askhistorians

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If Western European nobles from the Early Middle Ages to about 1800 deemed work to be beneath them, how did they obtain new income? I doubt that even the most illustrious families could have stayed rich for more than a few generations without new income to offset their wonted lavish expenditures.	2
At what point in early-nineteenth-century England did long pants become more popular than knee-breeches among young men of status?	2
Disney's Peter Pan shows pirates with tattoos. Did any European pirates from the 17th and 18th centuries (on whom PP's pirates are clearly based) have tattoos?	2
When did "i" and "j" finally become fully distinguished in English? I ask because...	2
Well known is the "one-drop" rule in the US with regard to African ancestry. Was there ever anything similar with regard to Native American ancestry?	2
Was there any racist backlash against Herbert Hoover's choice of Charles Curtis, a man with significant Native American ancestry, as his running mate (and, consequently, his VP)?	2
To what extent could we characterize the Catholic Church as a Western European U.N. during the High and/or Late Middle Ages?	2
Vikings (or pre-Christian Norse people more broadly) are often portrayed as looking like unrefined barbarians compared to their Christian contemporaries. Is this portrayal accurate? How different were their dress and grooming habits from those of their Christian contemporaries anyway?	2
Symbols of the pre-Christian Nordic religion have been widely appropriated by white supremacists. What was the actual pre-Christian Norse conception of race and racial difference?	2
Did continental Catholic devotees of Thomas Becket continue making pilgrimages to Canterbury Cathedral after the Reformation? If so, did Protestant locals have a problem with this?	2

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