complexity is good--but I have seven pages to cover seven centuries

I can summarize the history of Kievan Rus quickly, because I don't know much about it. That's a matter of a little quick reading, and the highlights of two or three sources. "Barbarian invasions" of Europe is harder. Which ones are important? And in what sense of "important"? The sample test has nothing on any of this, so it's no help. And does it matter, for this purpose, that the Rus, who we generally think of as Slavs, seem to be kin to the Vikings, if not just Vikings trading under a different name?

I am glad to have found the Oxford History of Medieval Europe sitting on a bookshelf in our bedroom, though.

complexity is good--but I have seven pages to cover seven centuries

I can summarize the history of Kievan Rus quickly, because I don't know much about it. That's a matter of a little quick reading, and the highlights of two or three sources. "Barbarian invasions" of Europe is harder. Which ones are important? And in what sense of "important"? The sample test has nothing on any of this, so it's no help. And does it matter, for this purpose, that the Rus, who we generally think of as Slavs, seem to be kin to the Vikings, if not just Vikings trading under a different name?

I am glad to have found the Oxford History of Medieval Europe sitting on a bookshelf in our bedroom, though.

(no subject)

There seem to be endless things I can do instead of reading about Charlemagne, or any other aspect of medieval Europe. It's not Europe per se--I just don't seem to be in the mood to refresh my memory and then summarize. I can provide three pieces of trivia about any of the topics I have, but that doesn't add up to a plausible overview. People reviewing for a test don't need to know that the Black Death may have been a hemorrhagic plague, they need to know what it did to European society. Okay, maybe they need both--nobody told me. I'm sure they don't need to know that Charlemagne slept with a pen under his pillow, in the hope that he'd wake up some morning knowing how to read and write.

(no subject)

There seem to be endless things I can do instead of reading about Charlemagne, or any other aspect of medieval Europe. It's not Europe per se--I just don't seem to be in the mood to refresh my memory and then summarize. I can provide three pieces of trivia about any of the topics I have, but that doesn't add up to a plausible overview. People reviewing for a test don't need to know that the Black Death may have been a hemorrhagic plague, they need to know what it did to European society. Okay, maybe they need both--nobody told me. I'm sure they don't need to know that Charlemagne slept with a pen under his pillow, in the hope that he'd wake up some morning knowing how to read and write.

No context available

cattitude just pointed out that "I think the Caraway Fairy is an obligate parasite."

No context available

cattitude just pointed out that "I think the Caraway Fairy is an obligate parasite."

esoterica

Then we got to wondering whether the United States has an extradition treaty with the Vatican [1]. In wandering through the State Department's PDFs, I have found probably-irrelevant things like an agreement on military cooperation between the US and Iran, signed in 1950, and weirdly still relevant ones. The entry for "Consuls" under "India" reads

Convention to regulate commerce (article IV) between the United States and the United Kingdom. Signed at London July 3, 1815; effective July 3, 1815.

We didn't have to negotiate commerce with India in 1947; we took care of it when we settled the War of 1812.

[1] Apparently not.

esoterica

Then we got to wondering whether the United States has an extradition treaty with the Vatican [1]. In wandering through the State Department's PDFs, I have found probably-irrelevant things like an agreement on military cooperation between the US and Iran, signed in 1950, and weirdly still relevant ones. The entry for "Consuls" under "India" reads

Convention to regulate commerce (article IV) between the United States and the United Kingdom. Signed at London July 3, 1815; effective July 3, 1815.

We didn't have to negotiate commerce with India in 1947; we took care of it when we settled the War of 1812.

[1] Apparently not.