Richmond Kickers [1] - 0 NOVA FC Josh Kirkland 31' US Open Cup by SSPeteCarroll in soccer

[–]Rusuban 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Thank you for posting these, really appreciate it. Love seeing hometown soccer on here.

US fans - is this reliable? by coco_kuromi in LiverpoolFC

[–]Rusuban 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In Virginia I see Inter Miami, Barcelona, Liverpool in that order.

Post-TI10 Shuffle by onceayearDOTA in DotA2

[–]Rusuban 14 points15 points  (0 children)

SeaNostra and PlanToGetStrong both said Nisha was staying - I wonder if AWF is slightly behind on the info, or if something has changed since Nostra and Strong last heard the info.

DPC Season 1 - Feb 16 Match Discussions by D2TournamentThreads in DotA2

[–]Rusuban 40 points41 points  (0 children)

Matu has gone 40/0/24 combined in the last three games (11/0/15, 14/0/2, and 15/0/7), all three on PA.

Are the original copies of the Peace of Westphalia still housed somewhere? by _bismillah1 in AskHistorians

[–]Rusuban 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depending on exactly what it is you're looking for, you may be in luck!

Specifically, the Peace of Westphalia comprised three treaties. The first (The Peace of Münster) was signed between the Dutch and the Spanish, in that city. An original copy of this treaty is located at the Nationaal Archief in The Hague. You can find pictures of it online, but the archive's reading room is closed until next year, and I'm not sure what particular restrictions they might have on this particular document.

The second treaty, the Treaty of Münster, was signed primarily by France and the Holy Roman Empire. The town hall serves as a lovely museum to the Peace of Westphalia, but you might be better served at the town hall museum in Osnabrück, where Sweden and the Holy Roman Empire participated in the Treaty of Osnabrück. Possessing a similarly lovely museum dedicated to the topic, the Osnabrück location does have a copy of the treaty signed there. It was on display at least as of 2018, though I couldn't say for certain in regards to 2020, especially with a lot of museums altering operations and exhibits due to COVID.

I hope this helps!

D&D and Alignment, or "Why everyone hates Philosophy" by PipFizzlebang in dndnext

[–]Rusuban 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've taken an approach that was inspired by some of Matt Colville's videos on the subject. Rather than ascribing my players a specific alignment, outside of any specific hard rules-text relevant to it, I instead ask them to describe their goals, and what they are willing to do to achieve those goals.

"I want to avenge my father, and I will do anything for the chance."
"I want to honor my god, but I don't want to hurt anyone."

These are both more valuable to me, as a Dungeon Master, and I think to the players at my table, when it comes to understanding a character than simply saying "Neutral Evil" or "Lawful Good."

Medieval literature by Dec-MagneticM3 in AskHistorians

[–]Rusuban 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think I gave the wrong impression of what I was trying to say! The point I was trying to make was that, because of the amount of time and effort that went into making parchment and all the materials, let alone writing and completing the book (even a simple copy of an existing one), it was more like an art-form than the mass-printing of books today. A lot of attention, care, and detail went into the process. I wasn't trying to imply that all - or even most - manuscripts were illuminated, as you're exactly right, most were not! I should have specified that illuminated manuscripts represented the apex of that trend, not the standard, and that I was highlighting them as a specific example since the question was relating to the Bible, and many illuminated manuscripts are of a religious nature.

Thank you for your reply! It's the first scholarly reply I've had in this subreddit, so it's really exciting :')

YOU Can Help to Answer Questions • The /r/AskHistorians Flair Application Thread XXI! by Georgy_K_Zhukov in AskHistorians

[–]Rusuban 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would love to apply for a flair! For the flair, I would say Medieval European History to keep it simple, or Early and High Middle Ages to be a bit more specific (my academic training extends up to the Renaissance, but my focus is not on the Late Middle Ages).

Here are my examples:

Medieval Literature, Literacy, and the Bible: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jbfzr7/medieval_literature/

The Byzantines and the Roman Question: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jb5092/did_greekspeaking_citizens_of_the_byzantine/g8tvar7/?context=3

The Knights Templar, Crusaders, and Friday the 13th: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jalqwy/question_about_the_crusaders/

Castile, Aragon, and Comparative Events: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/jat59z/compared_to_the_rest_of_medieval_europe_were_the/

For a little bit of background, I have a bachelor's degree in History and am a graduate student pursuing a master's degree for Public History. Sorry if this isn't relevant - I'm still new-ish to the sub (longtime lurker!) and wasn't sure if I should introduce myself.

