askhistorians

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In “The Last Duel”, a 14th century French nobleman from an illustrious family takes great pride in being knighted on campaign, while his rival never advances beyond squire (despite having a powerful patron). What was the significance, prestige, and politics of being knighted in the Late Middle Ages?	1127
Was Ebenezer Scrooge coded as a puritan (or dissenter/calvinist/non-conformist/etc.)? His dislike of Christmas, odd first-name, and commitment to profit are all stereotypes of English evangelical minorities in this period.	635
I teach on land seized from Coast Salish and Chinook peoples. Kids always want to know “how they did x or y”. What are good resources to learn what their everyday life was like? (Routines, families, sleeping, sport, etc.)	509
There is a long section on Wikipedia which posits an early date (c. 1910) for the emergence of HIV under the brutal conditions of the Belgian Congo. Specifically: sudden urbanization, the sex trade, and unsafe mass injection conducted by the colonial government. How well supported is this?	497
There’s a common idea that Freud’s clientele might have been struggling with childhood sexual abuse unacknowledgeable in bourgeois, fin-de-siècle Vienna. At this moment, is there any solid historical evidence for this?	261
A lot of Classical Greek names are compounds of words which seem like a weird thing to name your child (Xenophon = "Foreign Voice", Polubios = "many lives"). How much do we know about the origin and evolution of Greek given names?	236
I notice that 18th century philosophers tend to look fondly on Rome, referring to it as “free” or an exemplar of “liberty”. My conception of freedom is based around democracy and non-domination, so this seems absurd. What criteria did Enlightenment elite use to decide how “free” a society is?	211
How bad was light pollution in pre-modern large cities? Did Ancient Romans comment on a less visible night sky in the metropole?	194
I’m a mid-level bureaucrat in the Grant administration. I want to give 15 regional offices a 25 page report on some matter. Does my clerk have to handwrite the document 15 times? What sort of labor saving devices exist to help bureaucracy function?	184
Historians rightly point out that Cortés' invasion of Mexico was incomplete and only possible thanks to native allies. Yet, can we explain the fact that Tlaxcala saw a relatively small force of foreigners as an opportunity to rebel without admitting military superiority on the part of the Spanish?	165

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