102
votes
Accepted
What fueled the street lights in 13th-century Cordoba?
I have traced back this claim to its original source. Come along with me on this journey! Let's start with a source which used to be linked on Wikipedia and is commonly cited online:
For ten miles in ...
- 2,429
58
votes
Accepted
Why does the King of Spain still claim defunct titles like the King of Hungary?
They're maintained as a matter of tradition, which is not unusual in monarchies. It's used both for prestige and as a relic of an era when European diplomacy revolved around territorial claims of the ...
- 97.4k
55
votes
Why was Spanish Fascist dictatorship left in power after World War II?
WW II was primarily a power struggle, and to a lesser degree an ideological struggle.
This means that your assumption about the motivations of WW II are incorrect. If it had been an ideological ...
- 3,519
40
votes
Accepted
Why was the Spanish kingdom in America called New Spain if Spain didn't exist as a country back then?
‘Spain’ in the sense of ‘Hispania’, alluding to the Roman province, certainly existed as a concept at the time, even if the Kingdom didn’t (yet). Indeed, there’s several medieval Kings in the Iberian ...
- 1,256
37
votes
Accepted
Why does a Star of David appear at a rally with Francisco Franco?
Q Why does a Star of David appear at a rally with Francisco Franco?
Because the symbol was much more ambiguous at the time, and not a one-to-one signifier of "Jewishness".
Because Franco ...
- 80.8k
33
votes
Accepted
Why was Spanish Fascist dictatorship left in power after World War II?
The OP said this in a comment:
technically speaking, Spain was a satellite state. However, the treaty was mainly intended for the countries within the big blocks so I assume it was just ignored.
The ...
- 54.9k
31
votes
Accepted
How and when was Portugal created?
I mean if the people felt they were Portuguese how could they accept kings with Asturian origins?
Because they didn't feel they were "Portuguese" until later on.
Firstly, you are taking the modern ...
- 12.4k
31
votes
Accepted
Why isn't there a single trace of Germanic influence in Iberian Languages?
(Note that there are definitively many traces of Germanic influence on Spanish/Portuguese. For example, as @AlbertYago's pointed out, the Iberian vocabulary contains several Germanic imports; ...
- 97.4k
27
votes
Accepted
Did the Allies try to "bribe" Franco to join them in World War II?
Stanley G Payne's Franco and Hitler: Spain, Germany and World War II is a good study of Spain's relationships with Germany, and secondarily with the UK and USA, during the war.
The Allies never tried ...
- 31.4k
25
votes
Accepted
What kind of knife could this be?
Got it, is a Spanish M1969 Bayonet, check it here: https://www.preferredarms.com/weapons/daggers.php
- 1,900
23
votes
How has Catalonia ended up being so nationalist?
Short answer: The latest flareup is the most recent of many that have taken place over the centuries.
More details are found in this wiki article on Catalonia. But basically, Catalonia was always the ...
- 104k
22
votes
Why does a Star of David appear at a rally with Francisco Franco?
Although we can't tell the colours from the OP's photo, and although the dimensions are different, circumstantial evidence suggests this may be the flag of the Khalif of Morocco, the puppet ruler who ...
- 108k
20
votes
How and when was Portugal created?
As mentioned in the comments, the Wikipedia entry on this subject does not adequately describe the situation and causes of the foundation of Portugal.
The creation of Portugal was nothing short of a ...
- 37.8k
18
votes
Accepted
How long did it take to get news of the sighting of the Spanish Armada from Land’s End to London?
It seems to me that there are a number of variables to this, many of which would vary from beacon to beacon, so getting an 'accurate' transmission time for the information is going to be almost ...
- 4,781
17
votes
Accepted
Did any Moors accompany Hernando de Soto in his exploration of Mississippi?
I understand that there are four surviving accounts of de Soto's expedition.
Three of those accounts were written by survivors:
Rodrigo Rangel or Ranjel, who was de Soto’s personal secretary;
Luys ...
- 77.3k
16
votes
Why does the King of Spain still claim defunct titles like the King of Hungary?
It's actually not that unusual for monarchs to claim titles in pretence as a means of increasing their prestige. The Kings of England and Great Britain had famously claimed to also be Kings/Queens of ...
- 77.3k
15
votes
Did the Allies try to "bribe" Franco to join them in World War II?
Short Answer
Not only is there no evidence that the Allies tried to 'bribe' Spain to declare war on the Axis, there is strong evidence that the Allies knew any such attempt would be futile for several ...
- 108k
14
votes
How has Catalonia ended up being so nationalist?
a response from a mostly neutral, catalan born citizen.
TL;DR:
Catalonia isn't suffering a rise of nationalism, but of neo-autonomism / pro-independence, mainly due to loss of civil rights, economic ...
- 1,489
14
votes
Why did Charlemagne retreat after the Battle of Pamplona?
The short answer is that Charlemagne didn’t have much choice. Roger Collins, in ‘Early Medieval Europe 300 – 1000' asserts that
The expedition that Charles led into the Ebro valley in 778 was ill-...
- 108k
14
votes
Accepted
Do medieval historic references to "Semites" refer to Jews or to speakers of Semitic in general?
There are no medieval historic references to "Semites". The word did not exist until the late 18th Century. It was coined by Historian August Ludwig von Schlözer to have a useful word to describe that ...
- 118k
13
votes
Accepted
Did Franco ever refer to his regime as Fascist?
No. Franco was a Falangist, and called himself that. (In real life more of a military opportunist, who grabbed his chance.) Fascists were the followers of Mussolini. Hitler was a National-Socialist. ...
- 20.9k
12
votes
Accepted
Could the nukes involved in the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash have detonated?
It seems unlikely that the 1966 incident could have resulted in the nuclear explosion of one or more of the four hydrogen bombs that fell at Palomares, and I am not aware of any serious claims to the ...
- 77.3k
12
votes
Accepted
What is the approximate value of a Spanish ducat in 1557?
Lifting the contents of the very helpful link provided by @gvk into an answer:
Source: Fiat Money in 17th Century Castile, by François R. Velde, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and Warren E. Weber, ...
- 13.4k
12
votes
Accepted
What was the expected retirement age for men in Spain in 1936?
In the Ley del Retiro Obrero from 1919, the age for retirement of workers was established at 65 years.
The Law was applied from 1923 on, but it was criticized by the patrons and the high corruption ...
- 584
11
votes
What is the basis of the Spanish claim to Gibraltar?
1) what is the basis for the Spanish state’s actions? Any damn basis they please. They’re a Westphalian state. Being a sovereign entity involves never having to say you’re sorry unless another entity ...
- 14.6k
11
votes
Did Franco ever refer to his regime as Fascist?
The evidence from Franco's own statements strongly suggests that he did not, at least in public. In fact, from 1937, he specifically rejected the term for the Falangists, though he did concede that ...
- 108k
11
votes
Accepted
In the Spanish-American War (1898), who formally declared war first?
Spain formally declared war first on April 23 1898. Documentos presentados á las Cortes en la legislatura de 1898 (Google Books):
El estado de guerra existente entre España y los Estados Unidos ...
- 691
10
votes
Accepted
In Francoist Spain, what steps were required for non-Catholics to marry?
what was required for non-Catholics to marry in Francoist Spain? Imagine, for example, that two Protestants want to marry in Spain in 1950
Short answer for 1950: they needed an affidavit expressing ...
- 1,914
10
votes
Did any Moors accompany Hernando de Soto in his exploration of Mississippi?
The entire image in question can be seen here. Under the image is a numbered scene describing the images individuals. The person in question is listed as Moorish Servant.
A little more research into ...
- 38.6k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible