HI everyone!

I am looking for books about the medieval history of the County of Flanders, but I can't really seem to find the right books (maybe I looked at the wrong places).

are there any books out there (preferably English, but Dutch is just fine) that will fulfill my reading needs?

Basically I'm wondering about the relationship between ethnicity, language, politics, etc. Was someone born in the Angevin lands in what's now modern France, speaking a southern dialect, and fighting for the King of England, considered French or English? Or maybe he was considered French by some and English by others? Similarly someone from Calais and Normandy. Or did people describe people in more complex ways? Were the French very aware that Welshmen were different from Englishmen (and in fact, how different were they?)/

I was discussing the end of slavery in the United States with a friend and he truly believed that white men (Union soldiers) were to thank for ending slavery. This seems hard to believe to me.

What did they do in court? Was it heavily ritualized like in some Old World societies? Or was it more like a bureaucracy?

Said another way, why was Germany considered the "main culprit" of a war she didn't really start? Some narratives have it that the Germans "had no choice" but to act pre-emptively against France when WW1 began. Or was it commonly accepted that Germany had actually just used the excuse of war to further her own aims, hence the punishment at Versailles.

As someone of mixed black descent I get really tired of the white supremacist lie that black people are dumb, have never created anything and have no history. What are some interesting African societies that most people don’t know much about?

With the amount of baths built by the Romans and Ottomans, I was curious to know if our ancestors also shared a link to feeling a need to sing when they bathed.

Not being from the US, I am ignorant to much of American domestic history and politics. In any case, it seems absurd to me that before the Civil War, moral sympathy for black slaves would be widespread enough to incite a large portion of the United States to take up arms, simply to defend a minority whose conditions, aside from moral concern, had little impact on their own lives. My belief that moral concern against slavery would not have been the dominant motivation for civil war abolitionism is reinforced by the absolutely overwhelming neglect shown for the conditions of liberated slaves and the reform of Southern popular opinion (as seen in the horrible working conditions liberated slaves often faced, their vulnerability to lynchings and later marginalizing legislation, as well as the rampant civil war revisionism that iirc occurred in the early 1900s).

So, assuming widespread moralistic abolitionism was not the motivating factor behind the union fighting for abolition, what was it? Did the union have economic interests in seeing the slaves freed? Did they believe it would provide them political capital? What was/were the underlying, pragmatic motivation(s) for seeking abolition through civil conflict?

If not, how did the white-skin profile of Cleopatra emerge? Cheers.

How did salt and pepper come to be our quintessential spices/flavorings?

I have been listening to Conn Igguldens historical fiction book series on The War of The Roses.

The series goes from Margaret’s early life as a 15 year old newlywed to her grief at her son Edwards death, and she is portrayed as a likeable character, though determined and focused on her goals during the stages of the civil war.

Many contemporary opinions I have read, on here, the wiki of her, and other civil war based websites portray her as largely an unpopular figure. What made her so divisive and potentially unpopular?

If she was more popular than I seem to have gleaned from my searches on here and online, what was it she did that is often overlooked to portray her more poorly?

Thanks in advance!

If I had lived my life without ever seeing a horse and suddenly an army riding on horses appear, what would my reaction be? Was is like seeing an alien?

Just wanted to check some things

1. Did the American police actually evolve from slave patrols?
2. Why are the police called pigs?
3. When was the first police department formed?

I've always heard that history is sometimes "rewritten" by an author/s, so I'm seeking just-the-facts-ma'am kind of material. Thank you!

I have found it to be very difficult to find accurate information regarding the military tactics of the pre-Roman peoples of Britain and Ireland. I have mostly found websites which I do find completely trustworthy and the Greco-Roman sources were often made as propaganda. Most of these sources depict the Britons as simply throwing a volley of javelins and then running into the enemy. I question these accounts as I feel that they could have easily developed basic tactics such as a shield wall. What would a professional's opinion on this be?