I know the idea of buried treasure came from Captain kid, the one leg came from Treasure Island, the long beard and tricorn hats came from Blackbeard, and the skull with swords was popularized by Calico Jack, but where did the parrot come from? Was there ever really a pirate that had a pet parrot? Or was there some work of fiction that popularized it?

I assume it has to be grounded somehow in the politics of Revolutionary America, but I don't understand the connection that would cause so many to think it is not only correct but plainly obvious that states should possess sovereign immunity over citizens, or why holding otherwise is some great affront to the dignity of a frankly pretty abstract institution. But you look at the speed at which the 11th Amendment was created and ratified and the near total unanimity behind it and it's obvious to me that people took great offense at Chisholm v. Georgia. What's the deal?

Trying to throw a Canterbury Tales-themed party and was curious what food would fit with the period.

This is probably a very broad question. What I mean by it is, were war mauls ever used? I mean long sticks with a great hammerheads attached, or just a blunt object. Usually very heavy, I can't see how these weapons could have any practical value in a fight except for someone very, very strong - so were such weapons used, or are they just a fictional fantasy weapon that has made its way into the mainstream?

I was reading Väinö Linnas Unknown Soldier, when I came to a part where one of the Finnish soldiers sees a dead, "mongolian" looking soldier. I know the author was fighting in the same front, but I haven't heard of asian soldiers on the eastern front.

Are they comparable to modern archers, and how much did changes in technology affect accuracy? Were archers from other parts of the world more skilled?

I'm assuming that spoken language will be nearly impossible to trace that far back so I'm asking about written language. I learned a little about PIE but are there examples that go even further back?

Edit: Technically I mean the Byzantine empire.

I read earlier today that the danish King Christian 1. pawned the Orkney- and Shetland islands i the 15th century. These could apparently be bought back today for 58.000 gylden. This made me wonder what methods are being used when converting old currencies to new and what the case is for the gylden and maybe others such as the roman sesterces.

I recently saw the famous Sharpe TV series and it portrays as widely accepted the fact that soldier's families lived inside military camps and travelled with the army for the duration of the campaign. How accurate is this ?

Did the higher-ups in the Roman legions and armies give all their soldiers armor? Were all troops given a "lorica segmentata"?

I work in a laboratory doing research in Atlantic provinces of Canada. Lately, we've been trying to get people in New Brunswick to participate in the study and there has been a severe negative reaction from the french-speaking population to our primarily English-speaking staff, saying things like "You English have no business being here!".

I've encountered behavior like this before, when I was a child and visited Quebec City.

Why do they behave this way regarding the English?

Hello:

Several years ago I was watching a show on Islam on the Discovery Channel/History Channel. The show quoted Mohammed as saying, something about the dangers of Greek philosophy. After considerable searching on my own, I never found any such quote. Does anyone have any insight into this?

With graduation coming up tomorrow night, I found myself wondering where the weird design for the caps came from. It doesn't seem to make any practical sense as a hat, with basically a fitted skullcap and a piece of cardboard. Is it symbolic? Does it represent anything? And how long have they been around?

Perhaps my question is wrongfully put to begin with, perhaps there is no such thing as a "sudden change" in history. But I'll ask anyway, and see what comes out of it…

There must have been moments in history where something began/ended "just like that". At some point, WW2 ended in Italy. Someone signed the surrender, and Mussolini was killed. Then what? What happened in practice, did someone walk up to the soldiers that were in the middle of war and said "Guys, you can take down your weapons and go home. It's over, the war is over. Thanks for you participation"?

At some moment in history, the abolition of slavery in the USA was written into law. Then what? Did the marshalls of all southern states walk up to the slave owners and said "Hi, Mr. Man, I'm here to release your slaves." and then said to the slaves "You're all free now. Have a good day"?

Could you please explain how these things are done in practice?

I'm writing a screenplay taking place in the time of Hadrian. As far as costuming I'm sure I'll need to buy armor so I want to know what type of soldiers there were during this time and what did they look like? I have a Cane Corso so I'd like to utilize him too if possible.