  religious work of 50 chapters, considered one of the pseudepigrapha by
  Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Orthodox Churches.1 Jubilees
  is considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as
  Jews in Ethiopia, where it is known as the Book of Division (Ge'ez:
  Mets'hafe Kufale).

  It was well known to Early Christians, as evidenced by the writings of
  Epiphanius, Justin Martyr, Origen, Diodorus of Tarsus, Isidore of
  Alexandria, Isidore of Seville, Eutychius of Alexandria, John Malalas,
  George Syncellus, and George Kedrenos. It was so thoroughly suppressed
  in the 4th century that no complete Hebrew, Greek or Latin version has
  survived. There is conjecture among western biblical scholars that
  Jubilees may be a rework of material found in the canonical books of
  Genesis and Exodus.

My question is:

Do we know who suppressed this book and why?

And how do we know it was intentionally suppressed as opposed to getting lost like so much ancient literature?


texts: Was there any time in non-recent history where it was fashionable to wear ripped clothes?

texts: For around past 30 years it's popular to wear ripped jeans. Was there anything similar in history, when ripped or otherwise heavily worn clothes were popular and considered fashionable?


texts: The region of Viceroy Toledo's Reductions (Reducciones)?

texts:
I'm trying to find the geographic boundaries for the native resettlement implemented by Toledo, Viceroy of Peru, as a part of his Toledo reforms. This resettlement is distinct from the later Jesuit reductions. However, I can't find any information on the geographic boundaries. Or more detailed information about the specifics of this reform.

Any help would be appreciated.


texts: Who were the four US Federal Deputy Marshals escorting Ruby Bridges?

texts:
Four US Marshalls escorted Ruby Bridges into a Louisiana school, ending the New Orleans school desegregation crisis.

One of the Marshals was Charles Burks but who were the other three?


texts:
Has there ever been a situation where the "motherland" treated its colonies well anywhere in the world?

So being born in a former French protectorate, I've been taught about the horrendous treatment of the French on my country and the other two Indochinese ones. Learning world history also tells me that most powers back then just exploited the crap out of their colonies. No wonder people wanted to revolt against them and gain independence.

I'm not really history-savvy, so I just wonder what would have happened if a power (is this what you call them, powers?) treated their colonized people well, got them educated, provided them the same treatment as they do with their citizens. I know that's a very thin stretch, because of racism and chauvinism and all, and that is far from the core ideology of colonialism, but I have heard of stories about Hong Kong, which apparently has become miserable since they were "returned" to the PRC, as opposed to when they were under British rule. Are there any other notable examples?


texts: Did Soviet Union have the requirement that people submit yearly tax returns?

texts:
My understanding of Soviet Union is that private enterprise was not allowed and that everyone essentially 'worked for the government'.

With this in mind, was there still an expectation that people submit yearly tax returns like in western countries?


texts: Were the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary?

texts:
The United States bombed Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Before the Japanese could surrender, they bombed Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. The two bombs killed over 200,000 people, most of them  civilians.

Some argue they were necessary to prevent further bloodshed. According to them, the Japanese wouldn't surrender otherwise. Thus, the bombings actually saved lives.

An alternative explanation is that the United States wanted to show they had nuclear bombs (to the Soviet Union). By then Germany and Italy had already surrendered, and the Japanese was pushed back to their islands. Possibly a simple naval blockade would have starved them off and forced their surrender.

Which one is the "correct" explanation? ie: were the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki necessary to end the war?


texts: What was entering Grand Central Station like in 1943, especially interior?

texts: I'd like a description of entering Grand Central Station and interior circa 1943, or at least information about what it looked like and/or what the experience would be like.


texts: How did passengers keep warm on sail ships?

texts:
Trans-Atlantic passenger travel was not very popular until the advent of the steamer, and yet men and women crossed the ocean periodically, including the affluent.

From what I've been able to gather, a fireplace, or even a stove, was unthinkable outside the galley. Sailors may have been used to it, but what about folks who paid good money for the trip and expected it to be somewhat comfortable? Did they just use a lot of blankets in their cabins?


texts: When did Canada get the rights reserved by the 1867 British North America Act?

texts:
After becoming a country in 1867, Canada was not entirely independent. Britain retained 3 important powers: control of Canada’s defense, control of Canada’s foreign relations, and the requirement to send all laws passed by Canada’s Parliament to Britain for Royal Assent before they became actual laws.
Why Britain did this?
When and how Canada got these powers back?
Also explain how Royal Assent works, and why Canada was the only former British Colony to have this requirement to pass its own laws.
Supported link will be appreciated.


texts:
Wikipedia page for Arthashastra states that three manuscripts have been recovered in the modern era for Kautilya's Arthashastra. One in 1905 which was identified by R. Shamasastry, and the other two were Malayalam manuscript from Bavarian State Library and another was from 1950s from Gujarat in Devanagari Script.

Have these manuscripts been carbon dated? Which one of these is the oldest?

Regarding the first manuscript, I found a source which says that it is 450 years old. I haven't found any sources which tell the dates of origin of the other two manuscripts.


texts: Is there a Soviet equivalent to foundational Cold War documents such as the Long Telegram and NSC-68?

texts:
During the early days of the Cold War, the United States produced key documents like Kennan's Long Telegram and NSC-68 to recognize the existence of the new conflict, understand the Soviet strategy and worldview, and develop its own strategies for approaching the conflict.

Are there any equivalent post-WW2 documents on the Soviet side? Or did the Soviets view the Cold War merely as a continuation of a prewar struggle to establish and expand Communism?


texts: What was the Hospitaller gonfalon like in the 12th and 13th centuries?

texts:
The Templar Order had a gonfalon (a military standard of a specific type) of black and white called the beauseant (I have come to prefer the spelling most common in the book I first took it from though it's not a great historical source, namely, Walter Scott's 'Ivanhoe'). The Wikipedia link describes the Templar banner as:

  Baucent (bauceant, baussant, etc.) was the name of the war flag (vexillum belli) used by the Knights Templar in the 12th and 13th centuries. 13th-century sources show it as a white gonfanon with a black chief (argent a chief sable).1 Jacques de Vitry, writing in the 1220s, mentions the gonfanon baucent and explains that the black and white colours symbolise the Templar's ferocity towards their enemies and their kindness towards their friends.

The name of the war-flag also came to be a battle-cry (though, traditionally, it's been my understanding that 'Deus Vult!' was the main battle-cry of the Templars though this information was gained from Jan Guillou's Crusader trilogy).

I came to wonder, as the Knights Hospitaller were quite similar after they turned into military orders (elder military monastic order, both extensive landholders in the Outremer, both popular with European gentility),  -- how did the Knights Hospitallers' gonfalon look and did it also had a distinctive name? If they did, was this name also used as a battle-cry?

Edit: I just wanted to say that simple searches I have conducted have mostly brought up the fact that Templars were forbidden to flee the field of battle if a Hospitaller gonfalon was standing, which does indicate that the Hospitallers had one:

  And if he sees there is nothing else for it, he should make for the nearest gonfalon of the Hospitallers, or some other Christians if there are any.

