Questions tagged [europe]
It is the second smallest continent, forming the Western extension of Eurasia.
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Were eastern weapons ever seen in medieval Europe and western weapons ever seen in medieval Asia? [closed]
Like could some trader in medieval France be selling a katana or urumi amongst his wares that he obtained in his travels? Could a merchant in Japan have a zweihander or flamberge in his collection?
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How did the Hansa organize river trade in the 14th and 15th centuries?
How did the Hansa accommodate the transition from sea to river trade along a trade route? Would river travel have been controlled by one group of people, e.g., Guild of the River Oder Merchants? Would ...
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Do these depictions of hunt in medieval Catholic churches have the same symbolic meaning? If not, what is it?
I have come across 3 depictions of a hunt in Catholic churches.
The first two are tiles that were on the floors of an English abbey and a church not far from Reims, France; I could not find any ...
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What percentage of the population were serfs by region/year?
Where can I find statistics on the percentage of the population that were serfs, ideally broken down by country/region and by year? Even very rough estimates would be helpful, but unfortunately I've ...
user38378
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How did Western leaders justify NATO's eastwards expansion after promising the Soviet leadership it won't happen?
Western leaders apparently promised Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastwards and threaten Soviet security interests. Leaders named include Baker, Bush, Genscher, Kohl, ...
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How did private property work in medieval France?
Were you required to purchase a land deed to get permission from the ruler of the area, or could you build wherever you wanted? If the latter is how it worked throughout Europe for the most part, I ...
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Were people really as haphazardly *burned at the stake* back in the day in Europe as they make it out to have been? [closed]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalrician
This is just one of countless articles/stories I've read over the years about how some crazy folks in Europe burned other, equally crazy folks at the stake -- ...
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Please help decipher this artist signature in Hebrew [closed]
I acquired a couple years 2 paintings by the same artist. From my research, the signature is in Hebrew.
The paintings were acquired in Austin, Texas but I don't think these are from United States but ...
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Is there a place in Europe that has never been Christian?
Before the advent of Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, Europe had numerous religions over at least 40 thousand years, as archaeologic evidence shows.
Is there any place/community where Celtic, ...
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What was the societal structure of Celtic culture in the Hallstatt period? [closed]
What was the societal structure of Celtic culture in the Hallstatt period? There does not seem to be much information online about this.
My preliminary research consists of looking on Wikipedia for ...
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Who were the first "businessmen" to rival the kings throughout the world? [closed]
The merchants seem to have existed for as long as human history. But when did they begin to "take over" the kings? By that I mean, by the time of the "tycoons" like the Oil and Train people of the ...
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What have been the major milestones in the creation of state literacy policies?
There have been times as literacy was not obligatory. So, many people were not able to read/write in their mother tongue, but it was just normal.
Today, most people are literate, and this is a result ...
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What were the most popular destinations for British and American tourists on the Continent in the period 1880-1900?
How common was English and American travel to the Continent of Europe between 1880-1900? By businessmen, families, debutantes, honeymooners, politicians etc.
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Why don't Americans claim English ancestry? [closed]
Through a lot of American Movies and TV shows, and also my personal experiences of interacting with people in America, I know that most White Americans are informed of their European ancestry, and are ...
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Did medieval archers shoot from both sides of the bow?
Most modern archers are taught to shoot with Mediterranean style; that is, putting the arrow on the left side of the bow (if they're right handed) and pulling the string with 3 fingers. Some claim ...
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How would “distraint of knighthood” law in medieval England fit with the fact that all knights must be of noble birth?
I've read recently about “distraint of knighthood” law in medieval England started by Henry III but I found it very strange indeed.
This law forced all rich people who has 40 £ or more to be knighted ...
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Who or what were the Nassadista?
I have encountered several references to Nassadista in a 16th century Latin manuscript. As far as I can tell the noun is masculine, first declension (nominative plural Nassadistæ).
Context implies ...
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How was the Pandidakterion organised?
How was the Pandidakterion organised?
Wikipedia:Pandidakterion states that the Pandidakterion lacked 'corporative structure'. I do not understant exactly what the corporative structure is and how was ...
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How could wells back in the day work? [closed]
One of the many things that have confused me all my life is the concept of wells.
I get that somebody, long ago, discovered that there's sometimes/often water in the ground, once you dig deeply ...
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In which East European country in the 1980s did people put their TVs in front of windows and turn them facing outside?
Years ago, I read an article about the period during which regime changes happened in Eastern European countries in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was mentioned in the article that, in one of ...
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Did healers in medieval Europe use moldy bread in poultices for wounds?
In a Song of Ice and Fire, injured characters are frequently given a poultice made of, amongst other things, moldy bread.
We drowned the wound with boiling wine, and closed you up with a poultice ...
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How much power and influence could a child monarch have?
As I understand, if a monarch died before his heir reached adulthood, the heir would still become a king or queen regardless of age, but the country would be temporarily governed by a regent. I want ...
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How did Adam Worth make sure his crooks didn't keep what they stole?
I'm currently reading through the The Life and Times of Adam Worth and as much as I'm fascinated by Adam Worth and his mastermind for 19th century crime, there is one thing that the book fails to ...
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What authority did the Catholic Church have over European monarchs from 900–1450?
I recently described the Catholic Church as a superpower during the Middle Ages and was surprised a respected member of the board (LangLangC) objected to that characterization and thought the Catholic ...
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When did the number of motor driven vehicles surpass the number of horse driven vehicles in Paris, London, Berlin?
