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History Resources - refdesk.com - StumbleUpon
Arms and Armor-Common Misconceptions and Frequently Asked Questions | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art - StumbleUpon
The field of arms and armor is beset with romantic legends, gory myths, and widely held misconceptions. Their origins usually are to be found in a lack of knowledge of, and experience with, genuine objects and their historical background. Most of them are utter nonsense, devoid of any historical base. Perhaps the most infamous example is the notion that "knights had to be hoisted into their saddles with a crane," which is as absurd as it is persistent even among many historians. In other instances, certain technical details that escape an obvious explanation have become the focus of lurid and fantastically imaginative attempts to explain their original function. Among these, the lance rest, an object protruding from the proper right side of many breastplates, probably holds first place.The tables below are divided by era. The lists are being enlarged all the time. There is also a search engine for more specific searches of the data.
The History and Geography of Inventions - StumbleUpon
The 15 Most Infamous Assassinations in History - GOOD Blog - GOOD
The seeming prosperity and glittering power of Spain in the 16th century proved a sham and an illusion in the long run. For it was fuelled almost completely by the influx of silver and gold from the Spanish colonies in the New World. In the short run, the influx of bullion provided a means by which the Spanish could purchase and enjoy the products of the rest of Europe and Asia; but in the long run, price inflation wiped out this temporary advantage. The result was that when the influx of specie dried up, in the 17th century, little or nothing remained. Not only that — the bullion prosperity induced people and resources to move to southern Spain, particularly the port of Seville, where the new specie entered Europe.