This still leaves the question of what this gonfalon looked like up in the air, however.


texts: What happened in 1914 that ended the golden age of microbiology?

texts:
I was reading a microbiology textbook and all it said was "The work that began with Pasteur started an explosion of discoveries in microbiology. The period from 1857 to 1914 has been
appropriately named the Golden Age of Microbiology." I know that World War 1 began, but it doesn't go into detail to why the Golden Age actually stopped at 1914.


texts: WW1 tunneling - bypassing the front line?

texts:
During the first world war both sides engaged in tunnel warfare, the primary purpose of which (as far as I can tell) was to place large amounts of explosives under enemy lines and then detonate them immediately prior to ground attack.

Was there ever any attempt to use a tunnel to bypass the front line to get soldiers directly behind enemy lines?

My understanding is that in a conventional attack, by the time any of the attacking soldiers reached the enemy front line, they were likely to be wounded, shell shocked, possibly alone, separated from his unit, low on ammunition and likely to be seriously demoralised! and that was before they'd actually got to engage the enemy themselves!

With so much tunneling going on (Wikipedia quotes 2km of tunnel for every 1km of front line) couldn't a tunnel be dug that could surface at or behind the enemy front line and allow groups of fresh, uninjured, well rested soldiers still in battle formation to quickly deploy having bypassed the majority of the barbed wire, trenches and machine guns?

Update - Here's the wiki item on tunnel warfare. For clarification - I'm not suggesting a major attack exclusively via a tunnel, I'm assuming it would play a supporting role in more conventional attack. A few hundred soldiers appearing behind enemy lines 10 minutes before you go the top has give you some advantage doesn't it?

Also please note, the main thread of this question is "did it happen?" so far most of the comments, although interesting, are just listing reasons why it probably didn't.

UPDATE following further research. Apparently there were too main types of tunnels, 'fighting tunnels' small, narrow tunnels dug silently under enemy lines for the planting of mines, and 'subways' larger, wider and longer tunnels used to get troops discretely and safely up to the front line. The subways could be a mile or two long and would be used to bring large number of troops to the front line trench immediately prior to an attack. I guess that these 'subway' tunnels were only really practical behind the lines because they could be dug without having to worry about being disturbed, and regular ventilation shafts could be sunk without giving the position away.


texts: When and how did Thailand cease to be Siam and become the modern Thailand?

texts: Looking at the Area 51 commitment page, I realized that some of the questions that were originally suggested there never got asked here, so I thought I'd add some of them. To expand on this question, was this transition a result of some military action, political influence, or external influences from other countires?


texts:
I have recently been reading about the 1688 English Revolution, which put William and Mary on the throne, more specifically about William and Mary's roles in deposing her father.
At least one book states that William, Mary, and her sister Anne were declared "Children of State". This is not a term I have met before. I can understand it somewhat in William's case: his father was dead, his mother a foreign princess who could not possibly be trusted with his upbringing. But - Mary and Anne were Charles II's nieces, both presumptive heiresses in line. As such, their futures - marriages particularly - would naturally have been at the will of the king. So what difference did being "Children of State" make?
Note: Wikipedia has nothing, merely redirecting to Ward of Court, quite a different status.
Edited to quote sources

"...the Dowager Princess Amalia von Solms-Braunfels, widow of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange... tried to obtain custody of her grandson, partly as a family duty towards the state, and partly as she sensed her daughter-in-law had little maternal love for the boy. The anti-Orangists, led by Johan de Witt, considered him as a Child of the State, and maintained he should be brought up as a Calvinist and a servant of the Republic." William and Mary" by John van der Kiste 2011
"Each (William and Mary ) was what was then known as ‘a child of state’, whose family life and domestic contentment depended exclusively on plans made by others as to whom they should marry." (and passim) William III and Mary II Jonathan Keates 2015

emphases mine


texts:
I am confused by the size of a current US quarter. It is not a major problem, but it is baffling.

It is smaller than a shilling, yet 5 shillings make a crown and 4 quarters make a dollar —crowns were originally re-minted thallers/dollars/pesos de a ocho, so are all the same size (a Morgan dollar is 26.73 grams, a Maria Theresa thaller is 28 g and a crown is 28.27 grams etc).
A pre-1920 shilling (0.9) is 5.66 grams, while a silver quarter is 6.25 grams, so the latter ought to be bigger if both at 0.90-0.95 purity. I got these numbers off the web and the ratio is off for the dollars/quarter using both trade and Morgan dollars over a quarter, so a fourth of a US Trade dollar should be 6.8 grams.
I have never seen a silver US quarter, but the modern cupronickel one is not 20% larger than a shilling/old 5p coin, instead it is smaller and thinner. On the other hand, I cannot find any reference that states US quarters shrunk in size.


texts: How much protection did Fort Warren afford Boston?

texts:
Fort Warren (constructed 1833–1861) was built on Georges Island in Boston Harbor, by my understanding to guard what was then the main channel into Boston, marked "Main Shipping Channel" on this chart.
How much protection from an attack by sea did the fort afford? Did Boston still need to worry about an attack via other channels?


texts: Did hanging tyres from Mostar's bridge help at all to protect it?

texts:
At various points (e.g. 00:14) in this BBC documentary on Mostar's Stari Most (Old Bridge) you can see dozens of car tyres hanging from the bridge prior to its destruction  in the Croat-Bosniak conflict.

Histories of Mostar's role in that conflict mention the tyres (and mattresses) which were employed "in vain" by its defenders to protect its weakest points from the shelling. It seems the bridge withstood several hits by artillery so perhaps the tyres did help a little.

Were the tyres some use in protecting the structure from shelling?


texts: Which was the first war in which photography was employed?

texts: Undoubtedly photography has greatly changed public perception of war; but there is no clear point in which photography began to be used—whether for documenting war or anything else. So I’m left wondering, in which war was photography first used to document?


texts: Why did only Anglo-Saxon kings wear helmets?

texts:
According to this article on the BBC news website only Anglo-Saxon kings wore helmets. Here is the full quote:

  "Only Anglo-Saxon kings wore helmets and this is one of a very small number ever to be found."

The BBC attribute the quote to a Dr Ellen McAdam from the Birmingham trust.

Do we have any understanding of the cultural reasons that led to a universal abandonment of head protection?


texts: What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?

texts:
One of the common reasons given for the Renaissance and the subsequent scientific revolution is the rediscovery of classical works by scholars in Europe and the social change that the study of those works brought.

However the Byzantine Empire and the Islamic world at that time also had access to the Ancient Greek and Roman works. In fact, there were several Islamic scientists during the early Middle ages who made important discoveries.

What are the major reasons then that the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution happened in Europe but not in the other two regions.

In fact, why didn't such a change happen in the Ancient World itself? Was it the establishment of universities that happened in large part in Europe that was responsible for this change?


texts: Was Fascism tied to any Specific Ideology Before Nazism and Italy's Fascist Party?

texts:
The word Fascism drives from Fasces, a bundle of sticks used to represent strength thorough unity. This has been used throughout history in many governments, worker's cooperatives, and unions.

