AskHistorians

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Wikipedia tells me that in the Middle Ages, Satan was viewed as "a comic relief figure who "frolicked, fell, and farted in the background"" What are the origins of this conception of Satan? What factors led to Satan taking a more prominent and serious role in the Christian theology of the time?	633
In Geoffrey of Monmouth's The History of the Kings of Britain there is a large section of prophecies attributed to Merlin. Would readers of the time have understood these prophecies to be legitimate and accurate, or would they have believed them to be a literary invention?	52
In Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jones is seen teaching to a co-ed archeology class, would this have existed in 1930s America?	22
When Bismarck rose to power in Prussia, was a unified "German" nation state his end goal, or was that just the result of some different agenda?	16
What caused the large amount of plane hijackings in the late 60s early 70s? And what ended this trend?	15
How would a minor nobleman in the middle ages actually go about getting married?	14
How did the crossword become the standard newspaper puzzle? Why did newspapers start publishing these puzzles in the first place?	10
Would an Elizabethan theater-goer have been able to read reviews of the plays coming out?	9
In the Sherlock Holmes short story "The adventure of the Six Napoleons," the villains are heavily connected to the Mafia. How much would the average English reader at the time the story was published have known about the mafia?	4
I've heard that the adoption of agriculture led to significant decreases in health levels for those who adopted it. Is this true, and if true, why was it still adopted?	3

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