I remember my Latin teacher told us Romans numbered their children. Tertius (third), Sextus (sixth) and Octavianus (eighth) are some well known examples. What did those numbers refer to? Was there ever a time when it was common to number all your kids in order, like the oldest kid being called Primus, the second Secundus, the third Tertius and so forth? And when did that stop?

Looking at the border north of Moldava, the German border includes many segments of less than 10m that follow a very irregular pattern on flat land, sometimes turning back on themselves. Do these reflect historical landholdings? It’s a surveyor’s nightmare.

There seems to be much overlap between the LRC/Labour Party and the Independent Labour Party, with the two organisations having very similar policies and with many of members who helped create the Independent Labour Party in 1893 going on to participate in and lead the LRC/Labour Party. For decades many prominent Labour politicians were also members of the ILP until the ILP decided to disaffiliate itself from the Labour Party in 1932, and it would not be until 1975 that the ILP would finally be dissolved, reconstituting itself as a pressure group inside the Labour Party. With the LRC/Labour Party obviously being far more successful than the ILP, it would seem that the ILP lacked a true raison d'etre, and so how and why did the ILP survive and retain its independence for so long, especially considering the fate of other socialist and social democratic parties in the UK such as the British Socialist Party and the National Socialist Party?

Making all of these documents illegal? It's not like the Anglo-Saxon colonizers ever explained their property norms or English common law principles to the Natives. Or even their intention of permanently occupying the land.

So I was watching this Studio Ghibli movie called From Up on Poppy Hill and there was this scene where they were reproducing newspapers with a simple stencil and rolling ink brush. Then I thought, "Wow, that's such a simple yet efficient way to print paper at home or anywhere before modern printers and computers became a thing!

And then, I suddenly thought about the first printing process that I learned about from my history class. I can't remember most of the details so I searched more about it and I was shocked to learn that it wasn't until 1436 when it was invented, and it was a much more complicated process than using a stencil. I also saw that before that, at least in Europe, books were so hard to come by just because of that reproduction issue!

Weren't there stencils in ancient Europe? I mean, there gotta be right? because their coins have design in them too and they were like pressing it into the coin in the minting process so why can't they do the same for paper? Am I missing something here? Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!

I'm a bit foggy on the literature of this period. I realize that BEOWULF features Scandinavian characters, but that's about the limit of my knowledge.

So I'm curious:

Did the Vikings bring their own literature?

Were their exploits recorded by Anglo-Saxon writers (other than historians)?

Were there any working Viking writers residing in England during that time?

Any guidance would be very appreciated.

Shouldn’t they have had the advantage? They knew the land better, knew how to live on it better, had bow and arrows vs the European guns which I assume must’ve taken longer to reload? I don’t mean this at all in a victim blaming way, btw, I just am confused. I know that there were many accounts of Native Americans fighting back, but why were they so unsuccessful?

As a "commonly educated" person, I can fire away a few of "famous artists" who are mentioned in the news, whose paintings are stolen, or sold at auctions for ridiculous prices: Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Vermeer, Matiss, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, you know what I mean. However, I was recently surprised to realize that I don't know any famous women/female artists? OK, Frida Calo, but that's the XXth century. Even if you try to Google "famous artists" you get a long list of (mostly) men from different ages.

However, I remember that it was considered common for young women of higher class in all those centuries, when men were prevalent in the Painting industry, to study art in different forms, and to paint something as the pastime, instead of studying science, for example. So, the question is: why do we know so little of art done by those countless (maybe) unwilling female "art students"? Is it sold at auctions? Did someone throw it away deliberately, was it not worth to even keep in families? I would venture a guess that due to its age alone, any drawing made by an unknown female artist of 18th century, would fetch a hefty sum on an auction? Or is my logic inherently flawed somewhere?

I am trying to study classical history of Japan. I know there are several accounts of the life of elites and nobles in the Kyoto Court. But what about outside of it? With Kyoto being the capital at the time were there other what we would call cities in other areas? How populated were the southern/northern regions of Japan? What did present-day Tokyo looked like? Are there any historical books or sources where we can learn the life of the average citizen back then?

Was it understood that Mohammad and his followers were just some off-shoot heretical branch of Judaism/Christianity, or an entirely separate group? Was it clearly delineated early on? I know that the delineation between Jews and Christianity formed largely in part due to the violent reactions each group increasingly acted out against each other with, under the influences of the Roman legal system and society as well, but Islam grew out of a 'pagan' society. Were there Christian or Jewish societies in Mecca and Medina that contested the legitimacy of Islam as well?

Answers regarding the Ethiopian kingdoms are welcome as well, since I know Ethiopia had long had an interest in Abrahamic religions and at various times espoused Judaism or Christianity as its state religion before Islam came into existence.

It is often argued the American Revolution was a "Rich Man's War, and a Poor Man's Fight". There is a great deal of conflicting information to this narrative, with limited sources supporting non-wealthy motivations. Guy Chet of the University of Texas cites British trials of colonists without juries to be a strong factor, but this aspect seems a stretch considering it would have to motivate thousands of people to die for a cause.

Hi, my dream is to study Medieval Ireland and get a PhD in it (I know the job market for history PhDs is terrible but this would be more for fun for me. I currently have a successful career in sales in case things don’t work out, but I would forever regret not trying to go into academia for history).

If I were to go down this route, which PhD/Master programs would you recommend in both the US and in Europe?

I do see that Wycliffe’s himself wasn’t a rebellious figure, as far as I can see in his own words, he was against such a violance. But I sense that some of his arguments were directly against the taxation and in sense of accepting laymans as a part of religion; which King himself would never approve. With all contrast; can we claim that Lollardy was one of the vital elements of the rebellion? Any reccomendetion on issue are highly welcomed aswell!

I know that it’s unlikely the mythical King Arthur ever existed. I also know that much of what we associate aesthetically with the mythos is anachronistic: knights in shining armor, jousting, etc.

I’m curious about the castle, though. I know in 6th century Britain, stone castles didn’t exist yet. But… if an author wanted to tell the Arthur story but try to keep it fairly historical, how would they portray Camelot? In post-Roman Britain, what WOULD a high-ranking warlord/ruler’s headquarters look like?

I'm trying to get a fact check on the claim Tomoe Gozen, the female samurai general from the Heian period, won a battle against 6000 Taira cavalry with 300 men and only 5 survivors including herself. Much as I'd love to believe this, every place i find this listed under her accomplishments is a 'fun fact' type site with no direct sources on this claim in particular, and I've also seen heavy variance in the actual numbers of Taira soldiers which is further raising my doubts.

Obviously the enabling law allowed Hitler to rule by decree and was regularly reauthorized so that technically the Weimar Constitution never went out of force. Did the Nazis go as far as to pass laws/decrees that authorized the actual killing of the Jews?

In researching an area in Switzerland (Grisons), I learned that there was a middle ages political alliance known as the Three Leagues, comprised of the League of God's House, the Grey League and the League of the Ten Jurisdictions. I have previously heard about things like the Catholic League, the Lombard League, the Hanseatic League, etc.

My question is: What exactly is a League? Does it just mean, generally, a political collective? If it has such a broad definition, why has its use to describe alliances/collectives fallen out of favor (if that is accurate to say)? If it has a more narrow definition, what is it?