But today Fascist ideology is just Nazi ideology, they are synonyms. Before Fascism became just another word for Nazism, did it have any particular ideology? Or was it just the generic idea of unity thorough strength (explaining why everyone and their grandmother seemed to put Fasces on their flags, logos, and architecture)?

And how did Fascism become synonymous with Nazism? Did Nazi Germany use any more Fasces then worker unions or the American Government?


texts:
I am now reading the book Decadent Societies by R.M. Adams and on pp.66-7 he writes:

  Quesnay's ideas, which fell on stony ground in France, showed their
  basic vitality when picked up by Adam Smith for incorporation in The
  Wealth of Nations and then put into practice by William Pitt the
  younger. But in France they remained the deadest of dead letters.

What is he talking about? I am more interested in the second allusion - did Pitt institute any reforms based on Quesnay's ideas?


texts:
He violently persecuted genetics. Why?

Here is one notable example:

  Vavilov repeatedly criticised the non-Mendelian concepts of Trofim
  Lysenko, who won the support of Joseph Stalin. As a result, Vavilov
  was arrested on August 6, 1940, while on an expedition to Ukraine. He
  was sentenced to death in July 1941, which was commuted to twenty
  years' imprisonment in 1942; he died in prison in 1943.

EDIT: Let's see, wikipedia has a category Russian geneticists with 9 names. Out of them 3 were born in the 1940s or 1950s, one lived his whole life in the USA and another one worked in Nazi Germany. What about the 4 others? Let's see:

Chetverikov: "dismissed from his post at the behest of Lysenko in 1948".
Efroimson: "Efroimson was stripped from his degree", " In 1949 Efroimson was sentenced for his Libel against the Red Army to seven years in Gulag".
Koltsov: "In 1937 and 1939, the supporters of Trofim Lysenko published a series of propaganda articles against Nikolai Koltsov and Nikolai Vavilov.", "His death in 1940 was claimed to have been due to a stroke. EDIT: According to some rumours, he was actually poisoned by the NKVD. (See the comment by Anixx).
Vavilov: We know already what happened to him.


texts: Why were helmets and other body armour not commonplace in the 1800s?

texts:
Before the widespread use of firearms, various kinds of plate armour were in widespread use.  As muskets (and later, rifles) became widespread, full plate became less effective and fell out of use.

However, mortars and (later) cannon did exist, firing exploding shells.  Unit formations would be changed depending on whether the enemy had artillery or not, because a tightly-packed formation would suffer greater casualties from a well-placed shell.  Shrapnel was very much a feature of battles (named after Henry Shrapnel, of course).

With this in mind, why was body armour so rarely used?  Even the most basic armour would have reduced casualties.  More curiously still, effective steel helmets were replaced with caps or leather helmets such as shakos which are more decorative than protective.  Steel was still relatively expensive, but not unreasonably so, and wrought iron plate was in mass production.

At the outbreak of WWI, the high number of casualties with head wounds led to swift adoption of helmets such as the Adrian helmet.  Other body armour was tried as well, with varying degrees of success, but helmets were a clear win.  The only innovative aspect of WWI helmets was that they were pressed from a single steel sheet which made them cheaper to manufacture.  As far as their basic design went, they were functionally indistinguishable from helmets of the Middle Ages.

Failing to equip your troops to keep them alive could perhaps be understood if combat effectiveness was allowed to degrade during peacetime.  However in a period covering the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil War, and the maintenance of empires around the globe by the various European powers, this clearly is not the case.

Why did it take 100+ years for the value of effective helmets and body armour to be recognised?  And how could the combined militaries of the world forget that it existed for 100+ years?

Updated following comment by Steve Bird: I've seen this question already, and I don't think it answers my question.  As answers to that question say, the issue with shields is that using them effectively takes serious training.  The same applies for fighting in full plate armour too - whilst I'm not a HEMA player, I'm sure it takes some practise to ignore sword strikes to your extremities and trust in your armour.  This is not the case for helmets and light breastplates though - they're simple to put on, they give decent passive protection, and apart from getting used to the weight they don't affect anything else.

Also on another comment by Steve Bird, the scope may seem to be wide, but in fact it applies through the entire 19th century.  Whilst the guns available are radically different, from muskets and smooth-bore cannons at the start of the century to recognisably modern rifles and artillery at the end of the century, the uniforms worn by soldiers were unchanged throughout.  Headgear in particular is clearly a fashion statement and is not designed for personal protection.  I'm curious why that's the case when keeping yourself alive would seem to be more of a priority - and even if keeping your troops alive is not your top priority, why anyone would start outfitting them with shakos or pith helmets (which do cost money) instead of a simple helmet.


texts: Could Polish people who didn't live in Poland get Polish citizenship after Poland's revival in 1918?

texts:
Before and during WWI, people of Polish origin held either Russian, Austrian or German passports. I am pretty sure none of the official documents mentioned ethnicity at all, the system of separate citizenship and "nationality" (aka ethnicity) implemented by the Soviet Union.

After the revival of Poland, it became clear that those living on the territory of newborn Poland would get Polish citizenship. However, could Poles that lived outside of Poland (and outside of the former partitioner's country) replace their Russian, Austrian or German citizenship by Polish citizenship ?

If so, how hard was such an administrative procedure from a foreign country ?

Would Polish citizenship replace, or add itself to the former citizenship ?


texts: How does finding a Franklin ship change what we know about the expedition?

texts:
An expedition to find the Franklin ships has found one.

  At this point, the searchers aren't sure if they've found HMS Erebus or HMS Terror. But sonar images from the waters of Victoria Strait, just off King William Island, clearly show wreckage of a ship on the ocean floor.

What does this change? What outstanding questions are likely to be answered as a result of the discovery?


texts: What influenced the Supreme Court to overrule precedent in Afroyim v. Rusk?

texts:
In Afroyim v. Rusk the Supreme Court ruled that US citizens may not be deprived of their citizenship voluntarily.
A previous precedent (Perez v. Brownell) had made the possibility of possessing dual nationality very limited, and created a number of ways in which someone could be automatically and de-facto involuntarily expatriated.

What caused the Supreme Court's total change of heart? What was going on historically that influenced the court to change their mind? Perhaps some kind of theme in allowing multiple allegiances historically, etc due to international developments?


texts: Were there Early Modern precursors to eugenics?

texts:
Eugenics, which I'll define here as the selective breeding, sterilization, and biological engineering of humans with political or utopian aims, was a major historical force between the Late Victorian era and the end of WWII.

My question pertains to the Early Modern period. The Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment were a high point for scientific optimism, ambitious political philosophy, the expansion of state power, utopian writing, and a  belief in the perfectibility of humankind. It also saw major developments in the social sciences and medicine, and much theorizing about the causal processes involved in heredity and biological life.

Were there any Early Modern precursors to eugenics, in Europe, as defined above?

I'm interested from the vantage of intellectual history, in terms of social engineering, class, and disability as opposed to a focus on the development of ideas about race.


texts: When was Nazi paramilitary organisation Waffen-SS liquidated in the legal sense?

texts:
Armed forces of Third Reich consisted of two groups: proper public/national army "Wehrmacht" and private paramilitary organization "Waffen-SS" which was an armed branch of SS (Schutzstaffel, "protection squadron"). Waffen-SS was considered to be elite forces, it was well funded and had the best military technology at its disposal. When military surrender act was signed in 1945 it was only about Wehrmacht and not Waffen-SS. In 1947 during Nuremberg Trials (military tribunals held by the Allied forces under international law) SS (and so, Waffen-SS) was declared "criminal" organisation. But was it in any way legally liquidated by some German court or other German institution?

I'm asking because many things were made in some informal or legally complex ways those days. For example, in a fully legal sense state of war with Germany for many countries was ended between 1951-1955 and not in 1945. And Germany regained full sovereignity in 1991.

UPDATE:

I was able to find that the Military Government in United States Zone issued Law No. 52 declaring all properties of SS to be "subject to seizure of possession of title, direction, management, supervision, or otherwise". Then, there was General Order No. 1 which states that Military Law No. 52 shall apply up to the date of "dissolution, abrogation or suspension" of the SS. It means that it didn't liquidate the SS.

In the comments, @kimchilover, pointed to the Berlin Declaration, but it only orders weapons and equipment disarming (art 2 par. a) and declares personnel to be prisoners of war (art 2 par b). There is nothing about legal termination of SS or its agencies.


texts: Differences among foraging, cultivation, domestication

texts:
I am currently researching the transition from hunter-gathering bands to agricultural communities.  I am coming across the word cultivation a lot.  It's getting confusing, because sometimes the word cultivation seems to mean "gathering wild plants", like foraging.  At other times it seems to mean "managing and controlling plant growth", like agriculture.

Dictionaries and encyclopedias aren't helpful, giving an overly broad discussion. I am beginning to wonder if cultivation is a term of art in this context.  Was it a transitional phase?  If so, that was a pretty big deal!  Where is the line between foraging and cultivation?  How about the line between cultivation and domestication?


texts: Did James I link the divine right of kings to apostolic succession in his writings? If so, where?

texts:
According to a Wikipedia article, King James VI of Scotland (later King James I of England) justified the theory of the divine right of kings in his famous essay The True Law of Free Monarchies by linking said right to the idea of apostolic succession; and, although I can't seem to track down a source, I believe I've heard this claim repeated elsewhere. However, I'm unable to find any passage in that essay where King James mentions apostolic succession, never mind linking it to the idea of absolute monarchy.
Apostolic succession, as I understand the term, is the idea that Christ appointed the apostles to continue his work after his earthly life was over, and that the apostles then transmitted this authority - through the laying on of hands and calling down the Holy Spirit - to the first bishops, who then transmitted it in like fashion to the next generation of bishops, and so on until the present day. While I've not read every word of it, I have skimmed through this version of The True Law of Free Monarchies. I found a great deal of discussion of kingship in the Bible, including, interestingly, Samuel's famous arguments against monarchical government (1 Samuel 8). I also found an intriguing argument in favour of the primacy of the monarchy - rather than Parliament or a code of laws - in Scotland, based on the fact that the monarchy existed before Parliament or the law, and brought both into being, rather than vice versa. However, I didn't find any mention of apostolic succession.
Several good sources state that King James once remarked: 'No bishop, no king.' However, this is hardly an explicit and fleshed-out linkage between apostolic succession and divine right. Is there something in The True Law of Free Monarchies that I've missed? Did King James link these two ideas in one of his other writings? Or is the claim in the Wikipedia article just wrong?


texts: What was the first army to have a radio operator in combat units?

texts: What was the first army that had a radio operator in combat units? By radio operator I mean someone who carried radio frequency communication equipment into combat and used it for communications purposes.


texts: How did Gothic differ from Baroque architecture?

texts:
Source: Art Theory For Beginners, p. 29 Bottom.

  Gothic architecture is all big cathedrals, with pointed arches, and flying
  buttresses, supporting intricate sculptures and beautiful decoration. Based
  on sophisticated engineering, the building's skeleton could house huge
  stained glass windows. Abbot Suger 1081—1155 described in detail the
  improvements he made to the French cathedral of St. Denis (one of the first
  Gothic cathedrals). He stuffed his building full of precious materials and
  artworks, symbolising "divine radiance," and thought that the new stained
  glass windows reflected the "light of God." In painting and sculpture a very
  elegant, colorful, and decorative, religious art developed at the end of this
  period, which is known as International Gothic.

Doesn't the first sentence overhead fit Baroque Architecture? I also read this.


texts: Are there primary source to learn about trade in Southeast Asia circa 1450-1750?

texts:
I was wondering if anyone knew any primary sources that will help me learn more about trade in Southeast Asia from 1450-1750. Years are a bit flexible.

I only have two in mind

The Suma Oriental by Tome Pires
Selections from Le Quy Don's Descriptions of the South in the 1770s

If you know any please give me the link and name of the source

Thank you very much for your help.


texts: Was simply addressing the English monarch wrongly ever a punishable crime?

texts:
When addressing the Queen today, the correct form is "your/her Majesty" and for example not "your Royal Highness", or certainly not just "hey Lizzie".

As far as I, understand failure to use the correct form of address today would lead to a number of raised eyebrows and maybe distant snickering for not knowing your way around proper protocol.

But previously things like Lèse-majesté were prosecuted sometimes for different levels of insulting the monarch. Whether in writing, public speech or private talk.

Most of the time things had to get really crass (examples here would lead to distractions) to result in any legal action and from 1715 to 2010 these laws and their enforcement were slowly peeled back, sometimes now covered by other laws like those pertaining to public order.

What I cannot find a source based answer for is:
Was there ever a law interpreted in that way and enforced that made a form of more or less 'clearly' seen as disrespectful form of address at that time to the monarch punishable?

To clarify:
This is not about

  Kill that bastardly heretic!

but more like something between

  Hey, Lizzie!

Or even more subtle, but perhaps too specific, insisting on calling "his Majesty" just "your Royal Highness", after being told that this is deemed "incorrect" ('now', at that time readily interpretable as perhaps questioning his right to the throne simply by way of address). As the "correct form" has changed over time, this is not about the "correct form", whatever that may have been at the time of an incident, but just about failing to use that proscribed form.

