I've asked my family and friends questions about different eras of history. Most of them could only remember things after the year 1600, why is this? No one I asked knew about any events from 100 a.d. to 1600 a.d. And honestly, I don't know much about the years from 500a.d. to 1400 a.d.myself, I've heard there is a lot of missing data from that time. Why aren't we taught this in school at all?

I‘m currently writing a crime novel set in the 1890s in the Old West. I basically have two problems that I‘m currently working on. I‘m happy about any help or hints.

1. Was it possible during those times for a normal person to set up a bank account for a fake company? The name of the fake company is supposed to sound ALMOST SIMILAR to a major existing company (that way, he can fool others). Would the bank let him do that? Would they check his background?

2. The same person (he’s the villain) writes the name of his fake company in the last will of his murder victim. He does so convincingly. But how did the legal process of transferring money in that era look like? When would the murder victim’s lawyer sense something’s wrong? Or would he just wire the bank and transfer the money? What legal documents of the money recipient would he need?

Basically I’m trying to figure out if the villain COULD get away with it. Are there any web sources for these kind of questions that I somehow didn‘t find?

Thanks and much love!

I'm Western European and I keep hearing Americans allude to a prominent anti-catholic sentiment in their country now or in the past. I know most American Christians aren't catholic, from what I understand they belong to churches that originated with Martin Luther and the Reformation. Was this at the root of the problem?

I am reading The Merchant of Venice, and several times in the play the Jewish moneylender Shylock refers to his nation, meaning the Jewish people. How would audiences of the time have understood the concept of a nation? Would they consider themselves members of the English nation? Or the Christian nation? Would geographical boundaries or governance matter to their definition? Shakespeare predates what most would consider the modern concept of nationalism and I’m curious as to what the concept would mean at that time.

Sorry if this has asked before. Search wasn't turning up anything useful.

Given that Shakespeare created so much language himself, how easy would it have been for the audience to understand the plays he put on? Do we have any accounts from audience members? Do we know much they did or didn't understand?

For example "kissing" was allegedly invented by Shakespeare. Would the audience have understood the meaning in the context of the play? If so, how?

Neither the Sunningdale Agreement nor the Good Friday Agreement seem to declare that there should be a soft border per se. When did it come about?

The core Frankish lands were always in the north of Gaul, and the major royal centres stretched from Paris and Orléans, through Reims and Metz, to Cologne: these were not exactly capitals in an administrative sense, but they were places where kings could frequently be found, and around which they moved their courts and administrators, from palace to palace, along the Oise valley near Paris or the Moselle near Metz

This excerpt from Inheritance of Rome by C. Wickham tells us that (some of?) the Merovingian kings moved around a few cities in northern Gaul (Between what was to be Neustria and Austrasia I think). How exactly (or as much as we can understand) did this work?

I have been using some Ptolemaic sources e.g. the Zenon Papyri and the letter of Aristeas

But if anyone knows of any other Ptolemaic primary source as well that might describe their time in Judea and/or the Syrian Wars, please let me know.

It's been hard trying to find these things especially right now

In books and movies I have heard of things costing half a penny I'm those days for example. How would they give you change if you wanted only one of whatever they were selling for (in this example) half a penny? Did they have a coin worth less than a penny?

Did Chinese,Japanese or any other kingdoms in the area send expeditions into siberia and where there any attempts to conquer the region. Also what was the response of these kingdoms to the Russian conquest of siberia. Where there ever any conflicts or any wars for control of siberia

recently i started to watch some documentations about the old times, and on every picture and video from the old time all mens where wearing suits everywhere. i wonder why and when did that stopped? nowadays everyone would look at you stupidly.

Especially with topics that have only a few sources

In 1984, Ronald Reagan won by a huge margin, taking every state but Minnesota. His first term in 1980 was also won in a huge landslide (489) with many of the traditionally blue states coming out in favour of him. Why was Reagan so popular?

So recently I’ve been hearing a large number of comments about whether or not people need to be genuinely worried about the UK’s second lockdown. One thing I’ve noticed that keeps coming up is that people who adhere to the lockdown rules are akin to ‘people who left their lights on during the Blitz’. Obviously the comparison isn’t really appropriate but it did get me thinking, were there large numbers of people who did actually leave their lights on in London and other towns/cities? I know in popular media there’s always a warden shouting ‘turn that light out’ to someone, but was this aimed at one or two select people? Or were there in fact thousands of people who genuinely believed that turning off their lights was something they weren’t obligated to do?

I've been trying to find differences between the different types of law enforcement in the old west. I wanted to know what types there were and what their role/jurisdiction was.