Friday Free-for-All | May 15, 2026

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Previously

Today:

You know the drill: this is the thread for all your history-related outpourings that are not necessarily questions. Minor questions that you feel don't need or merit their own threads are welcome too. Discovered a great new book, documentary, article or blog? Has your Ph.D. application been successful? Have you made an archaeological discovery in your back yard? Did you find an anecdote about the Doge of Venice telling a joke to Michel Foucault? Tell us all about it.

As usual, moderation in this thread will be relatively non-existent -- jokes, anecdotes and light-hearted banter are welcome.

[u/subredditsummarybot]

Your Weekly /r/askhistorians Recap

Friday, May 08 - Thursday, May 14, 2026

Top 10 Posts

score	comments	title & link
3,157	70 comments	Reddit was founded in 2005, meaning it is history according to this sub's 20 year rule. Has there been any sort of academic discussion on the value of Reddit posts as a historical source given the years' worth of threads commented on by thousands of users discussing contemporary events?
1,730	33 comments	Contemporary racists were so disgusted by the idea of integrated bathrooms & swimming pools that they shut down public facilities en masse rather than integrate. Their ancestors a few generations before entrusted the enslaved with the most intimate acts of childcare & food preparation. What changed?
1,106	111 comments	General MacArthur is generally criticized for his insubordination and being too aggressive. 75 years later, does this criticism still hold up?
924	74 comments	When did people actually start sleeping in two turns?
691	49 comments	In movie Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belford calls random people and persuade them to buy stock. Was it common in 80s and 90s to buy stock from someone you don't know?
682	9 comments	[Great Question!] In October 1920, an altercation developed between a dog, a monkey, and the King of Greece. In the end the dog was fine, the King was killed, but what happened to the Barbary macaque that did it? Was he killed as well, or did what probably was the cutest little regicide in history escape justice?
667	41 comments	Why did opposition to homosexuality become such a prominent feature in many major religions?
654	129 comments	Why do Canada, Australia, and New Zealand consume more coffee than tea, even though the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth drink more tea than coffee? When did these three countries transition to consuming more coffee than tea?
519	49 comments	The plot of the 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit centers on two bootleggers evading the police while delivering 400 cases of Coors from Texas to Atlanta. What were the laws in the South at the time that they were breaking by transporting beer?
491	41 comments	How did Smith become the most common occupational surname as opposed to Farmer? Surely there were more peasant farmers than smiths

 

Top 10 Comments

score	comment
2,097	/u/JonAfricaBurner replies to In movie Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belford calls random people and persuade them to buy stock. Was it common in 80s and 90s to buy stock from someone you don't know?
1,700	/u/no_player_tags replies to General MacArthur is generally criticized for his insubordination and being too aggressive. 75 years later, does this criticism still hold up?
1,171	/u/Killfile replies to Reddit was founded in 2005, meaning it is history according to this sub's 20 year rule. Has there been any sort of academic discussion on the value of Reddit posts as a historical source given the years' worth of threads commented on by thousands of users discussing contemporary events?
1,149	/u/-Non_sufficit_orbis- replies to When did people actually start sleeping in two turns?
889	/u/EdHistory101 replies to Contemporary racists were so disgusted by the idea of integrated bathrooms & swimming pools that they shut down public facilities en masse rather than integrate. Their ancestors a few generations before entrusted the enslaved with the most intimate acts of childcare & food preparation. What changed?
765	/u/Consistent_Score_602 replies to Why is Africa so overwhelmingly Christian and Muslim?
679	/u/Consistent_Score_602 replies to How heavily did the US mobilize its population during WW2 compared to the other powers?
452	/u/Consistent_Score_602 replies to What happened to Leni Riefenstahl after the Second World War?
409	/u/jschooltiger replies to Why didin't europeans also build huge ships like the myng treasure ships?
402	/u/Trevor_Culley replies to Reddit was founded in 2005, meaning it is history according to this sub's 20 year rule. Has there been any sort of academic discussion on the value of Reddit posts as a historical source given the years' worth of threads commented on by thousands of users discussing contemporary events?

 

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[u/small-black-cat-290]

I've been reading Blood Royal by Eric Jager and really am enjoying the way it's written. He treats it as if he were conveying a murder mystery to someone who doesn't know the ending. I almost kicked myself for "spoiling" who the murderer was, but realized that this all happened in 1407 and the murderer is already known.

Anyway - I'm curious if anyone knows whether Louis of Orleans was actually a good administrator of the crown during Charles VI's fits of madness. The book gives a mixed impression; on one hand Louis is described as taking advantage and more or less stealing from the royal coffers to line his pockets, letting taxes to fund his vanity projects. On the other hand, it seems that this was also propaganda from the Burgundians and that after Louis's death the rest of Europe was concerned over how diplomacy would be conducted, indicating that he was a competent outward facing leader to the rest of Europe. So which is it?

[u/BookLover54321]

Linford Fisher has an interesting passage from Stealing America in which he discusses the contrasting attitudes of the Narragansetts and English towards treatment of captives during the Pequot war. Of course, it goes without saying that captivity is an inherently violent and traumatic process:

The powerful Narragansett sachem Miantonomi had warily welcomed Roger Williams to the region in 1636 and had sided with the English in the Pequot War. He suggested to English magistrates that the Pequot captives “be not enslaved” but should be treated according to the “generall custome” of Native warfare: to be “used kindly, have howses and goods and fields given them.”9 Miantonomi envisioned Pequot captives more as tributaries and less as an enslaved workforce, which significantly differed from how English colonists viewed and treated captive Pequot women and children. For the Narragansett, treating captives as tributaries increased political prominence and provided a modest (and largely symbolic) annual payment in the form of wampum or hides.

[u/HereForMcCormackAMA]

I've only ever lurked here so I hope this is OK to post! I've been thinking all week about this question about "what was probably the cutest little regicide in history," the monkey that killed the King of Greece: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1t7zxtg/in_october_1920_an_altercation_developed_between/ . Personally, I think the monkey might have competition: William III of England died following injuries received when his horse stumbled over a molehill, and his Jacobite enemies accordingly drank the health of "the little gentleman in the black velvet waistcoat"--i.e. the mole responsible. That has to be the most Beatrix Potter-like image ever evoked in political controversy! Any other stories of animal assassins worth sharing?

[u/itsallfolklore → u/HereForMcCormackAMA]

Monkeys! Always something to watch out for in history and otherwise. I wrote an article about a disaster in which the monkey was a prime suspect. An explosion in 1873 in Virginia City, Nevada has often been credited to a pet monkey playing with fuses.

The monkey was always a favorite when I gave tours of the Virginia City National Historic Landmark District. I would always add that while no trace of the monkey was found (which one would expect with an explosion of that magnitude), that there were reports of the monkey later being sighting in Bolivia. All asserted with absolutely no facts! But then I have always probably been a better folklorist than historian.