Hi! Absagebrief is a German word of a medieval/early modern letter of declaration of war. It contains threats and lots of insults. Fehdebrief is another word in German for the same concept. I am writing a paper on a fake absagebrief from 17nth century in English and I need to know if there is an English word for it. There must be an equivalent word considering that similar political customs existed in the whole of Western Europe. By the way, this word is still partially in use in the contemporary word with a meaning like letter of decline but I am only interested in the historical term. Thanks ahead!

We've all heard the theories that aliens visited them and there beacons or something, but what do actual historians think of the nazca lines?

In the first 4 years of war, the Allied powers struggled to defeat Germany, but looking at the timelines, it looked like starting in the August of 1918, war tides changed swiftly and Germany soon after signs the armistice in November.

How did the Allies go from struggling for 4 years to quickly handing Germany their defeat in a matter of months?

In many ways, this seems to be true, based on Germany's military power in the early 20th century and economic power today, but what about Germany supposedly gives them such inherent advantages? Is it their geopolitical positioning? Their natural resources? Something else?

How did the messengers travel? By horse? Or were news updated only when ships with soldiers returned home?

And going off of that, what are some more notable examples of this?

And why is 100 (emphasis on the 00) the accepted term/value for the number that comes after 99?

Maybe a silly (and possibly untrue?) question..But I just heard somewhere that they avoided eating beans at all cost. I find it hard to believe given the staple that beans are in most cultures diets. Any help?

I've been watching a lot of documentaries about the Great War but I have yet to see one that mentions how long soldiers stayed in combat, should they survive.

I ask because he seemed extremely reluctant to get involved in any military action that might lead to engagement with the US.

edit: I'm talking more about involvement in Asia, where during the sino-soviet alliance, he was reluctant to support Mao in Korea and Taiwan until he was finally convinced the US wouldn't get involved due to the Acheson speech.

Was he just being smart and trying to avoid more war or did he have some genuine fear that the US would inevitably win.

Note: I posted this a few days ago, but in the middle of the night so maybe it got no attention. Reposting now hoping someone has an answer. Mods, let me know if this is not ok.

So I'm watching the recent BBC series Poldark, which I hadn't heard of until I saw it randomly on Amazon Instant Video. (Side note: it's not bad - great production values, and a little schmaltzy, but a perfectly diverting melodrama).

Spoilers for Poldark below

Anyways, in the third episode, the main character, Ross Poldark, marries his kitchen maid. The show establishes that the Poldark family is a gentle one which owns land in Cornwall, but Ross is the son of a younger sibling, and his land is poor and unkept. He clearly marries his wife because he loves her, and despite the fact (or perhaps because of the fact) that he knows the rest of noble society will vilify him for it.

It ends up that the society at large does mock him for it, but most people are actually relatively accepting of it after an adjustment period, and she's mostly welcomed into the family despite her low birth.

Is this kind of situation remotely plausible? I know that the idea of nobility marrying commoners was just a fantasy in renaissance England, but I wonder if the fact that this occurs in 1800 (so relatively late) and the gentleman in question is not very rich or powerful makes it more plausible. And if it was plausible, what's the likelihood that the society types would "get over it" and just accept her as his wife?

Was reading St. Clare of Assisi's rules for women in her Christian ascetic movement, and it seemed that security and protection in this area was a important concern. Rules stipulating the number of locks and other safety measures on perimeter gates, supervision and tight restriction of men entering their facilities, etc.

What took place if a nun happened to be raped? Were there some circumstances under which the victim was considered blameless and others culpable? Was rape of female clergy punished more harshly than of a average woman? Was it handled differently if monk or priest were the perpetrator vs a passerby? Did being raped constitute violation of chastity vows? How might resulting pregnancies been handled?

Interested in primarily Western traditions of Christian ascetic movements from late antiquity to the 14th century; the ones mostly accepted as orthodox.

So in California, and maybe I am wrongly assuming the rest of the United States, people are always asked what college do you attend or what college are you planning on going to.

I found that the difference in the definition between college and university is that colleges don't offer graduate programs, but most people don't distinguish between the terms. College = University to most people and I'm trying to understand how that came to be.