One high time of quite strict laws surrounding "speech related to the monarch" seems to be found in the following age and customs:

  The Elizabethan regime also used proclamations to respond to the threat of sedition. A proclamation of 1570, following the Northern Rebellion, required those seeking pardon to report anyone involved in ‘seditious matters’, including any who ‘speak any slanderous words of the queen’s majesty or of any of her councillors’. In 1576, responding to ‘certain infamous libels full of malice and falsehood… tending to sedition and dishonourable interpretations of her majesty’s godly actions and purposes’, the government sought to suppress these ‘villainous, treasonable, and seditious attempts’. A similar proclamation in 1601 addressed ‘traitorous and slanderous libels … stirring up rebellion and sedition’.
  New legislation in 1581 criminalized the seditious words of ‘light and evil-disposed persons’ and others ‘evil-affected towards her highness’ who disturbed ‘the common tranquillity’ of the realm. The new law imposed harsher sanctions against speakers of ‘false, seditious and slanderous news, rumours, sayings or tales against our most natural sovereign lady the queen’s majesty’. Those found guilty of speaking ‘seditious words and rumours’ faced a spell in the pillory and the loss of both ears, a fine of £200, plus up to six months in prison. Simply to repeat or report such words risked similar punishment. The law also criminalized any casting of the queen’s nativity, calculation of her life span, or speculation about who might succeed her on the throne, threatening offenders with the ‘pains of death’. The medieval treason law continued to apply, buttressed by Tudor provisions.

David Cressy: "Dangerous Talk: Scandalous, Seditious, and Treasonable Speech in Pre-Modern England", Oxford University Press: Oxford, New York, 2010. (fazebook summary by the author, read the book if possible)


texts:
How objective are books like "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind"? How are they "proven"?

How can one assess the objectivity of historical literature?

Why is it still not subjective, if not even personally biased?


texts: Were there any war movies made during WW2 that were well regarded by front-line American soldiers?

texts:
I've read in a few places that American soldiers during WWII (meaning men who had actually seen combat, not rear echelon troops) preferred light comedy or romance movies to the sanitized propaganda in war movies of the time.

Can anyone give me a counterexample?  I'm looking for a plausible reference to a frontline soldier, or group of frontline soldiers, enjoying a war movie - either because they didn't mind the propaganda, or because the movie was unusually realistic.

Edit:  Sorry, the second paragraph isn't really clear - I'm specifically interested in American war movies that were made during the war, and the combat soldiers' reaction to them.

I know a lot of more realistic movies were made after the fact.  Thanks and apologies to everyone who answered before the question was corrected.


texts: Why was Truman considered a heavy underdog in the 1948 election?

texts:
The 1948 (election) link to wikipedia states:"The election is considered to be the greatest election upset in American history.1[3]" with no less than three sources.

One possible reason might have been the Congressional elections of 1946, in which the Republicans brought about a swing of 18 states, five in the West, five in the Northeast, and eight in the heartland. Of those, Truman went on to win the five western states, Dewey the five Northeastern states, and Truman won seven of eight in the heartland.

One factor in Truman's favor was that he came from Missouri, a heartland state, while Dewey came from New York. That gave Truman an advantage in the competition for Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, and of course, Missouri. On the other hand, Eisenhower, from Kansas, in 1952, won all but nine states, (the four Strom Thurmond states plus five other southern states).

Truman won the 1948 popular vote convincingly, 49.6% to Dewey's 45.1%, or four and half percentage points. What is noteworthy was that Truman won three big states, California, Illinois, and Ohio by less than one percentage point each. Swing the vote total by one percentage point in each of those three states (or even across the board), and Dewey would have won the electoral college while losing the popular vote.

Did people at the time make the argument that the electoral college "math" stacked up in favor of Dewey, even though Truman might win the popular vote? My sense is that this was not the case, and Truman was expected to lose the popular vote also. Why might that be?


texts: Why did Lovett, McCloy and Bundy want to resign from their US cabinet positions in September 1945?

texts:
Why did

Robert Lovett (Assistant Secretary of War for Air)
John J. McCloy (of the War
Department)
Harvey Hollister Bundy (liaison to the Office of
Scientific Research and Development)

want to resign their positions in September 1945?

The context from my perspective is I am researching why the United States created the policy they did after WWII.

In this case I am looking at the so-called "wise men" Acheson, Kennan, Harriman, McCloy, Lovett and Bohlen who came up with the policy of containment with regard to dealing with the USSR.

McCloy and Lovett were the only Republicans and I wonder if their earlier threat to resign along with Bundy had something to do with President Truman's initial policies. Source is the wikipedia page on  Robert A. Lovett under Politics.


texts: Why is the Jewel Voice Broadcast called that?

texts:
I can't seem to find out the reason behind the naming of the audio Jewel Voice Broadcast.

I learned that this broadcast was the first instance of the Emperor directly communicating to masses. I can speculate that perhaps this had something to do with the naming. Or perhaps the voice of Emperor was called so in veneration. Or maybe it's just a transliteration of Gyokuon-hōsō (which still begs the question why it was compared with Jewels).


texts: What sources could Tacitus or Appian have used that have since been lost?

texts:
I was fascinated by the announcement of the 'virtual unrolling' of a fire-burned scroll in En-Gedi that has been analysed and found to be part of the book of Leviticus.

As the Guardian noted, the technique could be applied to the scrolls burned by  Vesuvius in the 'villa of the papyri'.

Unfortunately, because of the quirks of time, the works of Appian and Tacitus won't be in the villa as it was destroyed before they wrote and published their works. But that got me wondering: which of their (lost or incomplete) sources could be in the villa?

The sources for Tacitus and Appian seem to be difficult to get into my head - I couldn't see anything on them particularly from a google search. Potentially, the histories of Polybius or Livy could be used, or the lost history of Claudius... either of which could turn up in the villa. But who else?


texts: When was it discovered that the stars are not all lying on the same plane?

texts: In Ptolemy and Copernicus' systems, the stars were believed to rest upon a single plane, the 'celestial sphere'. People thought they were all the same distance away from earth. Kepler's insight was about the orbits of the planets, not the stars. So when was it known to science that the stars are different distances away from the earth?


texts: What did Germany do after World War II to recover so successfully that it became more prosperous than its WW2 victors?

texts:
Germany lost in World War II. Being the loser, its economy started at a disadvantage compared to her World War II victors in the aftermath of WW2. However, Germany managed to recover  more successfully than her World War II victors to become the dominant European economic power by the late 20th century.

What did Germany do to become more prosperous than its victors after World War II?

Can the troubled European nations of today draw lessons from Germany's history of rebuilding so successfully despite being a loser in both World Wars?


texts: I remember hearing something about where it was discerned that after a certain percent of losses armies tend to break (ie retreat).  Does research on this exist?  If so, at what point do armies tend to break?


texts: Where can I find the complete texts of Churchill's essays on extraterrestrial life?

texts:
Perhaps I'm just very bad at googling; though I can find numerous articles describing the discovery of Churchill's writings on the possibility of extraterrestrial life, I can't find the original essays.
The article in Nature mentions some particulars:

I was on a visit to the US National Churchill Museum in Fulton,
Missouri, when the director Timothy Riley thrust a typewritten essay
by Churchill into my hands. In the 11-page article, 'Are We Alone in
the Universe?', he muses presciently about the search for
extraterrestrial life.

He penned the first draft, perhaps for London's News of the World
Sunday newspaper, in 1939 — when Europe was on the brink of war. He
revised it lightly in the late 1950s while staying in the south of
France at the villa of his publisher, Emery Reves. For example, he changed the title from 'Are We Alone in Space?' to 'Are We Alone in the Universe?' to reflect changes in scientific understanding and terminology.