What exact year (or the closest approximation) did the number of motor driven vehicles surpass the number of horse driven vehicles (including the single horseman) on the streets of Paris?
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How did the Druids learn the Greek language by the time of Caesar's campaign in Gaul?
In Latin class, we are translating parts of Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War. One thing that struck me as odd is how Caesar describes the customs of the Gauls, especially in Book 6, where he ...
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Are there factors which caused the printing revolution to begin in Europe in 1450 and not some other place some other time?
The printing press was a big deal. It brought a communication revolution and led to the development of larger collective consciousnesses.
What I am refering to the printing revolution is the ...
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Was the Iron curtain actually present at the time of the Fulton speech?
On March 5th, 1946, Winston Churchill said in his Sinews of Peace speech that
From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
At the end ...
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Were there any monarchs of England or the United Kingdom who were not technically first in the line of succession? [closed]
Pretty self-explanatory. Who (if anyone) became an English/UK monarch without being the actual heir to the previous monarch (due to wars, coups, etc.)? Bonus points for circumstances.
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Who is this particular inventor from XIX century?
I came acros with the following description about a certain inventor from XIX century:
An illustrious 19th-century European character who amassed an immense fortune thanks to his more than three ...
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How were the beds in which privileged man in medieval Europe slept? [closed]
I think it is correct to say that for all medieval Europe time the basic peasant, worker bed was a cold stone floor or at most a mattress made out of straw. I wonder how and on top of what powerful ...
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How were precise hand drawn illustrations copied between the 16th and 20th century in Europe?
What were the methods used to copy detailed illustrations for distribution throughout the period between 1500 and 1900 (excluding photography)? I'm particularly interested in techniques common in ...
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Who is this statue of?
Purchased it from an Italian leather shop in Budapest Hungary. Curious to find out the history behind it. I was recently informed it may be of a Hungarian cowboy. His outfit looks a bit formal. It ...
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What uniform is my Cossack great great grandfather wearing?
The man bellow with the medals and the beard is my great great grandfather. He was a Cossack in the Urals, I have been looking for ages but I can not find what Cossack uniform he is wearing.
I really ...
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Why was silage only invented in the 19th century?
For thousands of years in the Northern climates mankind had to slaughter a large proportion of their livestock due to a shortage of winter fodder.
What prevented mankind from using silage/haylage ...
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Which EU countries insisted on unanimous voting for trade deals?
Question prompted by this tweet by Jo Maugham in reaction to a HuffPost article:
Humiliating, really, but if we leave the EU we'll have to brown-nose every single one of the Member States: ...
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Was there a semi-professional soldiering class in Early Middle Ages Europe?
We're all familiar with the basic setup of feudal society: a large class of peasants supporting a small martial-administrative class of knights. In the event of a big war, peasants get handed some ...
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How much did it cost to buy a ticket on the Orient Express from Paris to Istanbul in 1914?
I'm trying to find out how much it cost to travel on the Orient Express in its heyday. Was it a luxury for the rich, or something middle-class people could reasonably afford?
To be concrete: how much ...
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Who are these people in this satirical cartoon of the Congress of Verona?
Who are these people in this satirical cartoon of the Congress of Verona?
Alternative images, click for details:
Three men in military dress sit around a rectangular table - a fourth man has stood ...
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How were large monetary transactions conducted in medieval Europe?
Recently, I have read in the news about a large hoard of Norman coins in England being found. Apparently, all of these coins were silver pennies. And then it occurred to me that small silver coins ...
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What should I call bands of armed men in the Middle Ages?
I am writing a fiction short story roughly based off medieval times in Europe. In it I have a group of men who live in a castle and fight for the castle's lord. (They mainly protect the surrounding ...
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What kind of bullet did I find in Swiss glacial ice?
I found this bullet frozen in glacial ice in Switzerland. There is no visible stamp on it anymore and unfortunately did not have any precise measuring equipment with me. I can measure the size of my ...
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Any information about the photo with Army Uniforms
Found an old photo and want to identify which period does it belong to and where it could have been taken or which country are these soldiers from. Found word "Brattig" on the other side, maybe ...
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Was Ludwig von Mises a holocaust survivor? [closed]
Von Mises left Europe to avoid the Nazis. Does that make him a Holocaust Survivor?
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What does this signature say?
I’m having difficulty of reading what this fancy signature or fancy writing says on my great grandfather’s ring?
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Did every medieval village in Europe have a manor, castle, or other type of lord's residence?
I know that some villages were the sole and only property of certain minor lords or knights. Such villages surely had a manor (or even a castle) where the lord lives.
On the other hand, many lords ...
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What is the relationship between land claims and ranks of nobility? [closed]
I'm of the understanding that nobility tittles in ancient Europe(and maybe nobility in general) entail land claims. However, does the significance of their tittle affect the size of land given to them?...
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How were Martello towers supposed to work?
Having recently seen a Martello tower on the East coast of England, I tried to find-out what the defensive strategy was supposed to be - but the internet seems very short on information.
The South-...
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Why are most of the world's oldest buildings in Europe and not in the Fertile Crescent?
Looking at the list of the world's ten oldest surviving human constructed buildings, many are in Europe while the oldest building in what (with a generous interpretation of the concept) could be ...
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What were the rejected designs for the Euro symbol?
The Euro symbol (€), supposedly but not certainly designed by Alain Billiet, was selected from a pool of proposals. According to a very official-looking document from europa.eu:
Some thirty drafts ...
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