History
Discover facts about history. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
History
When three men claimed to be pope
In the early 1400s, the Catholic Church had a massive logistical problem: three different men simultaneously claimed to be the infallible Pope,…
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Madagascar's deadly test for suspected traitors
While the rest of 19th-century Africa was being carved up by Europeans, Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar decided to simply opt out of colonization via sheer…
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The medieval map that put the world on Jesus
Medieval cartographers weren't exactly concerned with GPS accuracy, but the 13th-century Ebstorf Map took creative liberty to an unhinged theological extreme.…
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The mathematician who turned down a million dollars
While most of us would sell a kidney for a fraction of a million dollars, Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman casually declined a literal fortune. In 2003,…
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Roman dodecahedra still have no known purpose
Archaeologists hate admitting when they have absolutely no clue what an object does, which makes the Roman dodecahedra deliciously frustrating. Over a hundred…
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The cult that seized Münster and legalized polygamy
If you think your hometown drama is intense, try living in 1534 Münster. Radical Anabaptists decided to flip the city into a hyper-violent, apocalyptic…
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Ottoman rulers signed decrees with impossible-to-forge monograms
Long before digital encryption, Ottoman rulers protected their imperial decrees with the most beautifully paranoid signatures in history. The Tughra was an…
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The man who became a priest, spy, MP, and abbot
The phrase 'career pivot' doesn't quite cover Ignaz Trebitsch-Lincoln. Born an Orthodox Jew in Hungary, he somehow managed to become a Presbyterian…
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Lozen reportedly felt cavalry through her hands
Military strategy usually involves scouts and maps, but the Chihenne Apache warrior Lozen reportedly just used supernatural intuition. Known as the 'shield of…
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A medieval Sardinian law let women refuse forced marriages
While medieval men were busy jousting and dying of the plague, a Sardinian leader named Eleanor was drafting the Carta de Logu. Enacted in 1392, her legal…
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Josephine Baker hid Nazi secrets in invisible ink
Being a world-famous Black cabaret star in Paris is cool, but weaponizing your fame against the Nazis is iconic. Josephine Baker used her celebrity status to…
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The two-headed chicken that sparked panic in Rome
You’d think Renaissance politicians would base their decisions on actual military intelligence. But in 1527, Italian officials panicked over a chicken born…
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The exile who changed how Europe ate
If you wear deodorant and eat dessert last, thank a 9th-century Iraqi exile named Ziryab. After getting kicked out of Baghdad, he arrived in Islamic Spain and…
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A pirate queen negotiated with Elizabeth I in Latin
Girlbossing was violently literal in 16th-century Ireland. Grace O'Malley, the bald-shaved pirate queen of Connacht, spent her life plundering English ships…
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The financier whose corpse hung in an iron cage
Joseph Süß Oppenheimer did his job too well, and it cost him his life. As the financial advisor to the Duke of Württemberg in the 1730s, he successfully…
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A Roman cup turns red under light
The Roman Empire accidentally mastered nanotechnology while trying to make a fancy party cup. The Lycurgus Cup is a 4th-century glass chalice that looks…
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The ancient book made entirely of gold
Discovered completely by accident while digging a canal in Bulgaria during World War II, the Etruscan Gold Book is the oldest multi-page book ever found.…
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Sarah Baartman's tragic life in Europe's freak shows
High society in the 19th century was just a thinly veiled racism carnival. Sarah Baartman, a Khoikhoi woman from South Africa, was lured to Europe under false…
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The composer who also led an all-Black regiment
Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, was a Black 18th-century swordsman who could compose a symphony in the morning and publicly humiliate bigots…
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Nellie Bly faked insanity to expose an asylum
Clickbait used to require actual bodily harm. In 1887, 23-year-old journalist Nellie Bly convinced a judge she was entirely unhinged just so she could get…
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The mineralogist who inspired Mozart's Sarastro
Ignaz von Born was an 18th-century Austrian rock nerd who used geology as a cover for radical philosophy. He formed a high-society mineralogy club that was…
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When prayer books became Tudor fashion accessories
Nothing says '16th-century piety with a dash of haute couture' quite like chaining a miniature prayer book to your waist. Tudor noblewomen, including Henry…
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A map mistake created a republic that lasted 400 years
In 1440, Pope Eugene IV sold a chunk of land to Florence, but the surveyors completely forgot to include a tiny strip of territory between two rivers. The…
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Italian peasants battled witches with fennel stalks
Historian Carlo Ginzburg dug through Inquisition archives and uncovered the Benandanti, a 16th-century Italian agrarian cult that sounds entirely like a fever…
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