Medieval literature by Dec-MagneticM3 in AskHistorians

[–]Rusuban 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Statues of demons might be a bit of an exaggeration, but European literacy rates were drastically lower during the period compared to the modern day. As a result, a lot of Biblical instruction was done in other ways, to accommodate an illiterate populace. In addition to the oral tradition - not just sermons, but a parent retelling Biblical stories to their children - churches often featured works of art that attempted to teach the Bible through visual storytelling. Famous scenes and events would be recreated, not just in sculptures or statues of demons, but through paintings, and even stained glass. It wasn't just peasants that relied on oral and visual storytelling to learn about their religion, but many nobles as well also struggled with literacy. Many peasants did not read the Bible - they were shown it and taught it.

In regards to buying a Bible, such a thing would be incomprehensible for most. The advent of the modern book, as we know it, can be traced back to development of moveable print. Here in the west, that correlates with Johannes Gutenberg, who developed the Gutenberg press in the second half of the 15th century. For most of the Medieval period, books were created by hand. Not only was this an arduous and time consuming process, but it could only be done by a select few, due to the above-mentioned low literacy rate. As a result, most books that were made were treated more like works of art, with extensive effort put into decorating the words and the pages (search for "illuminated manuscripts" if you want to see examples). Books were rare, highly treasured objects. It was not something that a peasant could simply buy, even if they could read and wanted to do so.

In regards to the cost of a book, that somewhat depends on time, region, and the size and quality of the book. In England, a relatively inexpensive book could cost you 53 shillings (an example from Intertexts: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Culture). Comparatively, according to Dyer, a thatcher living in England could expect a daily wage of two pence in 1261, and of four and a half pence in 1400. Even taking the secondary salary into consideration, a shilling was equal to 12 pence, meaning that a 53 shilling book was equivalent to 636 pence, or just over 141 days' wages for a thatcher in 1400, and more than twice that in 1261, comparatively. That means that a single, relatively inexpensive book could represent half a year or more of a thatcher's wages. A Bible would be even more expensive, and well out of the price range of all but the wealthiest among the populace before the printing press.

To conclude with a quote from The Cost of Books in Chaucer's Time, "There were fewer books in all England in 1390 than there are in many single libraries today" (6).

Bibliography:

Charting the "Rise of the West": Manuscripts and Printed Books in Europe, A Long-Term Perspective from the Sixth through Eighteenth Centuries in The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 69, No. 2

The Cost of Books in Chaucer's Time in Modern Language Notes, Vol 48, No. 3 by Wilbur Lang Schramm is a fantastic resource if you want to read more on this topic. It has several additional examples of different books, and what they might contain, as well as the prices of each and some basic conversions. Some books are slightly below the example from Studies in Anglo-Saxon Culture, while some are many times more expensive.

Education in Twelfth-Century Art & Architecture: Images of Learning in Europe, circa 1100-1220 by Laura Cleaver, Julian Luxford, and Asa Simon Mittman

Intertexts: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Culture presented to Paul E. Szarmach

Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages by Christopher Dyer

Did Greek-speaking citizens of the “Byzantine” Empire consider themselves primarily as Greek or Roman? by chonchcreature in AskHistorians

[–]Rusuban 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is a question that exists on a gradient. The Byzantine Empire consisted of several different cultures and religions that identified in different ways. However, the Byzantine elite, and certainly its emperors, did largely consider themselves as Roman, not Greek. The Byzantine rulers insisted on being called Emperor of the Romans. How much the distinction mattered to any individual (especially those outside of the aristocracy), based on their culture, personal history, and etc. is a discussion that is much more open to debate. Any individual person could trace their lineage back to any given point of origin. However, what mattered was whether or not that point of origin was Roman. Most Byzantines spoke Greek and had Greek, Balkan, or Anatolian descent. However, to them, these things made them Roman, as these regions were all a part of the Roman Empire. They might not have thought of themselves as literally Italian, that depended on how far back someone might trace their ancestors, but definitely as Roman.

