His most grievous sins included cloistering his relations to remove them as rivals to his succession in 814, mortally blinding his nephew for revolt, breaking a sworn treaty with his sons, and allowing his marriage to deteriorate to the point of his wife having an affair with a courtier.

Louis I is known in Germany as ‘the Pious’, but in France as le Débonnaire; both sobriquets capture aspects of his behaviour. He was sufficiently sinful to require three rites of penance during his reign, yet devout enough to perform them. His most grievous sins included cloistering his relations to remove them as rivals to his succession in 814, mortally blinding his nephew for revolt, breaking a sworn treaty with his sons, and allowing his marriage to deteriorate to the point of his wife having an affair with a courtier. Interpretations differ whether the Carolingian bishops regarded him as an errant member of their flock or used the rites of penance a show trials to discredit him politically.

P.H. Wilson, The Holy Roman Empire (2016), 30

Potosi and much of Upper Peru remained divided into ethnic factions well into the seventeenth century

Whereas other parts of Spanish America witnessed a tendency towards homogenization of white, peninsular Spaniards (peninsulares), who sometimes clashed with native-born and mixed Spaniards (criollos), Potosi and much of Upper Peru remained divided into ethnic factions well into the seventeenth century.

K. Lane, Potosi (2019), 112

What made Habsburg Spain Europe's most formidable war machine was money, or more accurately, credit

What made Habsburg Spain Europe's most formidable war machine was money, or more accurately, credit: the ability to borrow huge sums to field armies and assemble navies. What gave Spain credit was in large part an early flood of silver from Potosi, the bonanza that came close on the heels of Atahualpa's treasure.

K. Lane, Potosi (2019), 49

The general historical chapters represent a miserable level of performance

One of the most disappointing of all county histories is Polwhele's Devon. The general historical chapters represent a miserable level of performance, though the parochial descriptions are valuable. Even so, Polwhele covered only a small part of the county and the work as a whole is third-rate. 

W.G. Hoskins, Local history in England (2nd ed. 1972), 20 

In its first century, Potosi produced nearly half the world's silver

Potosi produced more silver, according to official tax records, than all Mexico combined before 1650. In its first century, Potosi produced nearly half the world's silver. In the longer term, the amount of silver taxed between 1545 and 1810 ... constituted nearly 20 percent of all the known silver produced in the world across 265 years.

K. Lane, Potosi (2019), 8

Cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns make up 60-70% of the seafood eaten in the UK

Despite its island credentials, Britain - bafflingly - is not known as a nation enamoured of fish, other than its favourite, battered, deep-fried 'fish and chips' form. Despite the variety found off our coasts, our consumption centres on only five main species: cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns make up 60-70% of the seafood eaten in the UK.

J. Linford, The missing ingredient (2018), 64 

Disturbing imponderables like 'character', 'pure luck', 'ability to mix', and 'boldness' have a way of tipping the scales

[the scholarship boy] is unhappy in a society which presets largely a picture of disorder which is huge and sprawling, not limited, ordered, and centrally heated; in which the toffee-apples are not accurately given to those who work hardest nor even to the most intelligent; but in which disturbing imponderables like 'character', 'pure luck', 'ability to mix', and 'boldness'  have a way of tipping the scales. 

R. Hoggart, The uses of literacy (1957), 270

Their education is unlikely to have left them with any historical panorama or with any idea of a continuing tradition

Their education is unlikely to have left them with any historical panorama or with any idea of a continuing tradition ... a great many people, though they may possess a considerable amount of disconnected information, have little idea of an historical or ideological pattern or process. Their minds rarely go back beyond the times of their own grandparents 

R. Hoggart, The uses of literacy (1957), 167

This is written about the working class, but does seem to be about all people. Maybe that was not so in the 1950s.

These views usually prove to be a bundle of largely unexamined and orally-transmitted tags, enshrining generalizations, prejudices, and half-truths

In general most working-class people are non-political and non-metaphysical in their outlook. The important things in life so far as they can see, are other things. They may appear to have views on general matters - on religion, on politics, and so on - but these views usually prove to be a bundle of largely unexamined and orally-transmitted tags, enshrining generalizations, prejudices, and half-truths, and elevated by epigrammatic phrasing into the status of maxims. As I remarked earlier, these are often contradictory of each other; but are not thought about, not intellectually considered.  

R. Hoggart, The uses of literacy (1957), 86

The speculation, extortion, intimidation and protection rackets that characterise Mafia activity were first practiced and perfected in the mid-nineteenth century among the citrus gardens of the Conca d'Oro

It's often assumed that this kind of organised crime was the ancient residue of feudal traditions that had evolved into something ugly among the most impoverished, isolated and backward inhabitants of Sicily. In reality many of the new mafiosi were aristocrats, and all of them were modern entrepreneurs who had become the most powerful landowners on the Conca d'Oro. The speculation, extortion, intimidation and protection rackets that characterise Mafia activity were first practiced and perfected in the mid-nineteenth century among the citrus gardens of the Conca d'Oro, though they continue to blight politics, hobble the economy and cripple the lives of the individuals on the island to this day. 

H. Attlee,  The land where lemons grow (2014), 69

Norman minds dissolved in the vapours of Muslim culture

The Norman conquest of Sicily turned into something of a scandal. Norman minds dissolved in the vapours of Muslim culture. Austere knights of Honfleur and Bayeux suddenly appeared in the streets of Palermo wearing flowing desert robes, and attracted to themselves harems of staggering diversity, while the Church raged. Norman pashas built their own alhambras. the Normans went Muslim with such remarkable style that even Muslim poets were soon praising the new Norman Xanadus.

John McPhee, quoted in H. Attlee,  The land where lemons grow (2014), 56

This is historical nonsense. John McPhee has clearly given no thought to the private lives of the Normans in Normandy. 

This makes up around half the surviving literature of ancient Greece

Galen began writing as a teenager, and this explains, in part, at least, his extraordinary output - 'fatiguingly diffuse', as one historian put it - some three million words that are collectively known as the Galenic corpus. Astonishingly, this makes up around half the surviving literature of ancient Greece, but is only a fraction of the ten million words he is estimated to have written.

V. Moller, The map of knowledge (2019), 49-50