According to a later paragraph:

To the best of Riley's knowledge, the essay remained in the Reves's
private collection and has never been published or subjected to
scientific or academic scrutiny.

I can't locate a version of the original essays online. Are these available somewhere in digital or printed form? Have they subsequently been published since rediscovery in 2017?


texts: How did Juneteenth come to be the primary national celebration of the end of slavery in the United States?

texts:
Wikipedia explains that the celebration of Juneteenth (originally Jubilee Day) began in Texas and later spread to other parts of the South. The date commemorates June 19th, 1865 when General Gordon Granger issued General Order No. 3 and read it publicly at Galviston island. The name Juneteenth caught on by the 1890s, and by that time it was celebrated on a significant scale within Texas. It seems that it was only much later, perhaps the 1940s, that Juneteenth began to be celebrated in other states, and it was spread widely by the Great Migration.
Did other celebrations of the end of slavery exist prior to the Great Migration? I would intuitively suspect yes, but cannot find any examples. It would be relevant to know either way, but this would still leave the question: why Texas? Was there anything particular about the black communities of postbellum Texas that can explain the emergence and wider adoption of their Juneteenth tradition?


texts: Which is the oldest language in the World?

texts: I want to know which are the oldest languages in the world? And within those, which is still in use?


texts: Was there intermixing between Brits and Hong Kongers during Britain's control of the territory?

texts: When Britain took control of Hong Kong at the end of the First Opium War did British Europeans stay and intermix (intermix=make new humans)?


texts: What is the origin of the black/devil riders?

texts: From what I understand, the black/devil riders were a group of German soldiers or mercenaries who were famous for using black painted armor. They developed various techniques for fighting on horseback, especially using pistol-like weapons. What is the origin of the black riders, and were they a highly renowned group of mercenaries like the Swiss pikemen mercenaries were?


texts: Why was Columbus not aware of the existence of America?

texts: Vikings had discovered the American continent centuries before 1492, the year of Columbus' trip. How did the information about the huge discovery got lost? It would not have seemed surprising to me if Columbus had some knowledge of Viking expeditions, but he really believed to have visited Asia instead.


texts: What percentage of slaves originally brought from Africa were purchased from slave traders as opposed to having been captured by Europeans?

texts:
I was engaged in a debate over slavery in America yesterday and the following proposition I put forward was being contested: a majority of slaves brought to America from Africa were sold to Europeans by slave traders as opposed to having been captured by Europeans without payment. Every source I could find on the matter verified this to be true but I could not find an exact percentage of purchased slaves vs captured slaves and my opponent decided to use this as an out to discard my entire argument.

Here is one example of what I found from a 1995 CNN article:

  Based on her studies, Perbi says that European slave traders, almost without exception, did not themselves capture slaves. They bought them from other Africans, usually kings or chiefs or wealthy merchants.

Perbi stating "almost without exception" seems to imply a very high percentage or an overwhelming majority (greater than 90%) but as I stated this ambiguity was enough for my opponent to write me off.

Is there any concrete data on this or do we only know it was a majority?

Edit: I've rephrased the question and updated the clarification to be more precise.


texts: Could equestrian prefects sit on sella curulis?

texts: Were prefects of less than important provinces of the early principatus (like Pilate) allowed to sit on the ivory curule seat, or sella curulis, that curule magistrates and promagistrates used while performing their official duties? If not, then what was their seat like?


texts: Why did the Metall und Lackierwarenfabrik company get asked to bid on the creation of the MG42?

texts:
The MG42. A very iconic machine gun built during World War 2. Known for its high rate of fire, three man operating squad and its ability to suppress advancing troops, was built by Metall und Lackierwarenfabrik. However, up until this point, Metall und Lackierwarenfabrik was a company that just stamped parts out of sheet metal. They had no prior experience creating weapons and I have been trying to find documentation as to why they were asked by the German government in the late 1930s to submit a design for a new machine gun. Up until this point they basically built nice furnishings for houses.
I know that Werner Gruner was an engineer, and my thought was that he or the father/son owners of the company were part of the Nazi rank and file, but I can't seem to find anything that even hints at that or how they were even part of the bidding process.
I do understand how they got the contract in the end. Their operating mechanism was superior, their lack of tight tolerances made for a more reliable machine, and the cheaper stamped parts proved more rugged in testing. I am just at a loss for how they were asked to bid on the project.
Out of the companies in Germany that produced weapons, how was a non-weapon producing company asked to design a new machine gun?


texts: How did the use of tanks differ in the Pacific war from the European war?

texts:
By "Pacific" war, I am specifically excluding the use of tanks by the Russians (or Japanese) in Manchuria, in 1945, or earlier "border clashes" along the Mongolian border in the late 1930s.

My understanding is that on most Pacific islands, tanks were useful for overcoming strongpoints, demolishing bunkers, etc. but not for the breakthrough and encirclement movements that characterized the European "blitzkrieg." Therefore, tanks tended to be deployed in multiples of ten at a time, not hundreds at a time.  Put another way, tanks were used in "French" style, that is on a small scale for infantry support, rather than in "German" style for large scale encirclement movements.

I didn't see evidence of large scale tank deployments by the Allies even in relatively large areas, such as the Philippines or Burma (Myanmar), probably because of the weather, rough terrain and generally bad topography.

So was the above, in fact, generally true in the "south Pacific?

And was the (occasional) Japanese use of tanks also limited to infantry support (outside of China, Manchuria, Mongolia) or were there instances of Japanese large scale encirclement movements in the tropical regions?


texts:
Some intercity roads and highways have names (eg. the King's Highway in the Bible and the Appian Way in Rome) and others are named after the place that they go to (Jaffa road in Jerusalem). When did smaller intra city streets first get names? I can think of three different kinds of intra city streets:

Some streets are named after things on that street (Church street) or big landowners to whose property the street goes (Campbell Road in Dallas).
Main streets and Broadways are so named because they were indeed the main street.
Streets like Maple and Elm street that often have nothing to do with Maples and Elms but are named so to give them a name.


texts: In 1803 Kirill Khlebnikov, an agent of the Russian American Company, was imprisoned for three months in Petropavlosk, Kamchatka by Major General Koshelev, administrator of the district. The reason was Khlebnikov's refusal to raise prices on Company goods to line the pockets of Koshelev and his cronies. (The Khlebnikov Archive, Unpublished Journal 1800-1837, The Rasmuson Library Historical Translation Series, Vol 5). In what type of structure would he have been held? What would have been the conditions?


texts: Why did America not know about Soviet espionage in manhattan project

texts:
I was watching  PBS documentary  Behind Closed doors. According to that documentary Churchill and Roosevelt were not really sure if Stalin really understood about 'the new kind of weapon' when they mentioned it to him during Yalta conference since Stalin's only response was 'Ok. Thank your for letting me know'. But Stalin apparently knew all about it through extensive Soviet espionage in the Manhattan project.
My question is how were America and Britain so clueless about soviet espionage?


texts: How long did historical sessions of the US congress last?

texts:
In its beginning, the US congress had short sessions, because in between sessions people had to go home, tend to their farms, businesses, practices, etc and this took a long time. Nowadays Congress is in session basically all year round.