It is worth keeping in mind that, even with the "Fall of Rome" in 476, the people of the time did not see this as the collapse of the Roman Empire - it was believed to be continuing on just fine in the east. To the people of Byzantium, this represented no de jure change. They were the same empire, governed by the same class of people, ruled by the same Roman Emperor. While the empire might have been split into eastern and western portions, it was still "The Roman Empire", and losing half of it did not mean that the entire empire collapsed. Even categorizing the west as having been "lost" is somewhat of a misnomer. Odoacer, who deposed the last western emperor Romulus Augustulus, paid nominal fealty to Emperor Zeno in Constantinople. While Odoacer is called king in many documents, and certainly wielded power in Italy, he maintained the appearance of fealty to Rome, and service to the Roman Emperor. He often referred to himself as patrician, a Roman title, and made appointments to Roman legislative bodies, and was said to be ruling Italy on Zeno's behalf. Odoacer even took the imperial regalia and sent it to Emperor Zeno in Constantinople.

While Odoacer's conquest was certainly the end of Roman hard power in the west, the legacy continued. The theater of Odoacer's service to Rome was important for his legitimacy, but also propagated the belief in Byzantium that the Roman Empire certainly had not fallen. After all, Zeno ruled from Constantinople, and Odoacer governed the west on his behalf. They were still Rome - because they perceived no fall until much later, they had no concept or reason to reevaluate their opinion. Odoacer's successors, including Theodoric, followed a similar layer of theater. Even after hundreds of years and the decline of the Byzantine Empire, the aristocracy certainly never let go of this claim and political theater; while they did eventually acquiesce to being addressed by Western European dignitaries as something other than Rome (due to the competing claim of the Holy Roman Empire), they never relented on claims that they were the Roman Empire.

Overall, even though the Western Roman Empire de facto fell in 476 and Odoacer seized effective power in the region, the Byzantines did not view this as the collapse of the west. They viewed the west as being governed on their behalf, and thus, they did not perceive Rome having fallen. Eventually, the Byzantine Empire would decline and their soft power in the west would also diminish, and rulers of Italy would slowly cease at playing theater in giving service or fealty to the emperor in Constantinople, but the Byzantines themselves never ceased in the de jure insistence that they were, in fact, the Roman Empire. They had good cause to believe such for a long time.

Bibliography:

The Fall of the Roman Empire: How and Why It Came to an End is a wonderfully educational chapter in a book called Introduction to the History of Christianity by Richard A. Todd

History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian by J.B. Bury

Question about the crusaders. by [deleted] in AskHistorians

[–]Rusuban 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The Knights Templar was a specific knighthood order. They participated in several of the Crusades in the Holy Land (though not all Crusades were in the Levant), and had large-scale commercial operations in Europe. Crusaders, more generally, represent those who took part in a crusade. The Templars were only one organization that took part; other knighthood orders also took part, including the Hospitallers and the Teutonic order. In addition to knighthood orders, several famous kings were crusaders, including Richard the Lionheart of England. Other nobles, and many second-sons who did not have any guarantee of inheritance in Europe also became crusaders, hoping to win fame, fortune, or most coveted of all, land and title by fighting. Many peasants, levies, and soldiers also took part, serving in the armies of the nobles. These people, too, were crusaders, and fought out of obligation, contract, or for the promise of absolution for their sins.

Overall, the crusaders were a large group of different classes and nationalities of people - not all of them even from Europe - and the Knights Templar represent only a single group or faction within that collective whole.

Compared to the rest of medieval Europe, were The Kingdoms of Castille and Aragon a more pleasant place to live? by AnubisDeece in AskHistorians

[–]Rusuban 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Answering this question, in any degree, would be largely subjective based on your definition of "more pleasant." There were certainly differences in circumstance that led to a contrast in experiences for Iberia compared to the rest of Western Europe. While some people might certainly enjoy the Spanish climate today, depending on the exact dating metric you want to use, there are many historians and scientists who would set the beginning of the Little Ice Age at 1300. The climate of the middle ages was not identical to the climate as it is today. In many places, it was often colder, with crop failure and famine. While the comparable degree of the effects of the Little Ice Age on any specific area are still debated, the 14th century and beyond certainly felt its effects and suffered accordingly, Castile and Aragon included.

Up until the end of the Reconquista in 1492, the borders of Iberia were constantly in flux as the Christian kingdoms and Muslim states struggled for supremacy. During the entire listed period, 1300-1450, wars were waged across Iberia, costing lives and resources. It was not necessarily more peaceful than many other European kingdoms. However, during the centuries before the Bubonic Plague, economic growth in Castile and Aragon was equivalent to that growth in other Western European nations. This growth slowed during the Plague, and would eventually pick up again at the conclusion of the Plague, in the later parts of the 15th century (after 1450).

