10 Historical Myths That Many Blindly Believe Since School

We tend to extract part of our knowledge from novels and movies, and often this happens without us noticing, automatically. But it turns out that in reality, not everything is what we imagine. So let’s expand our horizons together and change the current view we have of the world.

We, from awesome.club, we discover which “indisputable” truths can cause surprises. And with the bonus, you will learn the original meaning of the expression “money for pins”.

Corsets often have a bad reputation. The main character of the film Pirates of the Caribbean fainted due to a corset that was too tight and almost lost her life. However, Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Institute of Fashion Technology, says that this underwear from centuries past was not as bad as our contemporaries think, and it did not make people swoon.

It is believed that wearing corsets can cause serious illness. But that’s not true. There are also no records that a woman’s rib was removed to make a corset better fit her. This is a totally preposterous myth, given the surgical risks in the 1800s.

However, corsets were not the most useful garment for everyday wear: they put pressure on internal organs and weaken back muscles. But it is not as dangerous as commonly thought. The garment was not as tight as shown in the movies, and the harmful effects of its use are exaggerated. Furthermore, the corset did not impede women in domestic chores any more than, say, stiletto heels.

Today we know these lanterns as a symbol of hope and celebration, but they weren’t invented for that, nor to ask for wishes. During the Three Kingdoms era in China there lived a commander named Kongming. Once, his army fell into a trap and he called for reinforcements with the help of lanterns. For this reason, Chinese sky lanterns are still known as Kongming lanterns.

It is believed that the Chinese tradition of tying the feet of Chinese girls existed only among the nobility. That’s because only a rich husband could support a “wife who didn’t work”. But the feet of the humblest women were also bound, at least at the beginning of the last century.

An 83-year-old woman from Junsobao recalled: “When I was 10 years old, all the girls in my village already had very small and beautiful lotus feet. And I have ordinary big feet. Everyone laughed at me and said I didn’t know how to do anything, not even how to bind my feet.” Due to social pressure, she also started bandaging them.

And even with such feet, women had to work hard. On the other hand, the Hakka people (there are many ethnic groups living in China) did well without the lotus feet.

Most people think of eunuchs as palace servants. But in 15th-century China eunuchs worked as officials, for example, collecting taxes on trade. And there were also eunuch diplomats and military leaders. If a person achieved high rank and recognition in the military, then the next generations revered their distant relatives, the eunuchs. Tribal communities might even appoint this person as the guardian spirit of the area.

It seems an undeniable fact that polygamy was common in the East and monogamy in Europe. At least there were no official harems, as in China and Turkey. But there are some exceptions on the subject that are usually not talked about in school.

In the 13th century, the German count Ludwig von Gleichen went on a crusade and was captured by a sultan. However, in love, the daughter of the Turkish sultan helps him escape, and they both flee together. The count then gains authorization to marry the Turkish woman without divorcing his first wife. Historians debate whether this is a legend, but there is a stone tomb of the count and his wives in the German city of Erfurt. The tomb was visited by historian Nikolai Karamzin, who wrote: “I saw this large stone and blessed the memory of the spouses.” Colorful stained glass windows featuring Gleichen and his wives can be seen in the Church of St. Viti.

Thus, in the past, a European could have two wives. In the 16th century, the magnanimous Philip of Hesse, following in the footsteps of his predecessor, also legally had two wives: Christine of Saxony and Margarethe von der Saale.

Usually, generals and dignitaries in China had one wife and many concubines. Polyandry, the practice of a woman having multiple husbands, was considered immoral and illegal among the Han people (the main ethnic group), but among other Chinese ethnic groups this phenomenon existed and still exists today, especially in the mountainous regions. This is done so that there is no need to divide the land among the children, otherwise the inherited areas would be too small for plantations and, consequently, there would be little food.

This elegant object in the photo is a dish not intended for food. This is a chamber pot, used in China during the reign of the Qin Dynasty.

If you think luxurious gold toilets were invented not long ago, you are wrong. In the 18th century, there was a wealthy salt merchant in the Chinese city of Yangzhou. At the time, he became a true living symbol of ostentation when he commissioned a golden chamber pot. To do his needs, the merchant had to use a ladder, as the vase was very high.

We mainly meet Louis XIII, his wife Queen Anne and Cardinal Richelieu, from the novel The Three Musketeers and its film adaptations. And there the King of France is portrayed as a rather comical character: somewhat bored, “sour” and unintelligent, but aware of Richelieu’s scheming.

In fact, Richelieu was a good court adviser, and thanks to him, Louis’s power was strengthened, as was France’s position on the international stage. And Louis himself was not as clumsy as he has been described: in his youth he had to stand up to his mother, Marie de Medici. And in the ceremonial portraits, by the way, he posed in black.

The first image that pops into our heads when thinking about the Chinese language is the hieroglyphs. But few people know that Chinese people speak almost 300 languages. The country’s official language is Mandarin, or Mandarin Chinese. And not all people write with hieroglyphs. For example, the Tibetan alphabet has 30 letter-syllables. And this is what your handwriting looks like.

If you find Mandarin difficult, then check out a piece of information that might make you rethink: While Mandarin has 4 tones, the Dong language has 15 (linguistic) tones.

You’ve probably heard how restricted women’s rights were in Jane Austen’s time. A woman from a poor family or without a husband had to be a governess or a teacher, and that didn’t make her life any easier. However, who has not heard of Madame Tussauds and its wax museum? Born into a poor family, she became successful and famous, and her business lives on to this day.

The so-called “pin money” is a very widespread concept. Previously, in England, this phrase denoted a small allowance that a husband or father gave a woman for personal expenses (buying hats, gloves, etc.).

The expression comes from the 1500s and is associated with the cost of pins, which were very rare and expensive. So, 500 years ago, “money for pins” meant an expensive purchase.

Which myth, among those mentioned, surprised you the most? Do you know any other historical myths?