When did this change? Can I find a source for the evolution of the duration of US Congress sessions during its existence?


texts: Were British plans for India disrupted by WWII?

texts:
In a video debate, Sadhguru says (@3.57) the British would have stayed in India if World War II not happened.

Is this assertion credible?  Does the pre-war evidence weigh in favor of this assertion, or the standard one that India would have eventually obtained independence?


texts: Is it true that all revolutions/uprising could only be "resolved" with the backing of an armed force?

texts:
I recently heard a claim made that no major revolution or uprising (barring a few, which unfortunately were not listed) was able to come to its conclusion and achieve its goals until an armed group came into play that was sympathetic/allied to the revolutionary cause (regardless of whether this group was formed by the revolutionaries, or was a third party that joined their cause).

NOTE that the presence of the armed group doesn't necessarily mean that the uprising was violent and bloody, but rather that the threat of force helped to impose the new social/political changes that the revolution demanded (in the same way that the "threat" of a police force forcing you to court and possibly prison helps to ensure people obey the law).

Is this true? If not, I'd be interested in seeing examples of successful revolutions/uprisings where there was no threat of force on the side of the revolutionaries.


texts: How prevalent was smallpox among the Norse in Northern Scandinavia, Iceland, & Greenland?

texts:
The Norse are the only people that - we can verify today - had pre-columbian contact with the New World. While it's clear that their settlements didn't last, it does appear that they interacted with the native people of North America. What I find interesting (and bit puzzling) is that their contact did not result in the spread of smallpox or other infectious diseases that, in post-columbian contact, led to the deaths of millions of Amerindians.

In order to answer the question above I thought it would be important to know how prevalent smallpox (or any other diseases that Amerindians succumbed to) were among the Vikings around the year 1000 A.D.? Are there records of plagues around that time period or other indications that the Norse were equally as likely to carry smallpox as say the Spanish?


texts: When and what was the maximum extent of Nationalist China?

texts:
The Republic of China (1912–49) claimed a large area of land, the most notable difference compared to present-day China being the inclusion of Mongolia. However, it's my understanding that at no point in time was that entire area under de facto Nationalist control. For example, Tibet was never fully incorporated, and Taiwan was only regained after the surrender of Japan.

When did Nationalist China reach its greatest, de facto territorial extent? Preferably a map, but a list of territories will also be fine.


texts: Why did Ancient Greek religious monument (herms) have genitalia?

texts:
Around the Acropolis in Athens, there are lots of marble monuments like the one below. I don't recall whether I read on a plaque, or whether it was my own inference, that these were installed by ancient worshipers as offerings or personal memorials to the gods. It seems that the main parts of the sculpture are the head and the genitals—the latter being something I wouldn't be inclined to include on monument to myself. What's going on with that? I'd appreciate if someone could help make “the strange familiar” in this case.

(It's a high resolution photograph, in case it will help to be able to read the text.)


texts: What percent of the Roman Republic's population were citizens in various centuries?

texts: Does anyone have any sources mentioning the percentages of citizens at various times, or the populations of citizens and corresponding total populations so I can calculate percents? I looked at dozens of sources online without finding this kind of information.


texts: Colonial intelligence during the pirate age

texts:
Watching the Black Sails series, there are several references on La Casa de Contratación, and characters say that, among other things, it was dedicated to colonial intelligence.

I think there were a couple of Casa de Contratación agencies. Did either of those really spied on potential threats against the Spanish Crown?


texts: How widespread was the Arabic Language in Syria before Islamic conquest?

texts: Before the Islamic conquest of Syria and the whole Levant, how widespread was the use of the Arabic language there? Are there any resources show what the percentage of Arabic in that region is as well?


texts: In Ancient Cultures - How was a New Moon identified when it can never be seen?

texts:
In some ancient cultures, a Lunar Calendar was utilized and the "New Moon" is considered the "First of the Month".

In ancient Semitic cultures, Assyria, Persia, Akkadia, Israel, etc - how was the "New Moon" identified when it is never visible?

Is there historical evidence that the Waxing Crescent Moon was always accepted "as and for" the "New Moon"?
How early were pre-calculations being made?  Were they accurate?
Was it ever the case that they had to retroactively assign the day before as the 1st of the month?

There seems to be, minimally, a 12 - 15 hour "margin of error" before even the Waxing Crescent Moon can be seen - which occurs after the New Moon.  (See Astronomy.SE/How Soon Could a Waxing Crescent Moon Be Seen?.)

Note: This is a request for historical evidence, citable references, explaining the dilemma - preferably in view of Babylon, Israel, and other Semitic cultures.


texts: Why did quill pens persist until the early 19th century despite the capacity to make metal dip pens?

texts:
I recently toured Jefferson's Monticello and I was struck during the tour of the library by the description of some of the challenges that Jefferson faced using quill pens.

This seemed particularly surprising because the library is filled with finely crafted metal tools and technology (clocks, a small metal orrey, drafting tools, etc...).

What prevented the development and adoption of metal dip pens until the early 19th century despite seemingly clear evidence that the technology for their creation existed much earlier?

BONUS: Why, if they did exist, would Jefferson, a renowned technophile, not have taken up their use?


texts: Tiberius Gracchus' strategy after Punic Wars

texts: Did Tiberius Gracchus' strategy as tribune worked towards the best interests of the Republic, given the political, social, and economic climate after the Punic Wars?


texts: What is the oldest example of conurbation?

texts:
Georges Roux, in his book Ancient Iraq (Third edition, p. 68), says that

  The city of Uruk was born of the coalescence of two towns 800 metres
  apart: Kullaba, devoted to the sky-god An (or Anu), the supreme god of
  the Mesopotamians, and E-Anna ('House of Heaven'), the main abode of
  the love goddess Inanna (called Ishtar by the Semites).

Is this the first historical example of conurbation? (For those of you who don't know, conurbation is the process of physical coalescence of cities)


texts: When and how did the idea of a "class-less" society originate in the United States?

texts: The United States is often referred to as a "class-less" society where anyone can rise to any height. Leaving aside whether this is actually the case or not, when and how did this idea originate? Was it part of the Enlightenment ideas of the founding generation, or was it something that came along later?


texts:
In the movie Children of Glory (Szabadság, Szerelem), there's a scene in which one of the female protagonists took a few pans, broke off their handle, and placed them on the ground to fool a tank into thinking that those pans were mines. The tank gets scared and moves into a dead end, where, after its support is killed, it gets flooded with love and Molotov cocktails, ending its career in a particularly amusing campfire.

The aforementioned scene, link in the picture.

