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Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 12, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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For semi-historical, Mohammed, Jesus and Confucius.

For 100% historical, Cardinal Armand Jean du Plessis (Richelieu), Cardinal Jules Mazarin and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.

I didn’t know russians had a thing for french men of the cloth. Longing for a historical counter-weight to the autocrat, perhaps?

I’d take Hannibal, Leo, and Lavoisier.

Longing for a historical counter-weight to the autocrat, perhaps?

All three of them advanced the goals of French autocrats, so not really. I could've picked three English statesmen, but I didn't know who to add to Pitt the Younger and Churchill.

Talleyrand supposedly served France, not any one man or crown. Can't think of any influential russian clergymen, but that's probably on me - o wait, rasputin, lover of the russian queen! I need to switch one of my podcast choices!

Can't think of any influential russian clergymen, but that's probably on me

Patriarch Nikon. Patriarch Filaret. His great-grandson, Peter I, subordinated the church to the state, which explains the absence of eminent figures after that.

He wasn't a clergyman, though.

In Tsarist Russia, the cloth makes the man.