The Beard Tax

There was a ‘beard tax’ in medieval Europe!

Medieval Europe was a strange time to live in with animals being put on trial to shoes showing the social position of the person wearing them. However, did you know that some kingdoms in Europe imposed a ‘beard tax’? The first kingdom to impose such a tax was England. Henry VIII imposed the tax in 1535 and the cost of the tax depended on your social position. This was also continued by his successor and daughter, Elizabeth I who taxed anyone who had grown his beard for more than 2 weeks! After Elizabeth I, it was only imposed again in 1705 by Peter the Great of Russia. He devised a way to figure out if someone had payed the tax or not, which was by giving every person who payed the tax a token. This allowed him to know for sure if someone had paid the tax or not.

 

There were female gladiators!

     

Gladiators were prisoners of war and slaves in ancient Rome who fought in the Colosseum and other amphitheaters. Most of these gladiators were men, but there were a few rare female gladiators too! A female gladiator was called ‘gladiatrix’ (plural-gladiatrices). They too fought in amphitheaters and executed criminals.

 

The French built a fake Paris during WWI!

During WWI, the Germans started attacking Paris. The French soon devised a plan to stop the Germans from invading it. They built a ‘fake Paris’ that had monuments like Champs-Elysées and Gard Du Nord and a fake railway line that was lit up at certain points!