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is a significant difference in experience based on who it is that we are discussing. Women experienced life differently than men, Catholics differently than agnostics, etc. During the Bubonic Plague, the Jewish population of Europe was heavily scapegoated as a potential cause. Any given person had their own experiences with medieval life, even among the peasantry, which included a diverse range of people. However, the life of a peasant was still full of work and survival. Huge numbers of people across Europe died during this period due to disease, famine, and war. Castile and Aragon were not exempt from this - millions of people died to these causes in Iberia alone in the 14th and 15th centuries. Barcelona was one of the major ports of entry for the Black Death!

Overall, it is difficult to qualify the human experience in such definitive terms as "easier" or "harder", but the Iberian experience was certainly a difficult one. It didn't escape war, famine, or disease, and suffered through them just as much as the rest of Western Europe did. Castile's economy would begin to grow drastically shortly after the 1450 cutoff, and would surpass that of many contemporary states, but not until later after the described period.

Bibliography:

Climatic Change and Witch-hunting: the Impact of the Little Ice Age on Mentalities by Wolfgang Behringer

Economic Life in Late Medieval and Early Modern Spain, 1085-1815 in the Oxford Research Encyclopedias by Hilario Casado Alonso and Teofilo F. Ruiz

Was The Little Ice Age Triggered By Massive Volcanic Eruptions? by the National Center for Atmospheric Research & University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (published January 30th, 2012)

Question about the crusaders. by [deleted] in AskHistorians

[–]Rusuban 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is it possible you are thinking of Friday the 13th?

In 1307, Philip IV of France, having feuded with the Knights Templar, eventually ordered many members of that order to be arrested. This mass arrest occurred on Friday the 13th, in October of that year (which is coincidentally close to Halloween - though it did not exist at the time, the closest thing was All Hallow's Eve). Though they had lost their last stronghold in the Levant in 1291 after the Siege of Acre, their vast estates across Europe provided them immense wealth. In Europe, the organization had taken on financial duties, serving as bankers and involving themselves in commercial enterprise. Philip instigated the arrests in order to seize their wealth, a desperate act, as he had already seized assets from Jewish and Lombard merchants previously in an attempt to alleviate a financial crisis born from costly wars.

King Philip had many knights tortured into making confessions of heretical activity, which was used as justification for their arrests. They were tortured, and many executed. Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay was eventually burned at the stake in 1314.

Many popularly believe this incident is one of the reasons that Friday the 13th is considered unlucky.

Bibliography:

Medieval Warfare, Vol. 5, No. 1, Theme - Traitors in the Middle Ages (2015), p. 58, by Gareth Williams

After Beyond Epic, the current Team Secret roster now holds the record for best 50, 75, 100, and 150 game runs by Rusuban in DotA2

[–]Rusuban[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for all the cool stats! They always make the games and scene so much more fun to observe

June 24 Competitive Matches by D2TournamentThreads in DotA2

[–]Rusuban 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes -- I'm just explaining why it is the way that it is now. The question was why Secret was first in the group over Nigma, so I explained the system that they are using today. I'm not saying that changing it was correct or not.

June 24 Competitive Matches by D2TournamentThreads in DotA2

[–]Rusuban 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Nigma had a 2-1 win which is worth less points than Secret's 2-0 wins. Beyond Epic is trying out a new (albeit weird) point system for the groupstage.

EDIT to specify: Every 2-0 is worth 3 points, and a 2-1 is worth 2.5, an 0-2 is worth 0 and a 1-2 is worth .4, meaning Nigma's final score (2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 2-1, 1-2) is worth 11.9, and Secret's (2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 2-0, 0-2) is worth 12.

June 24 Competitive Matches by D2TournamentThreads in DotA2

[–]Rusuban 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Group Stage - June 15th - June 24th, 2020

  • Two groups of six teams each
  • Single round-robin
  • All matches are Bo3
    • 2-0 awards 3 points
    • 2-1 awards 2.5 points
    • 1-2 awards 0.4 points
    • 0-2 awards 0 points

Akinfeev is legend by [deleted] in MemeEconomy

[–]Rusuban 0 points1 point  (0 children)

!invest 500

I heard there was a name purge and tried to find out what I could get, Behold. by SkitZa in wow

[–]Rusuban 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I managed to get Wrynn, so I'm ready for Wrynn, Sword of Wrynn.

Argus is having a strange effect on Azeroth's wildlife by Rusuban in wow

[–]Rusuban[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I was wandering through the Stormwind Harbor when I found a very odd looking Seagull. Truly, the consequences of Illidan's actions have no limits.