How reliable would tactics like these be?


texts: What is the earliest known book / novel trilogy in literature?

texts:
Having recently finished (again) The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I wondered what is the earliest known book / novel trilogy in literature? (Yes, I know J.R.R. Tolkien wrote LOTR not as a trilogy but as the first volume of a planned two-volume work, including LOTR and The Silmarillion but the two volume work was never completed and LOTR now stands on its own in what we refer to as a trilogy.)

According to both Wikipedia and Britannica, trilogy is used to describe

  a series of three dramas or literary or musical compositions that, although each is in one sense complete, have a close mutual relation and form one theme or develop aspects of one basic concept.

Britannica's trilogy entry goes on further to say (Wiki mentions this as well, but quoting Britannica here):

  The term originally referred specifically to a group of three tragedies written by one author for competition. This trilogy constituted the traditional set of plays presented in Athens by a number of competitors at the 5th-century-BC drama festivals known as the Great Dionysia. One of the first authors to present such a trilogy was Aeschylus, whose Oresteia is the only surviving example from that time.

So we have there an example of what is thought to be the earliest drama / play in trilogy form.

The Wikipedia trilogy entry mentions the epic Mahabharata (attributed to Vyāsa). According to Wiki:

  The Mahābhārata is the longest epic poem known and has been described as "the longest poem ever written."

with origins in the 8th or 9th century BCE.  That might make it the earliest known trilogy of an epic poem.  However, I am having difficulty finding a reference to the earliest known trilogy of books/novels.

Any literature students / professors / historians / enthusiasts (or librarians) out there who may know which trio of books / novels is the earliest known example in literature (and the author)?

EDIT: for the purpose of this question let’s use the Wiki/Britannica definition of trilogy quoted above.


texts: Do we have any surviving texts by Romano-Celtic authors?

texts:
Do we have any surviving texts or references to texts with Romano-Celtic authors and how common were 'non-Greco-Italian' (I'm not sure of the best term for that) authors? Specifically within the Roman period, roughly 43 AD to 410 AD in Britain and 58 BC to 486 AD in Gaul. Not later writers that may have maintained a Romano identity such as Gildas (c. 500 - 570), but (St) Patricius (c. 385 - 461) being born prior to 410 would be fine even if he wrote post 410.

I remember seeing a reference to a Roman play write who was originally a Gaulish slave before being released but I was unable to find anything solid.


texts: Do these depictions of hunt in medieval Catholic churches have the same symbolic meaning? If not, what is it?

texts:
I have come across 3 depictions of a hunt in Catholic churches.

The first two are tiles that were on the floors of an English abbey and a church not far from Reims, France; I could not find any analysis. They seem to be out of tune, given the devotional nature of the churches.

The third one is a fresco from a Mozarabic church. There is a Wikipedia article that discusses it. It reads: on the right is a hunter riding a horse, helped by three dogs chasing hares, which end up trapped in the forest. The hare is a symbol in Christian iconography of the fragility of the soul and strong sexual desire or lust, which must be harassed and overcome.

Is there a similar meaning behind hunters shown on the tiles? If not, what is it?

Are there other depictions of the hunt in medieval Christian churches? What was the evolution of the depictions of the hunt in medieval Christian churches, if applicable?


texts: Are there any Vandal or Goth relics or monuments in Rome?

texts: The Vandals and Goths ruled Rome for several years after the fall of the empire.  Did they leave any relics, monuments or buildings that can still be seen?


texts: Was there ever support for any persons outside of the empire to be elected Holy Roman Emperor?

texts:
In Europa Universalis IV, it is possible for electors in the Holy Roman Empire to support the election of someone outside of the Holy Roman Empire as the emperor.

I recognize that this is a game with multiple ahistoric elements among its historicity (which is part of the appeal), but was curious if there is any historical incidents that reflect this mechanic.

Did a prince-elector ever support a person who did not belong to the empire at the time of the election to be King of the Romans?


texts: Navaratnas(9 Gems) of legendary emperor of ancient India Vikramaditya

texts:
Were there any criteria on which a person could become one of the  Navratnas of Chandragupta Vikramaditya or Chandragupta-ll

I have found another source about the Navaratnas.
 You can refer here


texts: Were there any other Edeljude pardoned by Hitler or high ranking Nazis?

texts: Alongside Eduard Bloch, were there any other known people of Jewish decent who were given the same sort of protection and pardon during the time in which the Nazi's were in power?


texts: What is the history of zirah bagtar armor used in India?

texts:
I am looking for information on zirah bagtar style of plate and chain armor.

I am currently recreating a suit of that armor in this style and a history of its use and development have been difficult to pin down.  The style of armor was brought into India by the Mughals.  The plate and chain styles of armor were first seen in the Middle East in the form of leg protection.  This form of armor is also seen in Japanese culture with a different appearance but similar techniques.

One of the issues that I keep running into is that a lot of the information on this style of armor is not in English, so finding source material is difficult.  While I can duplicate the style and the techniques, I am left with a minimal background of how and why the armor developed in the form it did, in contrast the to European model of development of more full plate styles.

I have several hypotheses in concept of design:

one involves the climate of the regions.  Plate armor is dangerous to use in hot climates.  More so than the open armor design.  This is one possibility for the difference in design development.
The other major one is that people just liked the look. Armor design was often determined by fashion trends as much as defensive value.  The other point of interest is the possibilities of religious influence in the development of this particular style of armor; many armors of this style are decorated with Islamic symbols.
The final hypothesis is the potential lack of appropriate materials, though this is questionable since the Ottoman Empire was more advanced than their European counterparts during much of the historical era in which this armor was prevalent.


texts: In what language did Caractacus deliver his speech to the emperor Claudius?

texts:
In The Annals, the Roman historian Cornelius Tacitus wrote about the British chieftain Caractacus and how he was captured by the Romans. According to him, Caractacus was taken to Rome along with his family to be publicly humiliated and then executed. But, before his execution, he managed to deliver a speech to the emperor Claudius. After hearing the speech, the emperor decided to pardon Caractacus and set him free.

We don't know if the speech was so eloquent as Tacitus portrays it, but it was probably not so inarticulate, either. Besides, the emperor (and Tacitus himself) seemed to understand it very well. The problem is: Caractacus's native language was Brythonic and the Romans, of course, spoke Latin. So, in what language did he deliver that speech? Is it possible that Caractacus was fluent in Latin? Or, what seems more plausible, were Brythonic and Latin mutually intelligible (cf. Italo-Celtic hypothesis)?


texts: What are the earliest traces of slavery?

texts: The earliest example I know is from Sumer. That would be the earliest example of institutionalized slavery, because that's (one of) the earliest forms of urbanized civilization. However, what's the story gleaned from pre history, can we give a date for when the targeted raid with the explicit goal to subjugate foreigners starts to appear?


texts: Was it ever possible to join the US military instead of going to prison for a crime?

texts: It is pretty clear that today the US military is an all volunteer force and it is not allowed to take people who are joining to avoid going to prison. Was there ever a time when a judge could sentence a criminal to prison or military service? If so, how did it work? Was it for a fixed time and what happens if the criminal was found not fit for duty and separated from the military?