In most shows and games, people seem to use silver and gold coins to buy goods. It seems far fetched that most commoners would havr access to so much precious metals.

Wouldn't most people simply barter for goods and services?

When did the use of currencies become commonplace?

To be clearer, would Tolkien have been able to point to historical examples within his field of study of languages and history of such a conflict, where warriors resolved conflict with songs instead of swords? Alternatively, are there any examples of such from outside Tolkien's scope?

For reference, here's the passage in question from The Silmarillion Chapter 19, "Of Beren and Luthien":

"For [Finrod] Felagund strove with Sauron in songs of power, and the power of the King was very great; but Sauron had the mastery, as is told in the Lay of Leithian:

He chanted a song of wizardry

Of piercing, opening, of treachery,

Revealing, uncovering, betraying,

Then sudden Felagund there swaying

Sang in answer a song of staying,

Resisting, battling against power,

Of secrets kept, strength like a tower,

And trust unbroken, freedom, escape

Of changing and of shifting shape

Of snares eluded, broken traps,

The prison opening, the chain that snaps

Backwards and forwards swayed their song,

Reeling and foundering, as ever more strong

The chanting swelled, Felagund fought,

And all the magic and might he brought

Of Elvenesse into his words

Softly in the gloom they heard the birds

Singing afar in Nargothrond

The sighing of the Sea beyond,

Beyond the western world, on sand,

On sand of pearls in Elvenland

Then the gloom gathered, darkness growing,

In Valinor, the red blood flowing

Beside the Sea, where the Noldor slew

The Foamriders, and stealing drew

Their white ships with their white sails

From lamplit havens. The wind wails,

The wolf howls. The ravens flee.

The ice mutters in the mouths of the Sea

The captives sad in Angband mourn.

Thunder rumbles, the fires burn -

And Finrod fell before the throne.

Then Sauron stripped from them their disguise, and they stood before him naked and afraid. But though their kinds were revealed, Sauron could not discover their names or their purposes.

He cast them therefore into a deep pit, dark and silent, and threatened to slay them cruelly, unless one would betray the truth to him. From time to time they saw two eyes kindled in the dark, and a werewolf devoured one of the companions, but none betrayed their lord.

I assume they wouldn't need tournaments during the Sengoku Period, since war was a constant, but was there any kind of tournament after this, with people competing for a prize?

What was the public reaction to a minor German prince who was somewhat distantly related to the previous monarch being made King of Britain when George I took the throne in 1714. Were there calls for a British based and/or raised member of the extended Royal family to take the throne?

Hi people! I'm currently writing a paper (not an extremely long and detailed one) about James VI's rise to the English throne. I have really been struggling to find good reliable sources about the topic. I already researched how James VI is related to the Tudors by his great-grandmother that was the daughter of Henry VII. In terms of information I fell good about, it ends right there. I saw about how he exchanged secret correspondence with Elizabeth I that secured his place as the successor but I have only a general idea about that yet. The paper is 6 (digital) pages to have an idea of the scope of the information I plan to include. I also wanted to include some of the difficulties that he faced when he rose to the throne of England. I found about the Gunpowder Plot and just started reading about it, still, something extra about it would be appreciated. The only relatively good sources that I have at the moment is the Britannica Encyclopedia. I just have the internet and that was all I managed to pull off. I'm sorry that my question is not the best, I am getting this post up quite early in my research process since I need to have my sources figured out by September 1st. This is my first post here so excuse me if I committed any mistakes.

The whole Wicker Man idea has certainly left a mark on pop culture, as the excellent 1973 film and comical 2006 film had made clear, as well as various neopagan groups. Still, this sort of sounds like a lurid tale about barbaric savages that Caesar knew would play well to Roman prejudices while he was conquering Gaul, so should we just assume he's completely unreliable when it comes to this particular vignette or is there good reason to take him seriously that this specific method of Human Sacrifice was actually employed?

1 - Why did they remove the Concorde from aviation?

2 - Why did they also remove Tupolev Tu-144 from aviation?

3 - What happened to the SR.N4 hovercraft?

Its pretty common knowledge today, if you go camping somewhere near a stream you need to boil any water your gather for a couple minutes to kill any bacteria or parasites that might be living in it.

But was this practice observed by humans before germs theory of disease was a thing?

Which wasn't really widely accepted until the mid to late 1800s.

If people did not practice this, didn't they just constantly get sick?

I've an old copy and while I don't read general histories I've heard good things about it. Is it sound?

I'm Korean so right away I figured this has to be from 1950s or earlier. I've looked at this globe a little closer and just noticed the Indo-China listing instead of Vietnam and other SE Asian countries.

r/askhistorians, is there a chronological list of currently "out-dated" countries to check for on this thing to date it? I can get a photo up later if anyone is interested.

There's even a Belgian Congo... I went to public school and didn't learn any history of any African country but can figure what happened here.

I have to go to work in 30min, so apologies for my replies that will be late. FWIW, this globe is sitting in a house built in the late 1800s and it's full of a lot of misc. but cool old things. Please tell me more if you know anything!

Many years ago, I was told by a teacher, that cake back in 1700s, was burned bread. The bakers supposedly did not grease their pans, so the burned bits that stuck to the pan, was called cake. Translating to, "Let them eat the waste parts." I have never met any one in real life who has heard this. Was my teacher spouting some malarkey or is there any truth to this?

I've been curious about the makeup and details of the US War Production Board for years. How did all those manufacturers submit to control by a central commitee during the war? Any good reading you can recommend?